Artists, innovators with disabilities show off wares at 20th annual bazaar

KEALAKEKUA — For 54 years, ARC of Kona has worked to empower and provide opportunities to area residents with disabilities.

To help accomplish that, said president and chief executive officer Michele Ku, the organization has expanded to provide services islandwide with 125 employees and four satellite offices throughout the island.

On Saturday, the organization held its 20th annual bazaar, the organization’s only fundraiser. The bazaar, held near ARC’s offices in Kealakekua, attracts vendors and residents alike, all coming together to support ARC’s mission: helping those with disabilities achieve greater independence.

“There’s a lot of emphasis on employment,” Ku said of ARC’s work. “Competitive, integrated employment.”

That means opening up opportunities to people with disabilities and working with them to identify their own skills and passions.

“We really work with the individual first to determine where those interests and skills are,” said Ku.

Last year, Ku said, the event netted the organization about $9,000.

In addition to the silent auction, one of the event’s most popular attractions, ARC also raises money from vendors who pay to set up tents at the bazaar.

Saturday’s vendors included Joshua Penner, a 27-year-old Kohala resident who started J & J Enterprises with his father, John.

Joshua, who has autism, gets personal assistant services from ARC and used to live in the group home.

Starting the business, his father said, is a “true form of independence for him right here.”

The two men are in the specialty condiment business and were marketing their honey and barbecue sauces at Saturday’s bazaar.

As a Special Olympics coach, he said, he understands the importance of integration. He referred to the program’s Unified Sports, which brings together people with and without disabilities on the same team.

The same action is needed in the workforce, said John Penner, but businesses are often hesitant about hiring someone with a disability.

Everyone, he said, wants a chance at confidence and self-esteem. Providing job opportunities does exactly that.

“At least give them a shot,” he said.

John Penner said his family has been involved with ARC for at least 20 years now. He said the opportunity to market their wares at the bazaar is not only a chance to expand the business, but also a chance to give back to the organization that helped his family.

He said he hopes the condiment business will take off, allowing him to hire more people with disabilities. If the business grows, he said, he’d need people who can package and label their products.

“You have to knock on a lot of doors before they open,” he said. “But they do open.”

Just next to the Penners’ booth, Sean Conley, who is disabled, was selling a variety of wooden products.

Conley said he buys the items, which included plates, candlesticks and others, from thrift stores and then refinishes them by taking off the varnish, cleaning them up and applying olive oil.

“After I clean them up, I sell them like I’m doing now,” he said.

His mother, Mary Conley, said ARC has been a “creative outlet that no one can say you did wrong.”

“He gets really focused on it,” she said.

Sean Conley said the organization has been helpful with providing him job opportunities.

As her son gets older, Mary Conley said, the less he wants direction, so ARC is an opportunity to find projects of his own.

Lori Nakamura, who works at the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, attended the bazaar for the first time ever after years of supporting the organization.

“I totally believe in the purpose of ARC,” she said.

Nakamura said she was completely on board with the idea of integrating more people with disabilities into jobs, saying that she herself loves working with those with disabilities.

People with disabilities are often more talented than many might give them credit for, she said, so it’s crucial they be given a chance.

“That’s the key, there, is the opportunity, I think,” she said.

While Mary Conley said there are still hurdles when it comes to people’s reception of those with disabilities, much of it comes down to nervousness.

“The more that special needs can become a part of the community, the healthier it is for everyone,” she said.

She said she wished there more opportunities for housing, transportation and jobs.

In order to catch a bus, she said, her son would need to get to a stop five miles from their house at 5:30 in the morning.

“If we had something better going on, he could be more independent,” she said.