APPLETON, Wis. — Inside the 400,000 square-foot Valley Packaging Industries facility in Appleton, Jarrod Kim recently taped up boxes and loaded them onto a pallet.
“Then they get wrapped, then they get lined up and ready to be loaded onto a semi," explained Kim.
For the past 24 years, Kim has worked for VPI. Many of the 150 workers find fulfillment in completing packaging orders and socializing.
VPI Pre-employment Case Manager, Bee Thao, works with each employee or client to achieve individual goals.
“People have different success stories," said Thao. "They come from different beginnings and backgrounds, some straight out of high school, some who were a little older than the others when they started here. They have different schedules, but we define success differently."
As President and CEO Tim Riebau walks through the facility, he connects with clients. Riebau said talking about sports, especially the Packers, brings everyone together.
“We have clients here that have some sort of physical or cognitive disability or both," said Riebau. "We have folks who have a disadvantaged background. Maybe they have a language barrier. Maybe they have something in their background that doesn’t allow them to get a job somewhere else. Then we have other individuals that are just direct employees of ours. The goal here is to integrate so as you’re walking through a facility, you don’t know who’s who.”
VPI started in 1956 by Kimberly-Clark as a way to move individuals with disabilities into the workforce while also filling a labor need. VPI serves its clients, but at the end of the day, there’s still an important job to do.
“We support a lot of large organizations, a lot of large manufacturers in the area. They have the same expectations of us that they have of any other vendors. We've got to get it done. We've got to get it done on time. We got to get it done correctly," explained Riebau. "While we're a nonprofit, the work we do here is very high-end professional work.”
Revenue generated from the packaging operation helps fund VPI's other community initiatives.
“All the profits we generate here go to feed other social programs. We do birth to three programs, day services programs, educational programs in the community, mental health programs, and an outreach center," said Riebau.
VPI offers flexible scheduling and works with clients to improve their skills to help place them into other jobs.
"The mission really is to find them their best fit. If that's here, great. If it's not here, let's help them find that," said Riebau.
While some clients moved on to other jobs, Kim likes where he's at.
“It’s hard once you first start doing it. Then it gets easier once you get used to it," said Kim.
They're striving towards their own personal goals while getting the job done in their community.