FEATURE STORY

Cheers erupt on the work floor. A pair of young men known as the Ruggle Brothers, who were recently promoted, run from one end of the room to the other, showing their hastily torn envelopes to everyone they see. Two hundred of their co-workers, each pulling a slip of paper out of an envelope, join in the excitement. Workers jump, holler, and hug one another. This is the sound of mentally disabled people earning their livings. It’s payday at Opportunity Village.

“Payday is a blast,” says Laura D’Amore, sales and marketing manager for Opportunity Village. “They all love their paychecks.”

Sometimes it seems as though the virtues of charity and compassion stand in direct contradiction to the competitive commerce that keeps our economy agile. As businesspeople, we are constantly looking for ways to keep our resources flowing smoothly while giving back to the community. Fortunately, Opportunity Village serves our business needs while also helping the disadvantaged.

Clients at Opportunity Village—who are also the labor force—serve the business community by providing fast, reliable, cost-effective services in several core competencies. The organization manages piecework contracts for printing and mailing, packaging and assembly, condiment and cutlery packet customization, and promotional buttons. The work floor includes one supervisor for every eight workers, and the supervisors are directly responsible for the quality and timeliness of the jobs. Satisfied customers include Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, Nevada Power, Southwest Gas, and Las Vegas Valley Water District.

When clients are ready for promotion from the piecework contracts, they are moved to the document destruction room, where they work for hourly pay. Opportunity Village offers an extra layer of document destruction security because the workers simply aren’t able to read the documents they destroy. In addition, all of the document trucks are monitored by GPS. Opportunity Village has earned AAA certification from the National Association for Information Destruction. For all these reasons, Opportunity Village has earned the privilege of shredding documents for Clark County, Wells Fargo, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Internal Revenue Service, Harrah’s Entertainment, and The Venetian, among many others.

If clients show the ability to succeed with minimal supervision, then they become eligible for one of Opportunity Village’s training programs. Many clients go on to work in outside positions. For instance, some clients serve food at Nellis Air Force Base, some clean bathrooms at McCarran Airport, and others work in the kitchen at The Capital Grille.

On the other hand, for clients who need closer supervision, Opportunity Village offers one-on-one training through the ENABLE program. And for the most medically fragile clients, the PRIDE program provides physical therapy, audiovisual stimulation, and social interaction. One participant in the PRIDE program is 29-year-old Nathaniel Schaus, who fell 100 feet while hiking with his parents at the age of 9. And while his IQ is normal, his brain and body no longer function properly, but he enjoys being able to take the bus to the Lied facility to spend time with the other PRIDE participants as well as the dedicated people who run the program.

Laura estimates that by keeping 750 disabled citizens employed, the taxpayers save $4.5 million per year in public assistance. She explains, “If we employ these folks, then you don’t have to support them.”

Helping the disadvantaged to live better lives has been a driving goal of Opportunity Village since its inception. The organization was founded in 1954 by Dessie Baily, the mother of a disabled daughter. Dessie wanted to find an alternative to institutionalizing her daughter, so the decided to try home schooling. The family liked home schooling, but needed to raise funds to pay the teacher. Dessie joined with other families of disabled students to open a thrift store for the purpose of paying the special-education teachers.

Over time, the nation changed from a climate of institutionalization to one of education. Schools began to hire special-education teachers for mentally disabled students. The students received education until they “aged out” of the school system, roughly at 22 years of age. Once the students got too old for the school, they were often cut off from job training and became totally dependent on family and government aid.

Fortunately, Opportunity Village adapted to the changing needs of the disadvantaged. Although the organization was conceived as a teaching program for disabled youths, it now provides training, employment and other services for more than 750 disabled people who are no longer eligible for enrollment in public schools.

After a series of expansions, Opportunity now fills two campuses. The Henderson location houses the document destruction room alongside the condiment and cutlery customization facility. The Lied Center location hosts the printing and mailing, packaging and assembly, and promotional button service. The organization is looking to open a third campus in the first quarter of 2009.

Sales coordinator Rachel Allen says that members of the business community and the public are encouraged to tour the campuses. She says that people are often surprised by the clients’ speed and work ethic. “In nine out of 10 tours,” she says, “someone in the tour comes up to me and says ‘I had no clue.’”

Rachel first learned of Opportunity Village while researching for a school thesis. In her study, she found that thrift stores often have difficulty competing with trendier vintage stores. Her conclusion: a thrift store should host fashion shows and clothing drives with local fraternities and sororities in order to bring higher-end merchandise into the store. Opportunity Village’s thrift store is implementing just such a program with UNLV.

Once Rachel learned about Opportunity Village, she knew she’d be involved with the organization forever. “I was so touched by what they were doing,” she says. When she graduated, Opportunity Village hired her as a public relations specialist. She now works closely with Laura in the marketing and sales area.

Laura knows that charity alone will never satisfy her business customers. Foremost, all businesses want quality, cost-competitive work. In the areas of printing and mailing, packaging and assembly, condiment and cutlery packet customization, promotional buttons, and document destruction, Opportunity Village offers businesses exactly what they’re looking for. At the same time, says Laura, Opportunity Village employs people with disabilities “who would otherwise have no choice of employment.”

Laura can be contacted at (702) 880-4022.

Photography: Britt Pierson