Team Industries uses Christmas cards made by disabled workers

By ALEX MORRELL
awmorrell@greenbaypressgazette.com
A Wisconsin business is helping spread the Christmas spirit this season by foregoing professionally made Christmas cards in lieu of cards handmade by disabled workers.

Team Industries, a fabricator of pressure piping with facilities in Kaukauna and Oconto Falls, will send its
customers 1,200 Christmas cards created by the clients of New View Industries in Gillett.

New View, a nonprofit employment and training facility for the developmentally and physically disabled,
started making the $1 Christmas cards seven years ago to generate more money for the program, and
Team Industries has been its biggest supporter the past couple of years, said New View marketing
coordinator Jean Monroe.

Team Industries’ support is more than a simple act of charity, Monroe said.

“We help support an area of the community that wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity to hold down a
job,” she said. “Having an opportunity to work, earn a paycheck and learn vital vocational and social skills
is crucial to the success of our workers.”

Each card is personalized and made from mostly recycled materials, which is part of the draw, said
Richard Stadelman, Team Industries vice president of administration.

“They’re more personalized than the run-of-the-mill, what you find in the store type,” Stadelman said.
Monroe said in addition to the work and training it provides New View clients, it also leaves them with a
sense of accomplishment.

“The work that they’re producing is going to be mailed out all over the country for other people to see, so
on that point of view I think they realize that it’s special. But our clients look forward to any type of work
that we can provide,” Monroe said.

Team Industries administrative coordinator Lynn Ebben said the company has been very pleased with the
cards so far.

“The people there at New View are very easy to work with and very accommodating,” Ebben said. “We
look forward to a continued business relationship working with them.”

Reprinted with permission by the Green Bay Press Gazette