By KIM KUMMER
Deseret Industries of Provo will move into its new facility in two phases, beginning mid-February, in order to consolidate its local operations.
The drop-off facility at 740 W. Columbia Lane and the productions department, which includes receiving, sorting, cleaning, minor repairs and pricing, will be moved in the first phase.
After the first-phase move, the drop-off building on Columbia Lane will be demolished and made into a parking lot. The sales floor is slated to move mid-April and a grand opening of the completed facility is scheduled for late May.
The sales floor will remain open for regular operations during regular hours, said Perry Jensen, unit manager for the Provo D.I.
The present facilities are about 110,000 square feet. The new building will be about 94,000 square feet. Benefits of the newer, smaller building include the centralization of all operations in one building, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' employment facility on site and a covered, heated drop-off area, said Kerry Ellis, production manager of Provo D.I.
According to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, D.I. was established in August 1938. In a letter to LDS congregations of the Salt Lake Valley dated Aug. 11, 1938, the First Presidency and Presiding Bishopric asked for 'contributions of clothing, papers, magazines, articles of furniture, electrical fixtures, metal and glassware' from all households.
The letter explained that the organization would make 'periodic collections of these materials from homes ... and employ men and women to sort, process and repair the articles collected for sale and distribution among those who desire to obtain usable articles ... at a minimum cost.'
The D.I. program was implemented specifically for members who could not obtain work elsewhere and the elderly. It was operated under the Church Security Plan, now known as Church Welfare services.
'Our goal is to make trainees more competitive in the job market,' Jensen said.
All our temporary employees are referred to as trainees, but jobs continue as long as the need exists. About 50 percent of those in the program have work behavior problems or handicaps, Jensen said.
The Provo facility employs about 200 personnel, including permanent staff and trainers. Trainees include women returning to the work field, LDS missionaries in need of work before or after their missions, people needing skill training and those seeking work, Ellis said.
Training is available in maintenance, custodial, merchandising, cashiering, secretarial, antiques, warehouse and culinary skills in the on-site employee cafeteria. Some limited training is available in areas of computers, truck driving and security. There is a heavy training emphasis on English as a second language, Jensen said.
Some trainees need behavior modification for things like tardiness, personal hygiene, physical disabilities, paranoid behavior and other emotional disabilities, Jensen said.
According to the D.I. Web site at www.mormons.org/daily/welfare/deseret_industries_eom.htm, people are generally referred for work by an LDS leader. The individual receives a rehabilitation worker and supervisors who write a program that incorporates interactive and work-related skills. The program is then closely monitored. Local members of the LDS Church sometimes receive callings to work with these individuals.
D.I. then coordinates with LDS employment workers, who help trainees put resumes together and improve interviewing skills for permanent employment in the community. Having the employment office in the building will facilitate this process of the program, Ellis said.
D.I. employment helps people help themselves. Jensen said he watched a woman in her 30s open her first paycheck and begin to cry. She told him she was going to buy her mother a present.
'It's been said that other retail establishments use people to move goods, and we use the goods to move people,' Ellis said.
In the process of moving people, many interesting items are donated. Among the most unusual were an 18-piece marijuana pipe collection, a box of live puppies with the mother dog tied to the drop-off box, cats and goldfish, Ellis said.
D.I. doesn't accept firearms and ammunition but they show up anyway. One month, in Seattle, four stun guns were donated. They were turned over to the police, Jensen said.
'There's stuff you get and you have no idea what it is used for,' Ellis said.
The Provo facility, which is one location of 48, receives approximately 3.5 million pounds of clothing per year. About 17 percent of that is sold or used to fill a bishops' order. Items are kept on sales racks between three and four weeks. The remaining 2.9 million pounds of clothing is sent to Salt Lake City for worldwide humanitarian relief, he said.
The largest amount of donations come to the drop-off facility. About 25-30 percent come from LDS stake drives, and about 15 percent come from people calling for a truck pick-up, Ellis said.
Occasionally, people will buy new items to donate or stores will donate merchandise, Jensen said.
Heavy donation times are when people do spring cleaning or when BYU students move in or out of the area, Ellis said.
D.I. also provides non-food commodities for LDS members in need and processes a lot of bishops' orders every day, Ellis said.
One bishop's order came in for a family who lost all their belongings in a house fire. The order included a vacuum cleaner and there was none on the premise. One particular trainee kept saying, 'I know we'll find one, I just know it.'
The order was filled and the family was ready to leave when a cry came up from the drop-off dock, 'We got a vacuum.' It was rushed through the process and used to finish the family's order, Jensen said.
Many local people also benefit from the program. Francis Eddinger, 87, lives on a small, fixed income. She finds the clothes clean and the clerks pleasant.
'I love to hunt for values, and I get a kick out of that,' she said. 'I could spend a day in there. It's a good way to pass the time.'