MARYSVILLE — Joanne Cantu of Lakewood works 10 hours a week folding white cardboard to create boxes that will hold dog treats.
She may never work enough hours or earn enough money to support herself. But that’s not the point.
Cantu is part of a fledgling program called Good Bites in Marysville designed to train and employ people with disabilities.
The 33-year-old has a disability that leaves her with the mental capacity of a child in grade school. This work gives her a sense of purpose and allows her to do something productive for society, said Katie Devore, whose respite care center serves as headquarters for Good Bites and the nonprofit program that runs it, Adaptive Activities.
John Parkin, a retired businessman and the president of Adaptive Activities, came up with the idea of Good Bites because he wanted to create a business that could raise money for the programs Adaptive Activities offers, along the lines of actor Paul Newman’s venture Newman’s Own, which sells products such as salad dressings to raise money for causes.
Adaptive Activities’ mission is to enrich the lives of people with disabilities. At Devore’s center they offer programs such as art, music and cooking. Parkin said it’s important to set up a source of funding that’s not dependent on “the whims of the government” since state and federal money can be undependable.
The program is in its early stages and so far five people, who each work two to 10 hours a week, are employed packaging the dog treats. Good Bites purchases the treats wholesale. The workers package the treats, which are then sold by area grocery stores and charity groups. So far, the Marysville Thriftway is carrying the treats, which retail for $10 for a 16-ounce box and $6 for an 8-ounce box. Three-ounce boxes can be purchased for $2 at the Adaptive Activities center, 4827 72nd Place NE, Marysville. The center also sells a dog treat mix so customers can bake their own at home.
Parkin hopes area high schools will partner with him and sell the dog treats as fundraisers. Meanwhile, the participants learn about inventory, marketing, sales, delivery and packaging.
“This gives them a reason to get up in the morning and gets them away from the TV and the video games,” he said.
“His idea is wonderful,” said Gene Rogoway, director of All Aboard, a Lynnwood program that offers activities for people with developmental disabilities. “The program would really train these guys and that’s the element that’s missing.”
He said there are job programs for people with disabilities but the programs focused on training aren’t adequate. Consequently, he said, “They’re failing at their jobs without real training.”
Rogoway expressed some doubts about whether the Good Bites business will work in the long term. He said Good Bites doesn’t follow the state’s supported employment model; that model focuses on integrating people with developmental disabilities into the community rather than segregating them.
“The state’s going to nail him one of these days,” he said. “That’s what I’m expecting.”
Don Kay, an assistant to the director at the state’s division of vocational rehabilitation, said he isn’t aware of the particulars of this program, but there are provisions under state and federal law that would allow a business to pay people with severe disabilities minimum wages.
He said it’s up to individual workers to decide whether the job and work conditions suit them. The division of vocational rehabilitation has a federal requirement that they can only offer support to programs that offer workers integrated, competitive employment.
Parkin said he wanted to set up Good Bites so it pays all its employees the same amount no matter what they do or how fast they do it. It’s not unusual for businesses that offer supported employment opportunities to base pay on the person’s ability: if someone works at 30 percent of the speed of a typical worker, he gets paid 30 percent of the typical wages.
Parkin said he isn’t paid by the nonprofit and he has sunk some of his own money into the venture, but he declined to say how much. He has developed several inventions to help some of the workers do their jobs, including a wooden device that allows people who can’t operate a scale to measure the right number of dog treats for certain size boxes. He would like to eventually hire a sales force that would include people with developmental disabilities. He’d like to eventually sell dog collars, sweaters and other pet-related items. Someday, he sees the program purchasing its own bakery so workers can bake the treats themselves.
Parkin has many plans for Adaptive Activities, the nonprofit that oversees Dog Bites. It offers life enrichment programs for people with developmental disabilities such as art classes, music and bowling. He’d like to set up similar satellite programs across the Puget Sound region.
Nola Kundu works at Providence Hospital in Everett as a therapeutic recreation specialist, helping people who have had strokes, head injuries and other illnesses get back to work and play. She’s a member on the board at Adaptive Activities. She said the program is awesome.
“It gives people an opportunity to feel like they’re contributing,” she said.
Even though a part-time job packaging dog treats will never be enough to support someone, she said it’s important to give people a chance to feel like they’re doing something rather than being a burden on their families and society.
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com
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