Heritage Industries Marks 50 Years of Giving Work to the Disabled
By Amanda McGregor
STAFF WRITER
Salem News
November 10, 2008 12:34 am
—
PEABODY — For 23 years, Danny Taggart has caned dining room chairs, rockers, armchairs, lounge chairs and more.
He is the most versatile seat weaver at the Heritage Caning Co., a small workshop on Foster Street in Peabody.
"I started in 1985. I've been here a long time," he said with a laugh. Taggart, 50, lives in a residential program in Swampscott.
Heritage Caning is part of North Shore Arc's Heritage Industries, which provides job training and employment to disabled people on the North Shore.
"It provides work for a large number of people," shop manager Melissa Dulude said, "particularly because caning is a lost art. There aren't that many people who do it."
At a ceremony next Friday, Heritage Industries will celebrate 50 years — from its humble beginnings as an arts and crafts group to its expansion to three work sites and the recent addition of a print shop and office support division.
"It began really as a place for parents to provide their adolescent children who were mentally retarded with a place to go and do activities during the day," said Jerry McCarthy, executive director of North Shore Arc.
"As the teens got older, the agency became more focused on real jobs."
Today, Heritage employs about 180 people on a daily basis at its companies and through job placements in the community, he said.
They're people like Cheryl Hall of West Peabody.
"I have worked here I think four years now," said Hall, 29, as she ran copies in the print shop on a recent afternoon in Heritage Industries at 22 Foster St., which is located in the old Peabody post office just a block from the downtown.
"I love it here," she said. "I have a lot of friends here. The staff is good to me. It's awesome work."
In the mail room behind the print shop, an industrial shredding machine roared, operated by Vincent Orlando, who has worked for Heritage for 20 years.
"I like making lots of money," Orlando said.
McCarthy said Heritage employees are grateful to earn a paycheck — and there is almost no absenteeism among their work force.
"They really appreciate their work and want to do a good job," said Becky Landry, director of development for North Shore Arc.
McCarthy, who has been executive director of North Shore Arc nearly 30 years, said people with disabilities have made great strides in attaining mainstream employment over the last half-century, but there is still a 70 percent national unemployment rate among the disabled.
"I think companies are much more open to having people with disabilities working as part of the regular work force, but we have a long way to go," McCarthy said. "Many more jobs and job opportunities are needed in the community. We're hoping that will be the next frontier."
What is Heritage?
At Heritage Caning, six employees sit at individual caning stations and repair chairs — five days a week.
"I have to be very careful," Taggart said of chiseling worn caning from chairs before weaving anew. "It takes me about two days to do one chair."
Across Foster Street, in the Heritage Industries building, workers handle a variety of tasks in a maze of production rooms.
Heritage works to secure jobs from local companies and brings the bulk of the work on-site. It also provides transportation for its work force.
On a recent afternoon, an assembly line of workers was preparing and packaging newsletters for a local company to be mailed out.
The day before, they were packaging jackets for a local company by tagging them, folding them, bagging them, sealing the bags and labeling each one.
"We're trying to develop more service-type opportunities for businesses on the North Shore," McCarthy said. "Like with our new shredding services — we're retrieving all the documents companies want to dispose of. ... That's a new focus for us."
In Danvers, another Heritage site employs people with more complicated disabilities, such as mental illness in addition to cognitive disorders.
Additionally, about 50 Heritage employees go out into different companies every day.
"I think it has broken down barriers," Landry said, "because we're able to train people in a supportive environment and they can work side-by-side with people in the community."
The decline of manufacturing on the North Shore has weighed heavily on Heritage Industries, which used to have large contracts with Parker Bros. in Salem, Gorton's in Gloucester and other companies.
"We've been scurrying around to try and replace all that work," McCarthy said.
"We're looking for new directions to go in and new opportunities we can develop for people who work at Heritage."
Cause for celebration
The 50th Anniversary Celebration will be held Friday, Nov. 21, at Peabody City Hall — a fitting location given the agency's long-standing relationship with the city.
The agency is hoping to draw anyone involved with Heritage Industries, past and present.
The event will also honor Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry, a former director of Heritage Industries.
"He is an amazing man," Landry said, "and he is remembered very fondly by everyone here."
McCarthy said it was under Berry's tenure that Heritage developed its job placement mission.
In addition to next week's celebration at City Hall, there will be lunches and recognition awards for employees in the preceding days.
"We'll have some celebrations that really focus on the workers," McCarthy said, "and
recognize what a critical part of the history of the organization they are."
Heritage 50th Anniversary Celebration
When: Friday, Nov. 21, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Where: Peabody City Hall, Wiggin Auditorium, 24 Lowell St.
Who: Anyone involved with Heritage, past or present
RSVP: to Becky Landry, 978-624-2401 or e-mail blandry@nsarc.org
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