Last week at Maker Union, workers and volunteers gathered to assemble Halloween gift bags and create decorations for Peace House residents. “We had about 30, 35 people here,” said Anne Peters, founder and president of Maker Union. “It was amazing. We had so many kids in here, and a real varying variety of ability. Some kids couldn’t punch holes with a hole puncher, some kids could, some did not know how to tie bows, some just loved being here.”What was set to be a two-day event was completed in one, thanks to all of the people who showed up to help.This event with Peace House comes from the organization wanting to get more involved with the disabled community.“We did a departmental evaluation, like a visioning process, last year,” said Erin Meottel, prevention coordinator at Peace House, “to evaluate where are we consistently, where are the gaps that our department is noticing? And this was a big gap that we noticed.”One way Peace House is addressing this gap is by facilitating conversations about boundaries and relationships. The project with Maker Union provided an opportunity to hold these talks in a safe space.“People with disabilities are at an increased risk of experiencing intrapersonal violence,” said Meottel. “They are an extremely vulnerable population, and they typically are left out of these conversations or overlooked in these conversations when we’re talking about healthy relationships or things like that. We wanted to make sure that they are being included in these conversations, not just people with disabilities, but their family members, their caretakers, also the community as a whole.”Like the project with Peace House, Maker Union and its makers are eager to tackle new projects and opportunities.Peters said that what she loves about Maker Union is that they are creating a community where people with disabilities can improve their skills in areas that will help them for the rest of their lives.“My aim is to get these kids out of the basement and to give them a purpose,” said Peters, “a place to go, something to do, something that makes them feel good.”In April they moved into a well-equipped space offering laundry and kitchen facilities. Here they have taken on new projects such as folding towels for the neighboring yoga studio and odd jobs that come in through other groups and businesses.“They all come in, they wash their hands, they put on an apron. There’s no phones. You cannot sit there and text or (play) games,” explained Peters. “You’re here to work on your socialization skills.”She said they learn to be part of a true work community.“You may have been a part of a school community, maybe a church community, you know, maybe Special Olympics,” she said. “This is work. And we don’t go there and play and we don’t sit there and do something on our phone. We’re at work and we get paid.”Through this, Makers acquire essential job skills.“They love it, and they rise up to it,” she said. “They like the parameters. They want to be held to task, and then they show up.”Maker Union’s main work is making customizable gift baskets, which vary in size, products and quantity.  “We connect with people in town, like Realtors or employee gifts, things like that. And then you can come in and customize your gift basket,” said Peters. “We just ask that you buy something that was made by a maker.”Gift baskets can be customized with a selection of items from local businesses and handcrafted products made by the makers.“We take the artwork (made by makers) and we have it printed on different items,” said Peters, “so you get a really cute, high-quality item. We didn’t want it to be charity. We didn’t want it to be poor quality. We wanted to be like, ‘Oh, this is a cute neck gator ‘and then the third thing you realize about it is that, you know, somebody with a disability had a part in it or made it.”Peters said that most importantly from the community, they are looking for projects.“We’re looking for work for these people,” said Peters, “in service projects, stuffing envelopes, folding towels, decanting herb rubs, buying gift boxes would be phenomenal, because then they’re making the items, we’re making some money on the gift boxes which go back into the business, and then they have the opportunity to create and build this product, which is really exciting to watch.”For more information: makerunion.org. If you or your business is interested in purchasing gift baskets, email [email protected] post Maker Union hosts service project with Peace House appeared first on Park Record.