Making Jump Ropes Gives Disabled Workers A Lifeline

PORT TOWNSEND - Rainbow-hued jump ropes have created a golden opportunity for disabled workers at a small company located in a quiet corner of Port Townsend Industrial Park.

Skookum Jump Rope Co. - Skookum is a Northwest Indian term meaning ``well-built'' - makes jump ropes and sells them to schools and retail outlets around the region. Skookum's directors say the company is so successful it may be able to move to national markets.

Demand is increasing for the brightly colored plastic ropes, made of dazzling blue, yellow and red plastic beads and tubing.

``We're very positive about the prospects for growth. We are preparing to grow,'' said Jim Westall, a special-education teacher at Port Townsend High School and co-founder of the non-profit corporation.

But financial success is only a shade of Skookum's general purpose - work and social training for the developmentally disabled. The workers are ``extremely handicapped but extremely conscientious,'' he said.

Westall and his wife, Elisa, co-founded Skookum in 1982 with Port Townsend School District as a vocational-education tool for disabled students. Skookum operated on school-district property until 1985, when it moved to the industrial park, but it is part of the school district. About 30 students have been employed at the firm since its beginning.

To Westall, Skookum is part of the school's mission to train the disabled for lifelong employment. The disabled workers are paid for their efforts.

``Our biggest obligation is to the most seriously handicapped,'' Westall said, ``because they have the least chance of employment.''

Many remain with Skookum after they leave the school system. The district pays the salary of Jennifer Miller, production supervisor and trainer. Miller will leave Skookum this fall after two years to pursue an advanced degree in psychology.

The company operates as a cooperative venture, Westall said. Miller trains and supervises employees, Elisa Westall does the bookkeeping, and Jim Westall acts as school-district liaison. Freida Finn, the only company-paid employee, handles invoices. The Westalls donate their time.

Another important element is volunteers. Greg MacMillan, for example, organized a time-management plan, and Bruce Spinney built production equipment. The company also got a boost from the Jefferson County Economic Development Council, which helped get a $17,000 state loan for product development and marketing.

All the teamwork paid off this year when Skookum won a community-service award from the Washington State Department of Economic Development.

``It was a good reinforcement for us,'' Elisa Westall said. The award recognized Skookum as a company that typified community service for its training of the disabled.

The state loan was critical to Skookum's growth, enabling it to buy new neon-colored tubing and to create four new products.

The neon colors have been well-received, and if production continues to increase, the company might have to hire another trainer, Jim Westall said.

Skookum produced 40,000 ropes in 1989 but is on track to turn out almost 70,000 in 1990. Output was 2,000 in 1982, rising to 10,000 in 1987.

The key to successful production is knowing the workers' abilities, Miller said.

``The kids are all different,'' she said. ``They need different kinds of attention. Working with them, you need to track what's going on, and have a sense of who needs what when.''

Jump-rope manufacturing is well-suited to training the disabled because it is a simple, repetitive process, Jim Westall said. But Skookum's main goal is preparing its workers for productive lives.

``We don't just work with them on beading plastic on a string,'' Elisa Westall said. ``We help them with goals and appropriate social behavior for work and what it is to be responsible in a working place.

``It's about figuring out the whole person and creating something that can go on forever.''