Filling Orders, Fulfilling Dreams

by Shannon Bond

Stepping through the door to Fulfillment House often feels like tumbling into a bowl of joy. “It’s truly the happiest place on earth,” claims Karen Lovekamp, who has been the board president since day one. “And the hugs, you know. You could be in a bad mood, and you just go in there and it changes your mood. I go in a lot of times and just eat lunch and visit, two, three, times a week, we’ve got such a good team.”

Fulfillment House was founded by Paradigm Publishing CEO Steven Thorne and his wife. As their son with special needs was transitioning from high school, which is often difficult, they looked around and decided that the best thing to do was start their own non-profit organization. This would provide the opportunities their son and others deserve. So, in 2018, Fulfillment House was born, opening its doors with a mission to provide meaningful, enriching employment to adults with special needs.

“Now we have 26 associates and four part time job coaches and three full time staff, including myself as the executive director,” Kurt Hamilton explains. “Mackenzie is design and print supervisor and Abigail is operations supervisor. We have a minimum of two job coaches and Abigail, which lets us have nine associates, at least, working at a time.” But Hamilton, who took over as the executive director last year, is looking to grow.

“We’ve got such a good team in there now, I feel like they’re family,” Lovekamp says. And that’s what she’s been looking for all along. “When Steve talked about starting Fulfillment House, he ran these ideas off me. He said, ‘we’d like you to be the president,’ but I’d never been the president of anything before,” Lovekamp says, as she thinks back to the beginning. But she understood the need and the mission. Previously, she had worked as a para-professional, assigned to Steve’s son all through elementary school. That’s where her passion for supporting people with special needs took root. And as she describes it, she became a grandmother and close friend of the family. After he moved on to high school, she decided to return to her family-owned construction company, but it was hard to match the dedication and passion she had felt as a para-professional. So, when the opportunity arose, despite her reservations about running a board, she dove in. Lovekamp remembers the beginning well and describes how Steve told her that she was the right person for the job and that they had faith in her. She could do the job. “And so I did, and never looked back.” Six years later, she’s still at it and as passionate as ever.

“It has been the best experience I’ve ever had. We have great board members.” Since those early days, she’s learned how to lead the board, give public speeches off-the-cuff, manage the books for Fulfillment House and even work as the executive director when the pandemic came crashing down. She showers her board with praise, explaining how they have mentored her along the way, helping her grow into the role. Each of them brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from business ownership, leadership roles, and even school district positions in special education.

But what does Fulfillment House do?

The associates and job coaches provide warehouse and shipping services for companies across the United States and Canada. Once a contract is established, companies (or individuals) use Fulfillment House to manage inventory and shipping. When a customer order is received, associates package, label, and ship products directly to customers. They handle everything from financial books to word search books and neck pillows. But it has taken some time and several executive directors to get where they are now. “I was in the trenches until Kurt came on with us last year. There were two times that I stepped in and worked as the executive director and I volunteered every day and did the books between directors. We all had to step in as a board at one time and everybody took pieces of the job,” Lovekamp explains. She’s no stranger to hard work and dedication after starting a construction company with her husband out of their garage. It took years of hard effort to grow that company. But she would rather focus on her board duties now, with an eye on strategic growth. It’s an active board, she explains, with each member sitting on two committees. She makes appearances throughout the year on each committee. And all the board work is unpaid, volunteer work by each member. That’s one reason she was excited for Hamilton to take the reins. If he focuses on growth, she can focus on the board, even though she has to step down as the president for one year this fall. According to the board bylaws board presidents can only serve for six years, but she will remain on the board and is determined to step back into the president role with the full support of her colleagues.

