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Charles is saving part of his paycheck for a trip to the Northwest to see the blue whales that he painstakingly paints onto his clothing and lunch bag. Page is saving her money to go to Sea World with mom and dad. Nancy wants to shuffle off to Buffalo – just because. She knows people there.

All three are SARAH Employment Service participants and members of a work group counting items, packaging the products and filling larger boxes on pallets for shipment for Tower Laboratories. Tower Laboratories is the premier effervescent product manufacturer in the U.S. Owned by Norman Needleman, they have two locations in Connecticut – Clinton and Centerbrook.

When SARAH first began taking on Tower Laboratories contracts in 2005, the company thought one crew would be sufficient. It soon became apparent that the high volume of product being shipped required more help.

Today, there are two full-time packaging crews along with a part-time packaging crew and a part-time cleaning crew, working for Tower. In total, there are 14 service participants and three job coaches assigned.

SARAH participants at Tower Laboratories work in a clean packing room, replete with clean room smocks, gloves and head covers. They like their official “uniforms.” As at some other SARAH employer sites, they also work alongside of some Tower employees and share a common lunchroom.

A Cheerful Group
For most of their workday, participants sit at tables of four or fewer and are able to talk with each other as they work. Chatter around the table ranges from what they are going to eat for lunch, to how much they enjoyed swimming in their new backyard pool, to their favorite dance partners at the Special Olympics Victory Dance.

“I can’t tell you how much I look forward to visiting our SARAH employees,” said Tower Laboratories operations VP Jim Mansey. “They are always cheerful. They all remember my name.” Visitors immediately receive a shout-out from several – asking how they are or for a sharing of names.

A Satisfied Employer
A prospective employer might wonder if counting items might be an issue for some of the SARAH workers. By using a tool they call a “jig” – numbered blocks drawn onto cardboard looking something like tabletop hopscotch -- workers carefully count out the contents of each box and can easily see if they are short any product. “The quality is there. Our standards are met or exceeded,” Mansey said.

“Having the SARAH participants as part of our team is truly a win/win,” Mansey said. “On our end, we require a flexible, reliable crew that can deal with the peaks and valleys of the distribution end of our business. Pulling in a temporary work force during our busiest times would require additional supervision and training. SARAH is always trained, ready and flexible. “From the SARAH perspective, these adults love holding down meaningful jobs. Just ask them how they like their jobs! They are reliable, cheerful and dedicated workers,” Mansey said, “and job coaches on site make it a hands-off operation for us. We are very pleased with their work.”