Lanakila Pacific, a nonprofit that helps people with disabilities, is ramping up a for-profit custom products division to generate more revenue for social service programs.
The agency, established in 1939 as a respite program for patients with tuberculosis, started an online store this month to sell products such as shirts, mugs, pens and flash drives to companies.
All revenue will support training and employment for people with disabilities and its popular Meals on Wheels program, which has a waiting list of more than 400 seniors.
"The plan is to increase the number of trainees, production levels and revenue to fund our other programs like Meals on Wheels," said Adam Beyer, manager of Lanakila Custom Products, which primarily does screen printing and embroidery work.
The company has been building its consumer products division to create more job opportunities for people with disabilities and make the nonprofit less dependent on donations and grants.
Lanakila serves about 2,000 people on Oahu and Kauai each year through Lanakila TLC school for disabled adults and seniors; Meals on Wheels; and Lanakila Workforce Resources, which provides job training and placement services.
In addition to its custom products business, the company also operates a for-profit catering company, Lanakila Kitchen, which prepares food for weddings and other events, as well as schools and day care centers.
"The kitchen was our main business, and now it’s shifting to custom products," said Randi Jeung, community outreach coordinator.
The division’s clients include the Hawaii Government Employees Association, Island Insurance, the Queen’s Medical Center, the University of Hawaii and Aloha Pacific Federal Credit Union.
The new online store will allow customers to place an image on a shirt or product using art that can be altered to a company’s specifications, Beyer said.
"It’s pretty new to the industry," he said. "It allows smaller screen-printers to have access to the software that the major companies have, so it gets us on the same plane as them."
The division began taking bulk orders from businesses in July 2011. Before that the company was making its own shirts and uniforms for workers in the commercial kitchen and grounds maintenance training programs.
The division has eight workers, half of them trainees, who will eventually be placed at other companies through Lanakila’s job placement service.
"The main point is to train them so they can get jobs in the community and lead independent lives," Beyer added.
Lanakila started its custom products business after winning a grant from Chaminade University’s Hogan nonprofit business plan competition. Revenue is projected to grow from nearly $200,000 in fiscal 2012 to $290,000 in fiscal 2013. By 2015 the revenue goal is $400,000.
