Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Recycling Center Fulfills Dreams

A lifelong dream was fulfilled when the Prescott Recycling and Work Center became operational.

The center began in August 1995 as it currently is, working with handicapped people, helping them earn money by making parts for Beard-Poulan Weedeater of Nashville.

However, everything began in September 1976 in conjunction with the Prescott Day Service Center and worked into the current operation.

As it stands, 27 people are employed by the center. These people have varying degrees of disabilities and different handicaps.

For Elaine Williams, though, each day is a dream come true.

"It's been a lifelong dream to employ this many handicapped people," she said.

And, these people are employees. Twice a month Williams passes out their paychecks, much to everyone's delight.

After all, payday is what work is all about.

The employees, or clients of the center, are paid a certain amount for each part they assemble. These parts are used in weedeaters, lawn blowers and chainsaws.

During the first week of this month, 32,000 parts were assembled by the clients. The record for a four-day week is 36,000 parts.

Williams makes the trip to Nashville to pick up and deliver the parts at Beard-Poulan as needed.

Remember, these employees do not work a solid eight-hour shift. Instead, they work two or three hours at a time over a four-day period.

A typical day at the center begins at 8:30 a.m. The clients have breakfast at the day center.

Those in Adult I spend about three hours a day in class, learning self help skills, money management, simple meal preparation, banking and budgeting skills.

In the Adult II classes, the students spend four hours a day working on basically the same skills.

The situation changes for those in Adult III, which is for the more challenged clients. They spend five hours daily in class working strictly on self help and developmental skills.

When these students aren't in class, they are in the workshop assembling parts and earning their wages.

Work shifts are rotated with the classes to avoid conflicts in scheduling.

Some of these clients are placed in jobs within the community. One worker has held a job with Pizza Hut for six years.

Most who are placed in community jobs, though, need employment which requires repetition.

Friday is recycling day at the center. Everyone pitches in and helps with the effort to help Mother Earth.

The recycling effort began at the day services center with a one-ton box, and a visit from Joe Hossley, manager of International Paper in Camden.

This box was quickly outgrown, and the recycling effort was relocated to its current location.

Williams said this location is also too small as the center is growing faster than expected.

Nevertheless, Williams keeps close tabs on the market prices for newsprint, cardboard, white paper and plastics.

These goods are taken wherever the best price can be obtained, and are shipped through Nashville's satellite of Cossatot Technical College.

The proceeds from the sale of the recycled goods are used to pay the clients.

After all, the center is a non-profit organization, and not a private entity.

"We have some of the best workers," Williams said, "and never have any trouble.

"When we opened the workshop, it seems as though there has been less problems than there were 20 years ago." Williams credits the work the clients do as the reason the problems diminished.

She said keeping busy has helped many of the students. "They're all hard workers and this gives them something to do."

Everything at the center is handicap accessible, meeting Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.

Williams said the clients suffer from a myriad of handicaps, including being hearing impaired, blind and having cerebral palsy. Most are on some kind of medication, which is either administered to them before they leave home of a morning, or as needed at the center -- primarily those with epilepsy or diabetes.

Among the types of paper recycled, Williams said the center accepts junk mail and text books, along with newsprint, white paper and cardboard.

The paper is normally dropped in the bins outside the center. Then, it's sorted and separated. The newsprint is wadded up and baled in bales of about 1,000 pounds.

Cardboard bales average about 1,400 pounds each.

Plastic materials are stored in a trailer loaned to the center by Hines Trucking, Inc.

"I'd like to see curbside recyclables picked up once a month," Williams said. "We're working on it. We'd like to drop off (garbage) bags and pick them up later on (for recycling)."

This, however, is a long-term project Williams, the city and county must work together on.

Glass is not accepted at the center. She said no matter what the price is, she doesn't want to take any chances on the clients being hurt.

"People would be amazed at what goes on here," she said, "the level these people attain and potential they have. There is no limit to their abilities."