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Mid-Nebraska Individual Services recycling center does well by doing good

Rarely does one find honest-to-goodness entrepreneurial business people in the non-profit sector of the economy, but Mid-Nebraska Individual Services Area Manager Lori Erickson proves you can do good and still do well.

In 1995, Erickson was instrumental in starting a recycling business in Oxford to provide productive employment for her clientele of developmentally disabled Nebraskans. According to Erickson, the organization’s mission of teaching developmentally disabled people to be independent, self sufficient and productive inspired her to start the recycling center.

“We strive to add productive work into each client’s daily schedule,” she said, “and toward that end, we developed Mid-Nebraska recycling services.” Erickson believes recycling benefits the community as well as the individuals in the Mid-Nebraska program because it allows them to be seen as productive members of their community.

“When clients perform productive work, they feel proud and they know when they’re doing something useful instead of simulated work,” she said.

A career of helping others

Erickson calls herself a “farm kid” who grew up north of Holdrege and graduated from Holdrege High School and the University of Nebraska at Kearney. While still in high school she volunteered at the Ragan School for the Developmentally Disabled and tapped into what would become her passion and career path.

“I have a passion to watch people grow and to nurture their development,” Erickson said. During college she did her field work at what was then known as the Bethpage Mission, and her first job after college graduation was with Mosaic.

The idea for the recycling center was suggested by the Village of Oxford’s Economic Development Director, Erickson said, but she was immediately in favor of it.

Since its inception in 1995, the center has grown to include Holdrege, Edison, Orleans, Stamford and Arapahoe. Erickson says that whenever possible, they prefer to have each community own its own equipment, which can include industrial-sized paper shredders, paper and cardboard balers, a granulator to shred plastic into pellets, and an industrial can masher as well as a truck, trailers, and recycling containers.

A real job for developmentally disabled

“We employ 36 full and part-time staff, of which 35 are Mid-Nebraska clients,” Erickson said. “Our clients are paid by piece rate, and each one earns between $20 and $300 a month.”

Wood, paper, cardboard, tin, aluminum and plastic are recycled at the Oxford plant. In addition, the Village of Oxford wrote and was awarded a grant to purchase a large wood chipper, so now Mid-Nebraska clients follow a sawmill along the Republican River cleaning up branches and trees that are left over or brought down by storms. The company sells the chips for landscaping to Alma, Arapahoe and Cambridge as well as to local turkey growers.

 “We collect and bale newspapers, cardboard, tin and aluminum,” says Erickson.  “We granulate plastic milk containers and sell it back to a company in Kearney that forms it into picnic tables and bird houses.”

Staying on top of business issues

Erickson thinks of the recycling center in terms of profit and loss statements, and even though Mid-Nebraska’s primary goal is to integrate disabled people into their community, she plans on breaking even and even making a profit in the recycling business.

“Cardboard and newspaper bring the most profit,” says Erickson. “We sell them in Hutchinson, Kansas to a paper manufacturing company.” Mid-Nebraska also owns a machine that compresses aluminum cans into 45 pound blocks which are sold to a firm in Kearney.

Mid-Nebraska Individual Services is the biggest employer in Oxford and the only recycling center of its type in the region. In addition to recycling, Mid-Nebraska contracts with Baldwin Manufacturing in Kearney and with L&S Industries and the Oriental Trading company in Omaha to assemble and package products.

“We are always looking for paid, productive work for our clients,” Erickson said.

Mid-Nebraska maintains separate accounts for each segment of their business.  Erickson says, “We hire a bookkeeper and stay on top it.”

 “We’re very supportive of rural enterprise,” says Erickson. “We try to sell to industries in small rural communities, and we spend as much money as we can in the communities we service.”

Plans for the future

With the help of the Oxford Village Board, Mid-Nebraska is expanding into a new building in 2007 which will house several recycling processes as well as offices for staff and meeting rooms for clients.

Erickson said they intend to build a dock where they can park a semi, load it, and then haul it off fully loaded. “A loading dock will expedite shipping products,” she said.

Erickson hopes to increase the number of recycling contracts Mid-Nebraska handles in the region. “We want to do more marketing for our recycling business and get more people to recycle. We’re always tossing ideas around on how to make it easier for the public to recycle.”

Erickson said they are trying to get communities to reward the people who recycle, and ask trash haulers to penalize the people who don’t.

“We need to educate people about the benefits recycling has for everyone,” Erickson said. “Community support is tremendous in rural Nebraska, and if the community members find a cause they believe in, they back up your business. Reducing the use of the landfills is an advantage to every community, and communities help us  grow our business.”

Advice for entrepreneurial non-profits

“Know your community and its needs,” Erickson suggests to others who may want to follow in her footsteps. “Make it a point to know who the key people and community leaders are and ask for their support. Everybody’s opinion counts so take every opportunity to talk with people and speak at service clubs. Seek out positive people who share your vision.”

Erickson acknowledges it often means long hours and hard work. But for her, it’s worth it.

“Building self esteem for the developmentally disadvantaged people who live in our communities, and  seeing people learn and become more independent and part of the community makes it all worth while.”

Who To Contact...

Lori Ericson
Mid-Nebraska Individual Services, Area Manager
504 West Derby
P.O. Box 367
Oxford, NE 68967
308-824-3283
mnisoxfl@swnebr.net

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