American Renaissance School (ARS) launched a fundraiser to help Americans with disabilities find jobs with a free hot dog dinner Tuesday at Broad Street United Methodist Church.
The fundraiser begins today and lasts two weeks. ARS students will be selling potpourri products: scented floral cubes and fabric shoe fresheners made by Americans with disabilities.
The company behind the fundraiser, MVLE, has been working to employ those with disabilities since 1971. Started by the parents of four disabled children, the organization now helps employ more than 600 disabled adults. It operates out of three facilities in Virginia.
“Most importantly, this is about creating jobs and creating opportunities,” MVLE consultant Todd Sides said during the kickoff event. “It also helps the school to make money for the things they need and it gives the children an opportunity to do community service.”
Half of the money from the fundraiser will go to ARS and half to Ability Nation, the nonprofit started by MVLE that makes the potpourri.
Ability Nation was started three years ago because MVLE was having troubles finding employment for people with disabilities. According to MVLE President April Pinch-Keeler, Ability Nation allowed MVLE to create that employment itself.
About 160 people work daily on the potpourri, but the number can rise to 300 when business is busy. Other MVLE jobs include janitorial positions at government businesses and hospitals and partnerships with restaurants.
Americans with disabilities suffer from 65 to 75 percent unemployment, Sides said.
“It’s an epidemic,” Sides said. “What’s so special about [the fundraiser] is they really have the ability to work and provide for themselves as opposed to being part of a government problem.”
Sides said many people have a perception that people with disabilities cannot work, hurting their cause.
“When you see someone, you tend to judge,” Sides said. “We’re a judgmental society and we judge with our eyes. If you were to see these people in a wheelchair or with a walker and say they can’t work, it’s not true.”
ARS first-graders performed a play titled “The Little Old Lady who was Not Afraid of Anything” as the entertainment of the night. ARS first-grader Cade Fasel said he thought the fundraiser was important.
“You should help other people,” he said.
A scented floral cube is selling for $12 and a shoe freshener for $14.
Keeler stands firmly behind the shoe fresheners. She said that when she had to borrow her husband’s truck for a week recently, she outfitted it with three of them.
The fresheners were piloted by the University of Maryland’s women’s soccer team, with rave reviews according to Keeler.
“[The coach] said, you don’t know what my locker room smells like now,” Keeler recalled. “It’s wonderful.”
The items can be purchased from American Renaissance School students. For more information, call the school at (704) 924-8870.
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