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Four residents with disabilities get a taste of their ideal jobs — from baking cookies at a hospital to seeing City Hall in action — as part of a program that helps them get hands-on experience.

TRIBUNE PHOTO BY JAYSON MELLOM

Freddie Dallas, right, learns how to bake cookies with the help of Sal Macedo in the kitchen at French Hospital Medical Center in San Luis Obispo on Wednesday as part of Disability Mentoring Day.

HOW TO HELP NEXT YEAR

Businesses interested in hosting mentor sites for Work Training Programs’ Disability Mentoring Day 2008 can contact job developer Barbara Furia at 550-6457 or BFuria@wtpinc.org. Visit www.wtpinc.org for details.

Freddie Dallas watched intently as French Hospital Medical Center kitchen staffer Sal Macedo lifted cookie sheets lined with dollops of dough into an oven.

The 23-year-old client of Work Training Programs Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides employment support for the disabled and disadvantaged, slipped on oven mitts and repeated the action with ease.

Dallas, of Arroyo Grande, was one of four county residents taking part in Disability Mentoring Day, a nationwide program of the American Association of People with Disabilities that aims to give participants hands-on experience in a field they’re interested in.

Others visited City Hall, Ad Minds advertising firm and the law office of Wahlberg & Ruston, all in San Luis Obispo.

Dallas, who’s been with the training program for a year and a half, requested a hospital mentorship for the day.

“I like to help out the people,” he said between wiping the counters and stocking the drink cooler with orange juice after the cafeteria’s breakfast rush.

Dallas stays focused and works toward independence, said job developer Barbara Furia, who declined to disclose the details of his disability.

“Freddie is someone who is very sharp,” said Joe Eister, program coordinator.

“You only have to tell him once how to do something, and then he’s right on it.”

On other days, Eister oversees Dallas’ 12 hours of work weekly at local food and retail establishments through the group’s Extended Vocation Rehabilitation Program.

The rotating schedule of jobs, paired with career-oriented training classes, is structured to lead participants to an enjoyable career they are comfortable with, Furia added.

The organization, which has a $4.2 million budget for 2007-08, serves people 18 and older through state and federal referrals, and manages various career and living programs for its 411 clients in San Luis Obispo County.