By Ethan Forman
DANVERS — Unlike many people, who find work a daily grind, Amaury Mejia of Beverly says he likes going to work each day.
Mejia, 33, who's developmentally disabled, trained at Northeast Arc's Heritage Industries, earning a small wage under supervision. Now he's working a real job cleaning Heritage's new 18,040-square-foot facility in the Danvers Industrial Park.
"I do like it." Mejia said. "I make more money."
In July, Heritage brought two of its operations in Peabody and Danvers under one roof at 16 Electronics Ave. The bigger facility needed a cleaning crew, and for Mejia, that meant a new job and more independence.
On Thursday, officials gathered to unveil the Northeast Arc's new name — a change from North Shore Arc — and give tours of the facility.
Inside, workers sat at tables in large offices and stuffed envelopes or collated magazine inserts, among other jobs.
"We consolidated two sheltered work environments into this building," Day Services Division Director Joanne Plourde said, "and we also operate our competitive and supported employment out of this building, where we support people with disabilities to get competitive jobs in the community."
Many adults working at Heritage face developmental or psychiatric disabilities, or physical challenges like blindness or deafness. The focus is not on disability, Plourde said, but on what these adults can do to get jobs in the real world.
Heritage presently employs 122 people with disabilities at 16 Electronics Ave. or in small work groups at other job sites. About 30 work in the community.
Plourde said Heritage brings in about $20,000 each month from companies that use its services. About half pays wages, and the rest supplements programs for the state Department of Developmental Services.
Revenues are down from last year, she said, due to the weak economy and a loss of one of Heritage's bigger contracts.
Heritage presently provides subcontracting work to 50 local companies, including Danvers Industrial Packaging, Healthnet, Christian Book Distributors, New England BioLabs, Light Technologies and Webster Industries. It also handles mailings for local cities and towns, like Salem when it needs a census mailing.
"The goal is really to teach skills that are transferable, that people can take out into the community," Plourde said.
Like Mejia, Cheryl Hall, 30, of Peabody is also competitively employed taking care of an office at Northeast Arc's Holten Street headquarters. She makes more than the minimum wage, she said.
"What do you tell me every morning when you come in and walk around my office?" Plourde asked Hall. "You say to me, 'I had a good day.'"
"There are great people over there," Hall said about her office on Holten Street.
Heritage has been putting disabled people to work for more than 50 years. It also employs 65 staff, including drivers and those who work with disabled adults on the job.
"When they first come in, they do different jobs," said Majid Mazouzi of Everett, who was overseeing some workers collating a four-piece magazine insert for Appleseed's. Mazouzi's job entails checking over the work, tabulating it and giving workers credit.
"Especially this room does this job because they are used to it and they know what they are doing," Mazouzi said.
Workers earn money based on piecework. The more work they do, the more they earn.
Plourde pointed out a job involving stuffing and collating. If a worker did 616 pieces an hour, he or she would make $8.50. Paychecks range from $30 a week to $250 a week. The program maintains a subminimum wage certificate from the state because it is a training facility.
The workers get a steady paycheck, Mazouzi said, and, more importantly, a sense of accomplishment.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com.
