Saltability, a spa industry vendor that provides quality Himalayan salt stone treatments and products for spas, has partnered with Lake Area Industries (LAI) for fulfillment of product packaging and labeling. As a nonprofit organization, LAI employs approximately 70 developmentally disabled people in Camden County, MO. Since April 2016, LAI workers have been weighing and bagging Himalayan salts and labeling Saltability products for wholesale and retail purchase. LAI’s overall mission is to provide job skills and training to developmentally disabled individuals to help them achieve their greatest potential. “We are there to support, encourage, provide job skill training, and give workers a setting where they are among their peers,” says LAI executive director Tiffany Maasen. “We understand their physical limitations and adapt to help them. We focus on abilities, not disabilities.”
Spa industry veteran Ann Brown developed Saltability to offer a more environmentally friendly, healthier alternative to a traditional stone massage. Saltability works closely with spa partners to train therapists on specific protocols for its Himalayan salt stone massages, manicures, and pedicures as well as to equip spas with Himalayan salt stone enhancements and products for retail sale. “As a new and growing company, we are continually searching out the best ways to do business—from an efficiency and cost standpoint and in consideration of what lines up best with who we are,” says Brown. “I want everything we do at Saltability to be filled with intention and a spirit of giving back to others. Choosing LAI for support enables us to maintain quality for our product packaging and helps employ those who may not be able to work otherwise.”
Through LAI and Saltability, employees are able to earn a paycheck and contribute to the local economy. Also, in accordance with state and federal guidelines, LAI pays per piece for the work produced, and workers are able to work and earn according to their abilities with some earning higher than minimum wage. “We bid jobs at competitive rates that any for-profit company would bid,” says Maasen. “Some of our employees are limited by physical ability, and here they are able to sit in a comfortable, climate-controlled environment. Our employees are really proud of the job they do, and they are careful to provide quality work. They love being part of something and doing something they can see in the marketplace.”