Published:
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sherwood Services barks up the dog-treat tree
By M.L. Dehm
SCBJ Freelance Writer
LAKE STEVENS — A new micro-business has come to Snohomish County. It's ALL Good is baking up all-natural dog treats from human-grade ingredients. Proceeds from product sales support services for local people with disabilities.
The new business is the brainchild of Sherwood Community Services in Lake Stevens. Sherwood is a nonprofit that provides services, including job training and placement, for the disabled.
According to Executive Director Michelle Fogus, It's ALL Good is the first of what they hope will be a handful of social enterprises designed to support those with disabilities in the local community.
“There are a lot of nonprofits going this direction,” Fogus said. “One of the reasons is that all of the revenue streams have been decreasing but the need has not.”
That need includes finding community employment for the disabled. Recently released figures from the U.S. Department of Labor put unemployment rates for disabled workers at more than 16 percent.
It is a misleading figure that should be much higher. Many with disabilities are no longer actively seeking a job despite a national trend to move such workers out of sheltered employment situations and into the main community workplace.
It's ALL Good's first employee had very a hard time finding work. The disabled high school graduate had been job hunting with a Sherwood job developer for a year in hopes of finding part-time employment in either a gym or the food-service industry.
She was excited when Sherwood offered her a job preparing and packaging It's ALL Good treats. Sherwood hopes that this job experience will allow her to eventually springboard into a position in her chosen career field one day.
“She's been a great employee and learned really quickly,” said Callie Graff, a Sherwood workshop quality manager.
Graff also oversees about two dozen individuals with disabilities in a workshop on site. There they create kits for companies such as Boeing and Comcast or learn other job skills. Now Graff is overseeing and developing recipes for It's ALL Good.
Currently, It's ALL Good has three dog treat flavors — peanut butter bones, banana stars (which are vegan and entirely grain-free) and a seasonal offering of pumpkin gingerbread. Other flavors are in development, including a bacon maple bar.
“It's in round two of testing so it shouldn't be too much longer,” Graff said.
Graff is a dog owner herself and uses her own dogs as well as those of co-workers and others as taste testers. She has worked with several dogs with skin issues and is aware of how hard it is to find treats that are acceptable for them.
“We look for low-allergy flours so there is no wheat, corn or soy and no added salt or sugar,” Graff said. “We try to add really good ingredients. For example, flax seed is really good for dogs' coats and honey has antioxidants.”
The treats are shaped, baked and then dehydrated and packed in eight-ounce bags. A 16-ounce bag is planned for the near future. Eventually, plans are to expand to other pet related products such as cat treats or dog toys.
Currently, Sherwood is working with a distributor to get more stores to stock It's ALL Good treats.
There also are plans for more social enterprises to help with both funding and job training for the disabled.
“We've been looking at the possibility of opening a cafe here on the grounds as a training place for people to get hands-on experience and hopefully use it as a springboard to community employment,” Fogus said.
Such an enterprise would benefit from someone in the local restaurant community stepping up to volunteer as a consultant, she said.
Other ideas that are being considered include manufacturing easy-to-grip specialty bar soaps or using some of the Sherwood grounds to grow produce to sell at local farmers markets.
Through the organization's Career Connection, Sherwood already offers job matching and placement for local businesses. Employers willing to hire a disabled worker part time, even for as little as two hours a week, can have a Sherwood job developer assist with training and placement of that worker.
On the Web
Learn more about It's ALL Good dog treats on Facebook at tinyurl.com/ItsAllGoodTreats or on Twitter at twitter.com/ItsALLGoodPets or by calling 425-334-4071.
Find out about Sherwood Community Services or hiring a part-time disabled worker with the help of Sherwood's Career Connection at www.sherwoodcs.org or 425-334-4071.
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