Employees at Lakestate produce wooden furniture for national outdoor organizations and produce about 50 pieces a week.
ESCANABA -- Despite the gloom and doom of the economy, some U.P. businesses are managing to maintain production and their work force.
That includes Lakestate Industries in Escanaba, which is a vocational training facility for those with disabilities and other barriers to employment.
Dennis Diener has been working at Lakestate Industries for close to 10 years. He, along with the 120 other employees, including Charles Kirk, are managing to keep busy during this rough economic time.
"Oh yes! I like the people. It's fun," said Diener.
"I do like it here, I like the people," explained Kirk. "I like the jobs and pretty much get along with everybody."
Employees at Lakestate produce wooden furniture for national outdoor organizations and produce about 50 pieces a week. They also help produce pallets for shipping.
"Despite the gloom and doom we hear everyday about people being laid off and people out there looking for jobs, there are 120 people here with barriers to employment that are coming to work every week and earning a paycheck and we're not laying anyone off," explained Lakestate Executive Director, Cheryl Ohman.
Ohman feels their success has a lot to do with the variety of work and products they sell. If one product doesn't seem to be selling well, others pick up the slack. Lakestate officials say their best seller has to be their square foot garden. So far this month, they've sold almost as many as they did last summer.
One of the newer products are their fire-starters, which are made from recyclable products. And they're selling them both locally and to businesses across the U.P.
But the work represents more than just a paycheck for the Lakestate employees.
"You know, it's really cool to know they're coming here, earning a paycheck and they're providing for themselves and are an asset to our community," Ohman said.
If things keep going well for Lakestate, officials hope to expand by opening up a store to sell more of their products locally.
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