Labor Source, the supported employment division of Imagine!’s CORE/Labor Source, is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year.
To celebrate this important milestone, each week I am publicly thanking and recognizing Labor Source’s many local business partners.
Supported employment offers people who have a disability the opportunity to develop vital job skills and become active participants in their communities. The benefits extend far beyond helping our clients, however. Businesses using our services are able to reduce recruitment and training expenses as they benefit from a diversified employee pool. Partnering with CORE/Labor Source is a “win-win” situation that is beneficial all around.
We are very grateful to our business partners who have demonstrated their commitment to Imagine!’s mission by employing CORE/Labor Source participants.
Today’s Labor Source 30 for 30 partner highlight: Left Hand Brewing Company.
Left Hand’s story started in December of 1990 with a small homebrewers kit. Dick Doore, the co-founder of Left Hand, received the kit as a Christmas present from his brother. According to Dick, “it was all downhill from there.” His obsession with homebrewing led him back to Colorado in August of 1993, where he met up with a former college buddy and soon-to-be Left Hand co-founder, Eric Wallace. Fast forward to the present, and they’re prospering and growing like never before! Beginning with over 30% growth in 2010, Left Hand is breaking barrelage records each year, even making the Brewers Association’s Top 50 Craft Brewers list in 2012. What started as a humble brewhouse extension in 2008 has turned into a 5 year $9 million expansion, as the brewery races to keep up with their thirsty fans. In recent years, the brewery has added no less than six 480 barrel fermenters, an additional 500 barrel bright tank, and a new KHS keg line. Moreover, they also expanded the Left Hand property, purchasing a warehouse to house offices as well as the site of a new cooler, bringing the total brewery acreage to 5.5 acres. In the fall of 2012, they welcomed their most anticipated renovation, a new bottling line that runs four times as fast than their previous system and fills 200 bottles per minute!
Over the past year, Left Hand Brewing Company has employed 18 CORE/Labor Source participants at various times. Left Hand Brewing Company has been employing CLS participants since 2006.
Thank you, Left Hand, for your commitment to your community and to providing employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
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