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Home > Archive > Aug 2, 2007

Taking Their TURN
By Cami Cox
Staff Writer
TURN Community Services, a nonprofit organization aiding adults with disabilities, is providing groceries on the go, giving employment to individuals with special needs, serving the elderly and homebound and running a business all at the same time!
An offshoot of the ARC of Washington County, TURN has been an independent entity for about four years, said Coordinator for Supported Employment Loretta Hardy. Among services TURN provides for disabled individuals are residential housing, residential coaching for those living independently, job coaching and job placement. It is through the job placement services at TURN that the grocery delivery business, Good TURN Delivery, came to be.
“The people who we do deliver to are very grateful, because they can't get out,” Hardy said. “They're usually pretty up in age and they cannot get out. They can't drive anymore, and they don't have anybody who will.”
For elderly, ill or otherwise homebound people or for those who are simply too busy to grocery shop, TURN takes a trip to the market with shopping lists in hand. Ascertaining beforehand what brands customers like and what their wants and needs are, TURN employees then do the shopping, buying and delivering for their clients, all for a $5 delivery fee, plus 15 percent of the total cost of the groceries.
A win-win-win for everyone involved, Hardy said, the grocery delivery business provides a service for customers, generates revenue for nonprofit TURN and provides employment for disabled individuals in the TURN program, for whom the delivery service is a bona fide job.
“It's their place. They get their own paycheck,” Hardy said. “It helps them to be more outgoing, become more responsible. They learn new things.”
About five disabled individuals – primarily developmentally delayed or with Down syndrome – work on the delivery crew, Hardy said, and each one has the help of a job coach (an employee of TURN) monitoring one-on-one and assisting every step of the way.
Being employed on the crew helps the TURN clients learn new skills, such as grocery shopping, which many of them may never have done before. TURN client Scott Davidson has also learned how to do bookkeeping since joining TURN's delivery crew, and he now makes financial deposits for the business, as well.
“I'm enjoying it,” Davidson said. “I've been here almost three-and-a-half years. I like this better than my previous job.”
In addition to growing in their abilities and earning money at the same time, the TURN crew members are also providing services to those in need.
Many clients love to visit with the TURN crew when they come to pick up the grocery lists, Hardy said, especially those who are homebound. A listening ear and a kind smile, therefore, become a regular part of the TURN services – at no extra charge.
“It's fun, because they make friendships, too, with the people we do grocery delivery for,” Hardy said. “They (the customers) really like everybody who delivers to them.”
TURN delivers groceries in the St. George area and to customers as far away as Hurricane. Hurricane customers generally wait to place their orders until they have a large enough grocery list to make the trip financially worth the driving distance for TURN, she said.
In addition to grocery delivery, the TURN crew also provides some cleaning services. Currently, they clean the former Department of Workforces Services building for a fee, and the TURN clients receive wages for that, as well.
In addition to in-house employment for disabled individuals, TURN also places clients at other job sites in the community. One client, for instance, works at Ross Dress For Less and another is employed at Lowe’s. They perform such tasks as unloading trucks, checking prices and stocking and cleaning shelves.
Working in cooperation with Vocational Rehabilitation, TURN endeavors to find jobs that will fit with the interests and potential abilities of each individual. Once clients are placed at their work sites, the businesses pay them wages and the state pays TURN for its job coaching services.
“We have some really awesome business managers and owners who are really supportive,” Hardy said. “We seem to luck out and find really forward thinking-type people who are owners and managers of businesses. They just really like them (the TURN clients). They say, ‘Hey, they work hard. I like them!'”

For information about employing a TURN client or for other information about TURN's services, call 673-5251. TURN Community Services is located at 334 W. Tabernacle, suite F. To schedule TURN's grocery delivery service, call Loretta Hardy at 229-5914.

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