After moving a bale of recycling, the executive director of FAYCO Enterprises, Inc. jumped down from the newly acquired fork-lift with a skill that revealed it wasn’t her first time at the controls. Doing what needs to be done is how FAYCO operates. As a result, more than 200 developmentally disabled adults in three counties are contributing members of their rural communities.

FAYCO's Work Partners program is a cooperative effort with the business and industrial community to find competitive employment opportunities for  workers that FAYCO has screened and ensures are qualified and able to perform the work. FAYCO also has a fully operational manufacturing plant where products are made. Although the fewest of     FAYCOs consumers are employed by the recycling program, it is the only one of its kind in the area.  It generates significant impact for multiple communities with no other provider for recycling.

FAYCO Recycling had previously operated out of a smaller, existing location with a small baler.  A state grant allowed them to purchase a larger, industrial sized baler that would significantly increase their capacity – but it was too large for their existing facility.  The executive director and Rural Development did what needed to be done; in 2013 a new building was purchased with a Community Facility loan and the new baler was moved in and put into service. However, the larger, heavier bales exceeded the specs on the old, existing forklift which had already been stretched beyond its useful life.

Again doing what needed to be done, in July 2014, Rural Development provided a Community Facilities grant to purchase two forklifts, one new and one used.  The smaller, used forklift will be located where the original, smaller baler is still in service.  The new, larger forklift will be used to move bales from the new, larger baler in the new, larger building – and both the developmentally disabled employees and the communities they serve will continue to benefit.