Hazelwood Partners with Valley
Industries on Easter Egg Project

Dozens of workers at Valley Industries are busy helping the Easter Bunny fill 14,000 Easter eggs with 26,000 pieces of candy in time for the City of Hazelwood's Annual Easter Eggstravaganza, scheduled for Sat., April 23. 

The event will be held at White Birch Park, 1186 Teson Road, starting at 10 a.m. The Easter Bunny made an unexpected visit to Valley Industries recently to see how his crew was doing on preparations for this big event, which is considered one of North County's most popular egg hunts.

Sponsored by the Hazelwood Parks and Recreation Division, the Easter Eggstravaganza is a free event and open to the public. Children ages 10 and under can participate. White Birch Park will be divided up into five sections for the following age groups: Under 24 months; ages 2-3; ages 4-5; ages 6-7; and ages 8-10. Youngsters will be able to register for a bike giveaway in each age group, one for a boy and the other for a girl. Plus, the Easter Bunny is expected to hop on the scene and greet the kids and pose for photos with them. Immediately afterwards, the Piwacket Children's Theater will be presenting a "Puppet Jamboree" in the gymnasium inside the Hazelwood Community Center.

A Community Partnership Forged in Hazelwood

This Easter egg filling project is an expansion of the partnership that has developed between the City of Hazelwood and Valley Industries. The partnership began over a year ago when Hazelwood officials met with Valley Industries staff members to find a way to save the City some money by combining the mailing of the Hazelwood's Parks and Recreation Activity Guide with the City's Resident Newsletter on a quarterly basis. Instead of sending them out separately and incurring additional mailing expenses, the two publications are now shrink-wrapped together in plastic and pre-sorted for mailing by Valley Industries employees. The estimated savings by eliminating the mailing of one of these publications four times a year is approximately $10,212.

"As a result of the downturn in the economy, the City of Hazelwood was forced to make some difficult budget decisions because of the drop in sales tax revenue. We wanted to find ways of stretching our revenue in order to maintain existing services and to show residents we are good stewards of their taxpaying dollars," said Tim Davidson, Hazelwood Communications Coordinator. "By combining the mailing of both publications, we were able to save the City some money and still afford to produce them both on a quarterly basis."

Davidson also stated that the City of Hazelwood wanted to set an example for other local businesses and residents to follow. "We want to encourage our businesses and residents to shop locally and keep sales tax dollars in our city. By patronizing local businesses instead of those outside the City, the money stays here in our community which can be used to maintain the quality of services residents receive from their local government," Davidson noted.

Within 24 hours after starting the Easter egg filling project, Valley Industries workers had already finished 8,500 eggs.

Valley Industries Thrives in Hazelwood

Valley Industries became a Hazelwood business in June 2001 when it moved into its current 63,000-square-foot facility located at 143 B McDonnell Boulevard, which used to be the site for Southern Cross Lumber. The workshop purchased the property in 1999 and spent a couple of years renovating it.

This move was made because it was too costly operating two facilities in Old Towne Florissant and Olivette. Most of the 110 workers from Florissant and 75 workers from Olivette were reassigned to the Hazelwood site, which ended up being a convenient half-way point for everyone. Valley Industries currently employs 190+ workers and staff members.

According to Valley Industries Executive Director Jim Guyre, "Our employees have a work ethic that is higher than in many other industries. Most of our workforce team have 10 or more years of experience all the way up to 43 years. Our team takes great pride in a job well done. It is heartwarming to watch our workers thrive and improve over time as they gain confidence and acquire new skills."

Valley Industries' mission is to provide dignified, meaningful employment for adults with developmental disabilities, while providing outstanding quality and service to our valued customers. Its vision is to be the "employer of choice" for people with developmental disabilities. "We want people to want to come here and work because we offer great jobs," Guyre said.

The workshop specializes in kit building, collation, assembly and disassembly, packaging, shrink-wrapping, blister packaging, mailing and UPS/FedEx shipping, cleaning and commercial laundry. It's the first and only sheltered workshop in the St. Louis area to achieve ISO 9001:2008 certification through BSI America, Inc. This is an international standard on quality, which is recognized in 143 countries.

"Anybody who earns ISO-certification is always in the process of continuously improving quality. And, we define quality as customer satisfaction. So ISO-certified companies are all focused on developing their quality management system and processes in order to make sure customers are completely satisfied with what is put out," Guyre stated.

With Valley Industries' location in the heart of Hazelwood's industrial area, the workshop has been able to form productive partnerships with its neighbors such as Boeing, GKN Aerospace and Covidien on various projects. It is also actively involved in efforts to establish a Midwest China Hub at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

Those interested in learning from about Valley Industries should visit the company's website at www.valleyind.net. Also, companies interested in using the workshop's subcontract packaging and assembly services should contact Jerry Hart at 314.731.1771.