A New Season of Growth:The Polk Training Center

The Polk Training Center Inc. is in a new season of growth as they celebrate their first year at their new location at 90 N. 4th Street in Eagle Lake and prepare for their 40th anniversary next April. The Center provides continual learning opportunities for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Executive Director Cheri Dawson shows off the sprawling little building, a former appliance parts store, now decked out with shelves to display plants and beautiful craft projects put together by their clients.

On April 15, 1986, The Polk Training Center Inc., then known as the Polk Training Center for Handicapped Citizens Inc., was founded by a group of parents in Fruitland Park who wanted to create a job training and skills program for their children after the children graduated from high school.

The school taught agriculture skills such as growing and harvesting plants.

In 1999, The Polk Training Center moved to Lake Alfred, where they spent the next 23 years. After the hurricanes in 2022, the building where they met was damaged beyond repair, so they temporarily moved their program to First Presbyterian Church in Winter Haven until July 2024, when they moved to Eagle Lake.

“When we were located in Lake Alfred, we were a large plant nursery. We had contracts with Disney … and then of course, COVID came along, and the hurricanes finished it off. And the property really wasn’t viable anymore,” Dawson said. The pandemic and the storms appeared to be a major setback. “So they opted to sell it and look for something else,” she said.

While looking for another location, they learned that the gentleman who owned the appliance parts store in Eagle Lake went out of business. And people still stop at “the store,” thinking it is still a parts store, she says. But the “store” seemed like just the perfect set-up for The Polk Training Center Inc. and their retail plant sales. “We have given it a lot of TLC (tender loving care),” Dawson adds.

Arranged around the front room are plants of various kinds in decorative planters, small crafty gifts, and flowerpots. The plan is to do retail plant sales on a much smaller scale, for now. A fenced-in courtyard houses a very sturdy shed and appears to be a great place to grow plants. Plants cultivated and sold will be primarily Florida native and Florida-friendly plants that are good for butterflies and hummingbirds.

Although the center has gone through a metamorphosis, including a new logo in the shape of a butterfly designed by one of the parents, devoted customers continue to call, wanting to know when the center will be “back up and running again.” Dawson tells them to check back in a couple of months.

Some of the clients have been attending the Center for well over 20 years, Dawson says. Although The Polk Training Center had numerous clients prior to the pandemic and storms, they presently have 8 clients enrolled, with room for 16 potentials. “We are much smaller, but we are still here,” she says.

In addition to a dayroom which doubles as retail space, with a retail counter and shelves, the facility has a classroom where the clients create crafts, paint, and do other activities. A side room with a large television is where they do their daily exercises, such as stretching and aerobics.

A typical day begins with clients putting their belongings away and talking about what they did the night before at home. The friendships are deep, and everyone catches up on the latest.

“They take a lot of pride in their activities here,” Dawson says. Every day, there is a different theme, and both they and their families and caregivers receive a calendar of activities. Field trips are numerous to places such as Bonnet Springs and other community gardens.

Clients also volunteer at the First Presbyterian Church in Winter Haven on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. They pack lunches for the unhoused. “It’s our way of giving back to them for being so gracious for allowing us to use the space for the couple of years that we were there,” Dawson says.

The plan is to grow beyond the building. A skills instructor works with the clients, who are presently private pay clients. The program is in the process of becoming a Medicaid provider, and when that happens, Dawson anticipates much growth.

For almost 40 years, the center has provided life skills training, work site experience, plant propagation instruction, field trips, exercise, creative outlets, social interactions, and friendships for adults with disabilities, notes board member Jane West.

“Our new location in Eagle Lake will suit the continuation of our efforts in providing appropriate instruction and accommodations to facilitate success in individual independence and community-wide service for our clients. Our PTC plant nursery will focus on native and nectar plants, seeds, houseplants, bedding plants in season, and sundries. We look forward to meeting our new friends in Eagle Lake and certainly enjoy the aromas wafting over from Blackburn’s BBQ,” West adds.

At the end of the day, Dawson says, she goes home remembering the smiles of the clients. “I think it is just the fact that when they leave, they are happy. They’ve had a good day. For most of them it is a day-by-day process. You never know what the day is going to bring. When they leave, they have to pass by my office, and every single one of them says goodbye to me, and will tell me ‘see you tomorrow.’ If it is Friday, have a good weekend. And seeing the positivity for them, I know that we have accomplished something during the day that left an impression on them.”

Polk Training Center

90 N 4th Street, Eagle Lake

863-956-1620

polktrainingcenter.org