During a normal day at SmART! Supplies in Berry Hill, you can see customers with baskets in-hand, picking out some unique items.
Things like discarded trophies, used golf balls, wine corks, and old vinyl records are simply materials waiting to be remade into someone's next art project. Bright colors on the walls reflect the energy inside, and the products are neatly organized into bins.
Just like any arts and crafts store, you can find folks busy restocking and reorganizing shelves in the back of the store.
At SmART!, Retail Manager Laurel Sprague gets help from some young volunteers from the Backyard Leadership Team.
"We just wrapped up a big sale, so we are reorganizing, restocking, and bringing in some new inventory," said Sprague.
SmART! Supplies was started a couple of years ago by Nashville Non-Profit Progress, Inc.
Progress provides support and programs for adults with intellectual disabilities and seniors in the Nashville area. SmART! Supplies is a social enterprise, meaning that all of the proceeds from sales at the store, go back into funding programs for Progress.
"Everything we sell is donated," said Kyle Graden, the Marketing and Outreach Manager for SmART! Supplies.
Those donations are taken in, sorted, and repackaged to sell for a marked-down price versus retail.
However, another aspect of the business makes it special.
"We are doing this all while employing people with intellectual disabilities,” Laurel Sprague said.
That's where SmART! Supplies employee, Diana Greer comes in.
"They'll bring the stuff in here, we'll put them in the bag, and put all the prices on them," she said, while sorting and bagging donated jewelry.
One of the goals of Progress, Inc. is to employ individuals like Diana so that they can earn a steady paycheck. Diana lives independently, and that is part of the mission for Progress.
"We've been focusing the last couple of years on employment and opportunities for people with disabilities to become employed, so SmART! is one way we do that," said Donna Goodaker, Progress Incorporated's Executive Director.
SmART! Supplies also benefits the community by taking in donations of discarded or scrap materials that might otherwise end up in a landfill.
"We call it a win, win, win.... We keep donated items out of landfills, we're also providing jobs to people with disabilities, and embracing the art community by selling arts and crafts supplies for an affordable price," said Graden.
For more information, visit http://www.smartsupplies.org/ and http://www.progress-inc.org/.
