City of Soperton Proclaims Easterseals Middle Georgia’s 50 Year Anniversary

The City of Soperton celebrated nonprofit Easter Seals of Middle Georgia with an official proclamation commemorating the organization’s 50 year anniversary.

“What they’re doing over there, it’s remarkable,” said Soperton Mayor John Koon.

Mayor Koon signed the proclamation in the organization’s Soperton location alongside Easter Seals’ President and CEO Joel Prawucki and the location’s staff.

The proclamation officially denotes February 2026 as the fiftieth anniversary of Easter Seals in support of “the right and opportunity for all persons to live and work independently, thus enabling our community to benefit from the talents of all persons.”

Beginning as the Central Georgia Vocational Development Center in 1970, Easterseals Middle Georgia is a nonprofit focused on providing service programs and job opportunities for Georgia citizens with disabilities.

According to Prawucki, the organization’s 50 years in operation is “a testament to our mission and the people, just to provide the service that we have.”

“You know, a lot of nonprofits can’t hang around for this long,” said Prawucki. “We’re blessed to have the opportunity to work with the government – we have three government contracts that we do that help us out tremendously.”

The organization operates out of Dublin, with other locations in Eastman and Soperton. The Soperton branch opened in the 1990s, following the departure of a previous large employer.

“That was a building that, if Easterseals hadn’t done anything with, would have just been unoccupied after being such a huge part of this community for so many years,” said Koon. “It’s just good to see that they’re breathing life back into it.”

The Soperton branch primarily creates dress shirts for the United States Army and Navy. According to plant manager Lucy Lanford, 52 employees create approximately 3,000 shirts per month.

The shirt creation process also teaches employees various skills, such as sewing, pressing and packaging, which they can then apply elsewhere. However, according to Lanford, the plant’s turnover rate is low.

In addition to shirt manufacturing, the plant has also served as a sub-assembly location for the Statesboro-based Briggs & Stratton Corporation for the past seven years. The corporation delivers raw materials to the Soperton plant, and Easterseal employees will assemble them into various devices, such as fuel pumps.

“It probably increased their production by, I would say at least 50 percent.” said Prawucki. “So, it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Employees are provided with planograms, detailed dioramas explaining the assembly steps, for each device. After assembly, the devices are then shipped back to Briggs & Stratton at the end of the week.

Easterseals Middle Georgia also provides a number of other services, such as transportation for employees and programs for high school students to learn practical skills.