The
Point Restaurant
45 W. Pike Street Covington, KY 41011
For
a couple of dollars, you can get a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit
for breakfast, and for lunch, a deli-style sandwich or Chicken
Caesar Salad for a few dollars more. But, at The Point Restaurant,
so-named because its location on the triangular piece of land
where Seventh Street and Pike Street meet at Washington Street
at the edge of downtown Covington, your dollar buys more than
the standard breakfast or lunch fare. The restaurant was established
in 1982 by the non-profit organization now know as ARC of Northern
Kentucky to provide employment and training opportunities for
Northern Kentucky's residents with mental retardation and development
disabilities.
This unique facility has lent its name to a cluster of businesses
and services serving Northern Kentucky's developmentally disabled
population, and the name "The Point" is synonymous with
ARC of Northern Kentucky. Founded in 1972 as NKAR, The Point's
Mission is to provide educational, vocational, residential and
social opportunities to persons with mental retardation / development
disabilities. It is a full service agency that is committed to
securing, for all people with mental retardation, the opportunity
to reach their highest potential." It is a non-profit agency
with a 2002 annual budget of $2.2 million and receives the majority
of its funding-87%-from its programs and the community.
The
Point Restaurant, open weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. serves
breakfast -- toast, bagels, and egg biscuits -- and lunch -- fresh
salads, sandwiches on homemade bread and soups. More importantly,
it provides a fresh serving of self-esteem to the mentally retarded
and developmentally disabled students and adults who, through
The Point's training programs, learn real-life skills. The workers
learn how to run a restaurant, giving them marketable skills for
future employers, but they also learn what it takes to be a good
employee, essential skills such as getting to work on time, calling
in when you're sick, punching a time card and listening to the
boss.
Since the restaurant opened in 1982, 10 people a year have been
trained at The Point. At any one time, in addition to the manager
and his assistant, and the cashier, there are three trainees helping
to prepare and serve breakfast and lunch.
The
Point Restaurant also provides catered box lunches and sandwich
trays. The lunches are assembled and boxed by trainees and are
delivered to door-to-door. For more than 10 lunches, 24 hours
notice is required, but fewer than 10 lunches can be ordered for
the same day. Prices range from $4.95 to $7.95 person.
Building on the success of the restaurant, in 1985, The Point's
Commercial Cleaning Company was established 1985. The Point's
cleaning crews clean several offices throughout Northern Kentucky,
on either a daily, weekly and bi-monthly basis. In 1996, The Point
opened its commercial laundry facility kitty-corner from the restaurant
in Covington. The laundry, which moved to Dayton, Kentucky, tripled
its business in February 2003, employs 8 persons with disabilities
full-time and provides jobs to 16 low-income residents of the
inner city and 4 trainees on staff at all times. Judi Gerding,
executive director, notes with pride that all of the Laundry employees
"walk, ride their bikes or TANK to work everyday. When we
moved to Dayton, all of our employees came with us." The
Point Laundry washes 3 million pounds of laundry for downtown
Cincinnati hotels and a floating casino in nearby southeastern
Indiana.
The Laundry is one of the few commercial laundries in the Midwest
to clean with oxygen and cold water. The benefit of this process
for the customer is linens that last longer, look whiter and fell
fluffier. A bonus is the Point's service -- delivery and pick-up,
everyday of the week.
To provide on-going job placement, ARC started the Point Employment
Service in 1985. The employment service places trained clients
from all the The Point companies in jobs throughout Northern Kentucky.
The employment service maintains a staff of full and part-time
job coaches that work with clients before, during and after they
are hired to provide on-going counseling and guidance to both
the employee and his or her employer. As Greg Gannon, Media Director
for ARC of Northern Kentucky, notes, "we are a business and
our products is people." For the past year, the Point Employment
Service has worked with area Kroger stores, placing its clients
to provide customer service in local groceries.
In addition to its employment programs, ARC of Northern Kentucky
works to support those with mental retardation / developmental
disabilities in a variety of ways. For example, ARC sponsors an
awareness program in area schools known as "Everybody Counts,"
which endeavors to teach students experience the feelings and
emotions of persons with various disabilities.
ARC also provides monthly and quarterly workshops for consumers,
graduates, grandparents and the community of large. The ARC also
provides group homes, providing homes in the three counties of
Northern Kentucky for 24 individuals with disabilities.
With her friendly, warm face, Tracy, the cashier at The Point
Restaurant, has become the symbol of the ARC family of services
and programs, which altogether serve over 500 clients and their
families in Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties. The restaurant
rests on a broad base of programs that provide not only the training
the organization is known for, but a recipe for success in people's
lives.
Persons or companies interested in the services The Point
provides, or in making contributions should contact
Judi Gerding
102 Pike Street
Covington, KY 41011
859-491-9191
www.ThePointARC.org
Leah
Konicki
Freelance Writer
