Shannon McEnerney | April 5, 2010
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| Photo by Gena Asher |
| From left, School Director of Finances Charlotte Smith and Sweet Owen’s Shaun Huss and Miranda Reece meet each Friday for Huss to haul boxes of confidential papers away for shredding. The school has partnered with the agency since last fall. |
School of Journalism Director of Finances Charlotte Smith unlocks the drawer. Huss lifts a box out of the drawer and his caregiver, Miranda Reece, takes the box as Huss lifts another from the drawer.
Then he’s off.
“His walking is running,” Reece said.
Every Friday, Huss and Reece come to the School of Journalism and to pick up boxes full of papers and take them to Sweet Owen Industries in Spencer for shredding.
Sweet Owen Industries Arc is a day program that helps adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities become more independent through work in their communities. Huss is autistic and nonverbal, but with Reece’s help, he is able to work. His job is part of a program that partners the School of Journalism with Sweet Owen workers.
The partnership began last year in the fall. Smith had participated in a similar program while working at IU-Purdue University Columbus. There, a partnership set up with Stone Belt Industries in which people came to pick up materials for recycling and for shredding.
Smith, who is from Spencer, knew about the Sweet Owen program and, when she joined the School of Journalism staff, she contacted the agency to talk about shredding. The connection made, the partnership began.
Last fall, the School of Journalism received a Community Partner Award from Sweet Owen as a special thanks and recognition.
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| Photo by Gena Asher |
| Sweet Owen client Shaun Huss moves efficiently. "His walking is running," said his caregiver, Miranda Reece. |
“He comes with enthusiasm to pick up the recycling and he understands,” Smith said. “He looks forward to coming and taking pride in what he is doing.”
For Huss, this opportunity allows him to work when he wouldn’t otherwise have a chance. Each week, he and Miranda pick up between one or two boxes. Each week, he maintains a routine that allows him to know which hallways to walk down, which elevator to ride to the ground floor.
Huss is down the hallway and to the elevator by the time Reece catches up with him, and the two wait as the elevator ascends and opens. Inside they step into the cramped beige space.
But then Huss’s off, again, as soon as the doors open on the ground floor. He’s out and waiting by the dark blue van and Reece comes, opens the door and Huss carefully places the box he is holding inside.
“He loves to lift heavy things,” said Kim Hodges, executive director of Sweet Owen. Hodges said that the workers who do the shredding range from those with severe disabilities to those with high skill levels. Regardless, the shredding allows them to work just like Huss.
Huss’s job helps to create a meaningful day for him, Hodges said, adding that because the job is partnered with the university, it helps the Sweet Owen clients connect with IU.
“It helps him be a productive individual and be a part of the university,” Smith added.
But the partnership also allows for the support of a new initiative: sustainability.
“The greatest benefit of the partnership is that we are helping with the sustainability of the campus by having the paper recycled and it is at no cost to the university,” Smith said.
Smith said that because the school has confidential documents that need to be shredded, the boxes Huss carries to the van each Friday are taped for security. This adds to the other security measures taken with the boxes – they are kept in a locked room, all to guarantee confidentiality.
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| Photo by Gena Asher |
| Huss loads the boxes in the back of the van for transport to Spencer, where the materials will be shredded. Sweet Owen director Kim Hodges hopes to partner with more units on the IU campus. |
Hodges and Smith said they hopes this partnership continues, and Hodges said she would like extend it to other departments at IU. The pick-up and shredding of the papers is a free service, she said, which could attract more participants.
But more important, she added, it allows for a connection between the community and the university. For Huss. For everyone.
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