Today we’d like to introduce you to Hutch Matteson.
Hutch, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In June of 2011, I stepped away from a 25-year career in local church ministry to found, together with my wife Cindy, The PIER Foundation. Our vision was to create a business that would allow us to provide jobs, job skills and life skills training for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
We did not realize it at the time, but the vision for The PIER was birthed in us in 1990 when we were blessed to have our oldest son, Josh, born into this world. Josh was born with trisomy 21, better known as Down Syndrome. Josh has been a huge blessing to his brother and two sisters, as well as his mom and dad. His being in our family has impacted everyone and everything we do.
As Josh was approaching aging out of the school system, age 22, we looked extremely hard to find a place that he could earn a paycheck and the dignity that that brings. He worked at a Ci Cis Pizza for about 5 years. That was a good experience for him, but when they had a change of management, we could no longer have confidence that he would be well cared for and allowed to serve as he had.
After a lot of searching, praying and working, we decided that we needed to start something for Josh and the many others like him in North Georgia. So, in June of 2011 The PIER Foundation was birthed.
Today we employee 23 adults with disabilities through The PIER Thrift Store & Consignment Center. In January of 2016, we changed our doing business as name to The PIER Center for Life Enrichment to better reflect our evolution as an entity.
We also established The PIER Center for Life Enrichment Day Program in January of 2016. This Day Program allows us to have a greater impact into the lives of this underserved part of our community and their families. The Day Program is a Monday through Friday program that focuses on the development of individual needs and interests. We have a partnership with our local YMCA where each member of our Day Program gets a membership, which aids in their physical health and development. We also make our own brand of dog treats, Ellie Mae’s Sweet Treats, that we sell in our store and in about 5 other stores locally. We have established an Aktion Club, a part of the Kiwanis Club International, where our guys and gals serve in all of the leadership roles, and this is where we focus on giving back to our community. The Day Program volunteers to serve weekly at a local assisted living center and the Aktion Club volunteers monthly at variety of other non-profits. Once a week they are out in the community shopping for supplies, delivering dog treats and having lunch at a local restaurant. Each of these outings is designed to help our guys grow and develop their life skills in every way.
Our long-range goal is the development of a residency program here in North Georgia. Our vision is for a live, work and play community. This unique approach will allow us to fulfill our mission of opening doors of opportunity for adults with disabilities every day!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No, the road to where we are today has been filled with lots of hard work, persistence and sweat equity. Getting our doors open in 2011 was extremely difficult due to a local Fire Inspector.
After many, many run ins we contacted our State Representative and we were open for business within 48 hours. A regular obstacle we are seeking to change is the way typical people view adults with disabilities. We are making huge strides in this area but there is always someone else who needs to see the abilities these guys and girls have rather than their disability.
Please tell us about The PIER Center for Life Enrichment.
We are a business that provides high quality resale products of every kind. Our store has about 15,000 square feet. We employ adults with disabilities. we make our own products including our line of upcycled furniture we call PIER Originals, and Ellie Mae’s Sweet Treats for dogs. We are most proud of the growth we have seen in each and every one of the guys and gals in our program!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Start with more than $7,000 in the bank.
Contact Info:
- Address: Hutch Matteson, President and Founder
The PIER Center for Life Enrichment
5185 Browns Bridge Rd.
Cumming, GA. 30041 - Website: www.thepiercenter.org
- Phone: 678-455-7437
- Email: hutch@pierfoundation.org
- Instagram: thepierthriftstore
- Facebook: The PIER Thrift Store & Consignment Center
- Other: The PIER Foundation
