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Linen Service Provides Opportunities For Northshore Residents To Gain Independence Through Work

STARC worker Burnell Vaultz loads up a washer at the commercial linen service outside Slidell.
Tegan Wendland
/
WWNO
STARC worker Burnell Vaultz loads up a washer at the commercial linen service outside Slidell.

It’s not easy finding a job, especially one you really love. It can be even harder for those with physical and mental disabilities.

An organization in St. Tammany Parish aims to help people gain independence through work.

STARC worker Burnell Vaultz loads up a washer at the commercial linen service outside Slidell.
Credit Tegan Wendland / WWNO
/
WWNO
STARC worker Burnell Vaultz loads up a washer at the commercial linen service outside Slidell.

Linen Service Provides Opportunity

STARC stands forServices, Training, Advocacy, Resources and Community Connections. The organization works with people at all stages of their lives to connect with the services they need in order to participate in the community — whether that starts at a child development center, or with one-on-one on-the-job training. The organization even has speech training for toddlers, help for families who want to better understand their child’s disability, an art program, Special Olympics, and companionship for disabled seniors.

Burnell Vaultz has worked at STARC’s commercial linen service, washing sheets and towels and military uniforms, for 19 years. He said he has been able to build his house with the money he’s earned, and grow his costume collection.

Vaultz said, “I’ve got an Easter rabbit, an Uncle Sam, a Santa Claus, a St. Patrick costume. My closet is full of costumes.”

He said he loves dressing up for the holidays, and being able to take care of his little dog, named Smiley.

On this morning he was working on bar towels and sheets and was excited to demonstrate how the commercial sheet starching machine worked. He took a wet, crumpled up white sheet and slowly fed it into a machine about the size of a car.

 

STARC's commercial linen service includes a giant industrial sheet pressing machine.
Credit Tegan Wendland / WWNO
/
WWNO
STARC's commercial linen service includes a giant industrial sheet pressing machine.

“We’re going to put the sheet up here, and the sheet is going to go up under the belt, and it’s going to go right up there and it’s going to drop," he said. "You can hear when it’s going to be dry.”

Out popped a perfectly folded, perfectly ironed, white square bundle.

Rhonda Clark manages the commercial linen service. She said Vaultz is one of their biggest success stories.

“Since we opened in 1999 we’ve had two individuals that actually own their own homes. That’s the biggest success story we have at the laundry. Because to have someone with developmental disabilities be able to own their own home, that’s just amazing to me,” said Clark.

An inspirational sign hangs on the wall above the entry to STARC's linen service near Slidell.
Credit Tegan Wendland / WWNO
/
WWNO
An inspirational sign hangs on the wall above the entry to STARC's linen service near Slidell.

The linen business sustains itself, and any profits go back into other services. Clark said when they have job openings they interview applicants, just like any other employer, “It’s a job just like it would be at McDonald’s or Burger King or at an office. It’s a job for them, they get paid.”

She said many of the laundry jobs they are contracted to do are government jobs, like for the Navy base in Gulfport, which pays the minimum federal wage of $7.25. The workers are paid according to each contract, so wages can vary. They did not provide an exact estimate of the average, but said it was fair.

They work hard for it, said Baham.

“When you think about the mailman going in the rain sleet and snow, our folks are there. You will see them on days that it’s freezing cold outside — and everybody’s all wrapped up and complaining about the weather and how cold it is — and you’ll see our folks out there walking down the sidewalk or riding their bikes with a smile on their face, they wave at you as they go by! They’re on their way to work. They are dependable employees. And when they learn something it is learned, and they know how to do it,” Baham said.

The linen service is just one of STARC’s employment opportunities. Twenty-six of their 400 employees work there, others do assembly work as a group, or work individually as janitors or fast food workers.

Vaultz certainly is an ideal employee, and he’s not planning on working anywhere else anytime soon. “I enjoy coming to work here, and I’m gonna stick with them — until I get up under that ground,” said Vaultz, who plans to live until his 100s, and continue washing linen that whole time.

Support for Northshore Focus comes from the Northshore Community Foundation.

Copyright 2015 WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio

Tegan Wendland is a freelance producer with a background in investigative news reporting. She currently produces the biweekly segment, Northshore Focus.