Gruenert Director: 'Craig Is a Hard and Happy Worker'

Just like many of us, Craig Smitheman gets up every weekday and goes to work. He catches a ride in a van designed for his wheelchair, heads from his home in Columbus House at the to the Gruenert Center in Lake Hopatcong to put in a day’s work.

At the Gruenert Center, Smitheman spends the morning working on a variety of tasks. They can include collating packets of paper, stuffing and stamping envelopes or shredding paper.

“My work is good,” Smitheman said. “I like working with the papers and collating them.”

This is part two of a three-part series spotlighting Craig Smitheman and the DPD. On Wednesday we introduced Craig and the DPD. On Friday, we’ll look at Craig’s background and how he ended up at the DPD.

The DPD has a wide variety of jobs for its residents, according to the Gruenert Center’s director, Kathy DeYoung.

“We have contracts with many different businesses,” she said. “We do paper shredding for PetPourri, make boxes for Top Con, prepare mailings for the Knights of Columbus and clean at various commercial buildings, like .

The workers are paid for their work. DeYoung explained that, for a mailing, the Gruenert Center staff counts how many pieces workers can complete in five minutes, and multiplies that to configure the prevailing hourly wage.

"Craig is a hard and happy worker," DeYoung said. "He's a little on the quiet side when he's at work, but he's very pleasant."

After a break for lunch, Smitheman spends the afternoon working on ceramics pieces. The Gruenert center has a whole room for ceramics, with paints for decorating and kilns for completing the pieces.

The DPD then sells the decorative pieces after masses at  and other events. Workers are paid 50 percent of whatever a pieces sells for.

“They do very well with ceramics,” DeYoung said. “It’s not uncommon for us to make about $2,000 after masses near the holidays, when people are buying decorations ad gifts.”

Residents also have fun at the Gruenert Center. The enter offers specialty groups such as current events, scrapbooking, a book club, a computer club, a cooking group, a luncheon group and a talent show.