by Renee Gannon | January 2006

• Introduction
• Somewhere to Belong
• Aunt Marilyn's Farm Begins
• 6 Spokes of the HarvestWorks' Wheel
• Both Smiles and Opportunities
• Download this article as a

6 spokes of the HarvestWorks wheel

In July 2003, HarvestWorks officially opened with two clients. The center has 100 now. Clients’ ages range from 3 to 43 years old, serving the alphabet soup of developmental disabilities, from mild to profound. HarvestWorks has something to offer a client, no matter the age or ability.

Mangum refers to the six main HarvestWorks components as spokes of a wheel. All spokes offer employment and activities to the developmentally disabled, while also providing for the community’s needs:

• Naturally-grown field crops and organic vegetables in the greenhouse, with produce marketed and sold.
• Mobile lawn crews, mobile landscaping crews, mobile catering crews and mobile home and business cleaning crews.
• Day Activity Services where clients who do not work participate in activities, therapies and one-on-one time with CAP and CBS providers.
• Retail Store, which provides an outlet for local artists and the center’s participants to sell crafts; and the Coffee Shop, “Hopes, Dreams and Coffee Beans.”
• Supportive Employment Training that offers vocational services to clients with the hope that one day some may find employment outside of HarvestWorks.
• Other endeavors, including nature trails around the farm’s property, school and farm tours, and microenterprises such as the petting zoo.

Shannon operates the petting zoo and pony rides at the barn on weekends. HarvestWorks helps Shannon promote his business, but he does all the work, including caring for the barn animals, and pockets the money earned. He has a stake in the business, so it is important to Shannon to make it work.

“I try my best to make all the kids happy when they visit,” says Shannon. “I don’t like to see them sad. I love animals and love to take care of them.”

Microenterprises have been successful across the state for people with severe disabilities. Explains Mangum: “It gives our clients one more option, one more spoke in our wheel. If a client has a passion for something, like Shannon does for animals, HarvestWorks wants to help set them up.”
HarvestWorks ideally would like to train its clients to work outside of its walls. The center wants to be a bridge to the community, to show the community what its clients can do.

Before coming to HarvestWorks, Matthew, who has cerebral palsy, volunteered at the local hospital’s registration department. He greeted patients, showed the way to the different departments, offered water and comfort. He performed a great service to patients, but he reached the age where he needed to be independent and have his own money. That’s when he came to HarvestWorks.

As the center’s jack-of-all-trades and the resident “dynamo in a wheelchair,” Matthew works in the retail store where he runs the register and helps visitors, serves as an office assistant and relieves the telephone operator for breaks.

“I meet people, earn a paycheck and have fun,” says Matthew. “That’s what HarvestWorks means to me.”