A 20-year legacy of homemade papers and cards has ended, even as the Paperworks Studio line grows in popularity. The program, which employs disabled workers, shuts down immediately in Traverse City.
Fundraising to salvage it didn’t bring in enough money for the nonprofit Grand Traverse Industries to take over the program and try to bring it into black.
“Nobody of the 10 people with significant disabilities that were working part time at Paperworks have lost jobs. In fact, they’ve increased the hours that they’re working,” says GTI President Steve Perdue. He says his organization will retain those workers. He says others have been offered a choice of work through Goodwill Industries of Northern Michigan, or a severance package.
The greeting card line is “just a work opportunity that GTI will not have for them,” says Perdue. “But we employ over 200 people with significant disabilities in a variety of work settings.”
Paperworks had a deficit of $160,000 dollars last year. It’s been run by Goodwill Industries since 2009. Its workers were considered “artists” who designed and crafted papers from sometimes unusual ingredients.
GTI and Goodwill had agreed to work together this year to re-structure the program in attempt to balance revenue and expenses by 2015and to fully transition ownership to GTI. But the plan was contingent on a fundraising campaign with a deadline of April 1st.