Working to overcome barriers
By Brandon Davis
Published in News on December 15, 2016 9:57 AM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Ralee prepares a damp Greenwood Middle School T-shirt to go through a dryer at Life's SpecialTees.
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Ralee, left, an individual with an intellectual disability, takes a damp Greenwood Middle School T-shirt off of a spinner at Life's SpecialTees of Life, Inc. Charles Brooks, a day program director, monitors Riley's work performance. Riley, along with others with intellectual disabilities at Life, Inc., gets paid to print T-shirts and learns how to overcome social barriers.
Ralee peels a freshly-printed T-shirt off the conveyer belt and studies his work.
He holds it up for Charles Brooks to see.
Ralee smiles. Brooks smiles. Then they exchange high-fives.
A year ago, Riley wouldn't have been able to react that way.
Ralee lives in a group home for the intellectually disabled called Life, Inc.
Employees there say Ralee used to cross his arms and refuse to interact with others.
He struggled with low self-esteem when he arrived at a Life, Inc. six years ago. But since then, through treatment and through the pride gained by holding down a job and producing goods people can use, Ralee has begun to open up.
Life, Inc. is a private health care company at 2609 Royall Ave., in Goldsboro. The company launched a T-shirt printing program last summer called Life's SpecialTees, changing not just Ralee but the other "individuals" -- Life, Inc. refers to its clients as individuals or consumers -- for the better.
Life, Inc. wouldn't allow the last names or ages of its clients to be published for their own protection. But the health care provider offered a glimpse into the lives of some of its consumers to show their progress, like Ralee.
Ralee, who is otherwise non-verbal, has started whispering to people and helping others finish a print job. He now works as a print studio helper who places damp, specialized T-shirts on a conveyor-belt dryer to eventually sale to businesses.
"He was kind of in a shell," Brooks said, who serves as the company's day program director. "And Life's SpecialTees gave him the ability to get out of it."
"It gave him more responsibility, and you don't know what consumers can do until you give them an opportunity to do something."
Beatrice Lamb developed Life, Inc. in 1976 to provide group homes and jobs for adults with intellectual disabilities. Ms. Lamb desired greatly for those individuals to have more control over their lives.
Her granddaughter, Sharon Raynor, is the president of the company. Her grandson, Wilson Raynor, is currently the vice president.
They both share the same desire of their grandmother.
Raynor said he was once the day program director, and he said the administration at Life, Inc. asked him to add some purpose to the day program. The program, which was meant to provide active treatment for its individuals, became repetitive, Raynor said.
"We want to allow them to be the best people they can be," he said. "Just like we all expect from ourselves, we expect our consumers should have that same expectation for themselves."
Life, Inc. acquired an in-house print studio to heat-press T-shirts with the company's logo on them last June for the company itself, special events and staff appreciation week, but Raynor saw another reason for printing.
"We decided to invest in a screen-printing press and a dryer, so to speak," Raynor said. "And see if we could train ourselves, first to train our individuals how to do certain jobs that it takes to do it."
Twenty-four individuals who receive services from Life, Inc., aged 20 to 60, now work at Life's SpecialTees -- spinning, pressing, drying, folding and boxing T-shirts.
They produce anywhere from 200 to 1,000 specialized T-shirts in one day, Raynor said.
David folds T-shirts -- piles of them -- with his coworkers. He carefully spreads each T-shirt on a table, folds it in half and smooths it out with his hand.
Kimberly spins the T-shirts in the print room as they go from one screen press to the other.
"I like spinning," she said. "I like to get my money."
She does with her pay what the rest of us do, but like any person with a job who earns their own money, Kimberly has developed at least one questionable spending habit.
She said she likes to buy Doritos.
Barbara Parker, the director of intermediate care facilities or group homes at Life, Inc., said an individual's pay is monitored by the Department of Labor, and the pay is based on time studies. She said individuals can work 40 hours weekly.
Taylor likes getting paid as well, but she also loves to design shirts for herself. She will proudly show off her anime Sasuke Uchiha T-shirt.
Her job is to place T-shirts on the spinner as well. She then presses a logo on a shirt for Ralee to pull off and then place on the conveyor belt for heating.
Mrs. Parker said individuals have learned to sort by colors, to count objects and to recognize sizes. But she and Raynor said the most important skill individuals have learned is self-esteem.
"I think that's what we really put the most value on," Mrs. Parker said. "It's just the impact it's had on their quality of life."
"We've seen skills in some of the individuals we did not see prior to the development of this program."
She said Life, Inc. has five other locations in Little Washington, New Bern, Edenton, Leland and Enfield. She said Little Washington and Goldsboro are the only two sites with printing studios.
Life's SpecialTees provides designed T-shirts for local fire departments, schools, churches and more. Raynor said the fall season is the busiest time with breast cancer awareness, sports teams and holiday events.
But the best part about Life's SpecialTees according to Raynor -- is individuals like Ralee.
"It's the purpose of our company," he said. "It's everything we've strived for rolled into one."
"To go in there and see smiles on their faces, to watch them get a paycheck, to see them spend their money as soon as they grab it just like I do, it's the reason, as a company, we're here."
Ralee smiles as he pulls another T-shirt off of the conveyer belt.
He then holds up his hand again, waiting for Brooks to high-five it.