FALLS CREEK- Goodwill Industries of North Central PA has announced a new Small Business Program.
In this program, individuals with disabilities will learn all the necessary skills to run a small agricultural business from planting to selling what they grow.
Participants will work in the new greenhouse at the Falls Creek Processing Center. There, they will plant and care for what they grow while learning the entire financial process from sale to bank deposit.
“The idea is to be able to train clients to run their own business. We will start with the set up and explain what it costs to set it up,” said Tom Glasl, chief financial officer of Goodwill of North Central PA.
“Then, they will run it from start to finish. When they sell something they will take the deposit to the bank and make the entry on QuickBooks. When they buy things, we’ll teach them how to do the checks.”
Although the program will start with one greenhouse, there are already plans to add a larger greenhouse and expand the program to include small business planning classes. Glasl said the idea was brought to him by Employment Specialist Heather Cyphert, and she will be leading the program.
“Our greenhouse will create jobs and training opportunities for individuals with disabilities so they can become self-sufficient and possibly future entrepreneurs. The Greenhouse will allow our individuals to have training and knowledge from seed to care to sale,” said Cyphert.
Cyphert said that along with the valuable skills the individuals will learn, working in the greenhouse could help them establish healthier eating habits and give them a sense of ownership.
She hopes the program participants will even incorporate what they learn into their daily lives by growing a garden at home. She said anyone can have a small garden and this program may give individuals the confidence they need to start.
“For people to think they can’t do something because they, live in a group home… they can have a garden! They just need the tools and knowledge of how to make one. You don’t have to be a commercial vegetable grower,” Cyphert said.
Goodwill would like to thank Haag’s Feed store of Troutville, Hanzley’s Nursery & Garden Center of DuBois, Chad Smith from Falls Creek and the DuBois Wal-Mart for their donations to the greenhouse. Thanks to those donations, the program is able to begin even sooner than expected.
Continue to check the Facebook Page www.facebook.com/GoodwillNCPA for news on the official grand opening of the greenhouse and launch of the new Small Business Program.
Cyphert said, “It’s going to be exciting. It’s going to be new. It’s something our Goodwill has never done before.”