If you’re counting your blessings this Thanksgiving, meaningful work might be one of them. 

Horacio Esparza has been executive director of the Progress Center for Independent Living (PCIL) — a nonprofit organization located at 7521 Madison St. in Forest Park, which “works to provide people with disabilities the tools and resources to be independent in their own homes” — since 2008.

He lost his sight at the age of 7. “My parents,” he said, “instilled in me the fighting spirit and dignity must come first and work brings dignity. Since I was a child, I was always told that the last option to get money should be begging.”

They told him his “abilities are greater than his disabilities and his talent is even greater for learning other skills.” He confessed that the years of his youth were turbulent and posed great challenges. For a few years he survived on $700 a month from Social Security (SSI), which was nowhere near enough money to buy a house or start a family, but he never forgot what his parents had taught him.

He persevered, got a full-time job, got married, bought a house, raised a family and now has six grandchildren.

“I have all of this,” he concluded, “thanks to the fortune of having a job.”

Esparza’s nonprofit is called the Progress Center for Independent Living, but the word “independent” does not mean doing everything on your own. Some who work for PCIL need personal care assistants, who help people with daily tasks, such as bathing, dressing, and eating, to support their independence.

In Esparza’s case, adaptive technology has been a godsend. “My screen reader,” he explained, “allows me to do my job in a way I never even dreamed of being able to do.”

Michael Arscott became a staff member of Empowering Gardens in 2016 shortly after the nonprofit, now located at 7736 Madison St., was opened by Richard Biggins and Ana Solares. He was born 56 years ago with a learning and intellectual disability, the kind of disability that hinders many people from finding meaningful work. 

Michael’s story reveals how individual determination and a strong work ethic, combined with a flexible and compassionate business owner, can create a situation in which both employers and employees find meaning and success in the work they do.

Before joining the Empowering Gardens team, Biggins said, Michael worked at a car dealership in Wheaton mopping floors, starting at 7:30 in the morning. To get to work on time he would leave home in Cicero at 5:30, catch a train and two buses, and work till noon. That kind of responsibility and dedication are qualities that make him a valued employee at Empowering Gardens.

What is perhaps more important, at least to Michael, is that he looks forward to coming to work every day. It’s not just a job to make a buck. In the introduction to staff members on the nonprofit’s website, Solares wrote that Michael’s tasks at the nursery and plant store include carrying customers’ plants to their cars, helping with fundraisers and distributing flyers in the community.”

“He’s very social, independent and sweet,” she said. “He takes ownership of what needs to be done. This is not just a job to him. He feels personally responsible for helping the business succeed.”

She tells him, “I love the people in this neighborhood; they are very nice to me. It makes me feel good to help them.” 

Biggins recalled, one time while Michael was in an emergency room being treated for a bee sting, he was drumming up business for Empowering Gardens among the ER staff. “And some of them actually did stop in days later.”

The garden center’s mission, according to its website, is “providing people who have a broad range of disabilities with meaningful, long-term, career-oriented, employment opportunities in a business growing and creating excellent products for sale at competitive prices in the local market place.”

Michael’s story indicates that mission is being accomplished.

Biggins added that making meaningful work happen for people with disabilities requires not only motivated individuals, but also employers who “get it” and are flexible. For example, he noted that two alumni from Seguin (a nonprofit Biggins worked for) are now working at Trader Joe’s in Oak Park.

Trader Joe’s business model requires that every team member at the store be able to do every task. One of them, it was discovered, was unable to perform the task of putting groceries in the bags at checkout, because of her disability. But she was detailed oriented and very good at pulling product forward from the back of the shelves to the front.

What management did was alter the “uniform” to fit the person, and the other team members compensated.

Meaningful work.

I’m thankful I get to tell meaningful stories like these.