The Orange Tree gift shop in South Orange, left, a project of JESPY House, closed in November. The gift shop served as a training center for JESPY House clients. In 2005, Jessica Michaels and Debbie Slyder, above, were among the first to receive training.
Photos by Johanna Ginsberg
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January 8, 2009
A South Orange gift shop designed to train developmentally disabled adults for jobs in retail establishments has closed, the latest victim of a stalled economy.
The Orange Tree was owned and operated by JESPY House, a beneficiary agency of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ that provides a range of services for the developmentally disabled.
The store, opened in 2005, closed its doors in November.
“It was a wonderful project, something JESPY had always dreamed of doing,” said Lois Rose, director of operations at JESPY House. “This was a very difficult decision for us.”
The store, at 10 West South Orange Ave., closed for financial reasons, she said. “This is not an easy time to have a store. We had difficulty meeting our expenses,” said Rose, who explained that the store’s objective was not to turn a profit, but to break even.
“Every year we did better than the previous year,” she said. “But every year the rent went up.”
Still, JESPY considered the store a success in terms of training disabled individuals. Since it opened, about 20 of its clients received training. Six of them “graduated” to competitive employment; the rest moved on to volunteer positions.
Rose declined to give the names of those who are now competitively employed, but said they include workers at a food franchise in Livingston, at the retail chain Avenue, and at a synagogue in South Orange.
“In addition to the job skills, the store allowed them to grow in self-esteem, dignity, and confidence. It’s a feeling of independence, knowing they can accomplish things,” said Rose.
JESPY considers even the volunteer positions a signpost of the program’s success, because the clients could not have succeeded at them without their training at the Orange Tree, according to Rose.
The Orange Tree was not JESPY House’s first commercial undertaking. During the 1990s, it worked in partnership with a company that manufactured medical filters; when the parent company moved to England, the partnership ended.
When Orange Tree opened, it was the only gift shop in the area. Since 2005, another gift shop opened next door, and several more opened in nearby Maplewood.
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