Mar 24, 2009

A shop with a missionBy Cassie NortonWickedLocal.com

Belmont, MA – On a typical weekday afternoon, the staff members at Peppermint Place are learning how to operate a cash register, how to stock inventory and how to help customers — all important tasks in the operation of a gift shop.

But these staffers are little different. These are not teenagers embarking on their first “real” jobs, or out-of-work stockbrokers struggling to remember the world beyond the corner officer.

Gifts at Peppermint Place, housed in the sunny yellow building at the intersection of Lexington Street and Trapelo Road, is a training module for Beaverbrook STEP, Inc., a non-profit community support program for adults with developmental disabilities.

With more than 30 sites in Waltham, Watertown, Brighton and Brookline, the program “helps people maximize their opportunities in the community and provides assistance with daily living,” spokeswoman Jessica Kirwan said.

Several years ago, Beaverbrook STEP experienced a surge of new high school graduates. Developmentally disabled persons age out of high school at 22, and then must find an alternative support structure, either within a residential community or with a day program like Beaverbrook. Though many are armed with a high school diploma, finding employment can be challenging.

So Beaverbrook created a place to help ease the transition from high school to the working world.

“We decided to widen the employment portion of the day program,” Kirwan said. “We had a really great opportunity to open an employment site, so we opened the store as a training module.”

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