“I feel that everyone here is vested in the mission and supports the mission. The morale of that is addictive and it’s addictive to work with other people that are excited to work,” Hamilton says. Before Fulfillment House, Hamilton served as the executive director of the Kearney Enrichment Council, growing that non-profit to a million-dollar organization at one point. But after almost six years, he felt that he had taken the organization as far as he could and it was time to pass the reins. So, when the opportunity to join Fulfillment House came, he dipped his toe in, then a cautious step, and then a full dive. “Here, if I do a good job, I can find a way to impact associates’ lives, increasing their quality of life. That’s why we do the trips, too. This impact of working with adults with special needs, I will carry for the rest of my life. I was oblivious to the world of it, like most people are.”

Out of the gate, Kurt stood up a new printing and design function at Fulfillment House. The service requires a third-party contract to rent the large professional printer, and training for a full-time staff member, who can then help associates operate the machine. Customers can now submit print and design requests and staff and associates will fulfill them. Anything from business cards to posters to magazines.

“Big step right now is creating a fully functioning printing division that creates more job opportunities for people that don’t have them. And not only does it create more job opportunities, it’s creating more skills and opportunities for the associates we already have. So, instead of just improving motor skills by fulfilling orders, we can work on customer service, relationship, and actual communicative tools for the associates.”

And the goal for 2025 is to add enough customers to grow into a second location. More print customers, more fulfillment contracts, more associates and jobs. But it’s more than providing a job, Lovekamp and Hamilton agree. At Fulfillment House, associates belong to a community where they otherwise might not. Parents can drop them off for work, usually three days a week, and it gives them a group of friends to hang out with. The day starts with a meeting and Abigail, the operations manager, usually has a leading question, such as what their favorite movie is or what they did over the weekend.

The associates sit around a long table laughing, discussing, and socializing. After morning meeting, it’s off to work printing or packaging or labeling. Each package shipped by Fulfillment House comes with a custom card explaining the nature of their package service and who packed it. At lunch, they socialize more and after, if the work is done, associates are led through activities by their coaches. Cooking, crafting, or another activity, each aimed at helping develop cognition and communication skills.

Associates learn to cook and make crafts

“We’re doing cooking right now. We learned how to make sushi, we learned how to make tofu, we learned what the spiciest chip was and did a challenge with it. Abigail does a really good job with pushing the boundaries of things they wouldn’t normally try,” Hamilton says.

And the community doesn’t stop when the work hours do. At least once a month they are all invited to an activity such as a movie or pool party. And on Fridays, groups of high school students with special needs volunteer along with their teachers. It’s a way for high school students to explore their job prospects. Fulfillment House isn’t the only option in town and the other organizations let the high-schoolers come in and volunteer as well. But Fulfillment House is special, Hamilton and Lovekamp say, because they pay a fair wage and offer social and community opportunities. Sitting at his desk, becoming more animated as he explains the details, Hamilton says that if they do expand to a second location, associates will have more opportunities to grow and connect with their communities. “Some people can help tape boxes, some people can work as cashier, move the boxes, and it gives a level of associate progression.” In essence, when one skill is mastered, they can move on to more complex work. “And instead of creating a singular work ability where we’re all doing the same thing, which is what we do now, we take books, we put in envelope, we go home, we’re creating levels and advancement opportunities so associates can not only progress here, but they can also go to other employment opportunities, and maybe get jobs other places.”

Associates fill 9,000 to 15,000 orders every month

This, he says, will help folks see that people with special needs can be independent and valuable parts of the community. And it works, because at Fulfillment House, they fill about 9,000 to 10,000 orders in a regular month and up to 15,000 in some months, giving associates meaningful work they can be proud of. And unlike some other non-profits that employ people with special needs, Fulfillment House pays minimum wage for a day’s work instead of a small amount per order filled. But, he adds, with a business model that supported advancement internally, Fulfillment House would have plenty of retention opportunities and wouldn’t have to turn anyone away because they were too advanced. It’s a delicate balance between profit, employment, and the associate’s capabilities. But taking on business simply for profit has never been an option, as Lovekamp explains, “We won’t do anything unless our associates can do it. We’re just not going to do something they cannot be involved in. And we’ve turned down work that would not work for our associates.”

For design, printing, warehousing, and shipping needs, customers can find them at www.thefulfillmenthouse.org.