Trophy Tour

In some of our recent purging we came across some old trophies that we really didn't need anymore but I wasn't sure what I could do with them.  I started looking for a place that would recycle the trophies and a quick search on the internet turned up a company called Revived Glory Awards.  They take donations of old trophies, disassemble and clean them, and then reuse the parts to create new trophies to sell.  The best thing about the company is that their employees are all young adults with special needs!  We are always interested in how adults with special needs use their time and are employed so I was beyond curious about this company!  I called to see if we could come check out their operation and they quickly agreed!  We also did a little trophy drive and collected about 65 trophies to add to their supply.

 

I invited my other homeschool friends and another family was able to come with us for the tour. It turns out that their company is fairly new (less than a year old) and they are still working to get their name out.  They are also very small, so they work out of their home!  In spite of everything, they put together an amazing program for the kids.  The family that started the company has a son who uses a hand-held machine to speak (he types in what he wants to say and it "speaks" the words).  He prepared a welcome and an introduction for us and then one of the other employees explained the process that they use to disassemble, sort and prepare the trophies for reuse.  They keep an inventory of parts that they pull from to fill orders for "new" trophies.  They also buy new pieces to supplement their stock.  They showed us their parts area. 

 

 

They showed us how they use the computer to engrave new name plates for the trophies.  The kids thought this was very cool!

 

They even prepared an activity to teach the kids about inventory.  They collected a bunch of rods that go inside the trophies and had the kids measure and sort them.  It was the perfect activity for our group.  I loved how excited they were to help.

 

Then they let the kids use the machine to cut the corners of the name plaques (like a corner-rounder for scrapbooking).  It took some umph but they all got it.

They were working on a large order of swim trophies.  Everything was done except attaching the name plates.  The kids had some good questions at the end. We thoroughly enjoyed our morning with them.  Of course it was more than just something for the kids to learn.  It was a little peak into what Justin's future might be like.  It was really encouraging to see the young men having such a good time.  We had a great time learning about their work too!