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Home About Us B2B Club Breaking News Contact Donate Events / Programs Feedback Ideas Incubator Industry Clusters Links / Resources Progess Funds Progress Teams Public Art / Murals Publications		Breaking News September 7, 2005 - Partnership benefits business Deb Cleworth, Daily Tribune Staff A budding relationship among Wisconsin Rapids businesses could lead to more local jobs for people with disabilities. Urban Processing in Wisconsin Rapids has partnered with Opportunity Development Centers to package Urban's chocolate-covered cranberries, and Hotel Mead has begun offering those sweet treats to its guests. ODC is a private, not-for-profit agency that offers work to people with disabilities in central Wisconsin. Urban Processing specializes in making dried cranberry products - not packaging them. So it turns to others for that job. "We take it to someone who's good at it," said Steve Berlyn, chief financial officer. "We had a place out of state that was doing it, and they weren't doing it very neatly." ODC successfully has done other jobs for Urban Processing, so Berlyn approached ODC sales manager Ann Lepak to see if employees there could help. "We pretty much do everything for Urban," Lepak said. "Being right in town, if they need something very quickly, we can turn it around and get it back to them." ODC didn't disappoint. "(The employees) do it very nicely, and we haven't had a complaint," Berlyn said. Four to five ODC employees work on packaging for Urban. Meanwhile, Hotel Mead in Wisconsin Rapids replaced its complimentary chocolate mints with Urban's milk chocolate-, dark chocolate- and white chocolate-covered dried cranberries, said Susan Smolarek, director of sales. "In going with something more local, we decided to go with Urban's because they are part of the community," Smolarek said. "We ordered 1,000 to start and we'll see how that goes." The amenities feature the Hotel Mead logo and name on a cellophane package with about a dozen chocolate-covered cranberries. All three businesses - Urban, ODC and Hotel Mead - are featured on the packaging. "This relationship has allowed ODC and our employees the opportunity to learn new skills and offer an additional service with little investment," Lepak said. "We hope to expand our customer base through offering this new service, which will increase our sales. "We'd like to grow the business so that we can automate our food-packaging capabilities." Several other community groups and businesses are using Urban's products for special events, producing more work for ODC clients and employees, Berlyn said.
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