History

Tasks Unlimited formed on June 2, 1970 in response to Dr. George W. Fairweather's success at creating an alternative approach to mental illness hospitalization during a movement towards de-institutionalization. The not-for-profit corporation began assisting the in-hospital training of potential new lodge groups at Anoka State Hospital. After months of training and assistance from Dr. Fairweather's team, Tasks Unlimited opened its first lodge on October 18, 1970. The "Janitorial Aces" were trained and ready to operate their own commercial cleaning business.

The program continued to grow. In the next year, Tasks Unlimited opened two more lodges and established a formal relationship with the Minnesota Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. By the end of the 1970s, all lodges had their own contracts and no longer depended on sub-contracting. By it's tenth anniversary, Tasks Unlimited supported 48 residents in five lodges.

In the early 1980s, Tasks Unlimited created its first community-based training facility: the Lodge Training Program. The next year, the organization opened its doors to people who had stable housing by forming the JOBS Program. Eventually, Tasks Unlimited broke into subsidiaries and Tasks Unlimited Building Services (TUBS) formed. With the creation of TUBS came a bonus program for client-employees working on successful contracts and Tasks Unlimited's first certification with CARF as a community rehabilitation facility. After some time, all Lodge and JOBS program participants became employees of TUBS. By 1986, TUBS ranked first in client earnings per week and held the honor for nearly twenty years. Later the same year, the Jobs Training Program opened to better prepare program participants for working with TUBS.

The 1990s brought a diversification in employment and business opportunities. Rehab² opened as a remodeling services business, and client-employees seeking management positions gained additional opportunities through the Career Ladder program. Later, TUBS expanded its services to mailroom management with the Army Corps of Engineers.

The new millennium brought more program opportunities. As an employee benefit for Tasks Unlimited Building Services, a wellness program formed to assist people by developing health goals to control stress, manage weight, reduce smoking, etc. On the mental health front, Tasks Unlimited Mental Health Services became the first official Adult Rehabilitation Mental Health Services provider in Hennepin County. Finally, as a way to break stigmas and encourage mental health advocacy, Tasks Unlimited brought mental health to the stage in a anthology of mental health stories and a Fringe Festival production, both entitled Lodge Magic.

Capitalizing on the innovative spirit of the organization, Tasks Unlimited opened its doors to women with mental illness and their children at Oakwood Residence in 2003. Four years later, the organization developed Interlachen Lodge—a lodge training program specifically for people with felony convictions that stemmed from untreated mental illness.

Today, as the organization faces new challenges with an aging participant population and continued funding cuts, new programs are being developed to employ seniors or other people with mental illness and limited mobility. Tasks Unlimited Building Services recently opened a laundry service to reduce operating expenses and create more jobs within the organization.

Tasks Unlimited continues its mission with the support of individual donors who recognize the difference that people with serious and persistent mental illness can make in the community. Please consider donating to make the future of Tasks Unlimited as bright as its past.