When you walk inside the Empower office in North Tonawanda, there are hundreds upon hundreds of empty cans and water bottles.
To the unsuspecting eye, it could just look like garbage.
But this group has found purpose in this trash.
"I like helping," Jackie McGrath, a service recipient of Empower, said.
Empower is a not-for-profit organization in Niagara County that provides services and support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
One such service is "Empties for Empower." It is a can and bottle sorting service that is free to the public and is job training for people like Jackie.
"When the cans come in, I help one of my staff," Jackie explained of the job. "He counts or she counts sometimes. I help to put them in the boxes. To sort them."
The program accepts empty bottles and cans from the community and then brings in workers, many of whom have some sort of disability, to sort them and send them off for recycling.
It is a win for the workers because they get job training, they get paid and they get to interact with others.
"The whole goal is to hopefully prepare them to move into supported employment where they can go out and get a competitive job in the community and with any luck, get to a point where they don't need us anymore," Jeff Patterson, CEO of Empower, said.
It's a win for the community, too. People get a full deposit back on their cans and bottles like any other redemption center. They can also choose to donate a portion back to Empower.
Plus the community is interacting, even if briefly, with people they might not otherwise meet.
"I think what we've done as a byproduct of all this is to break down some of the stereotypes and the barriers," Patterson explained. "You know we probably have customers who really have never talked with somebody with a disability."
"Empties for Empower" has processed more than 1.4 million containers since they opened last year and with a nearly $.04 return on each container processed, they have brought in more than $125,000 for the agency.
That money helps insure that programs like "Empties for Empower" can continue.
If you would like to drop off cans and bottles, there are two sites to do so:
North Tonawanda: 3571 Niagara Falls Blvd. (Meadowbrook Plaza)
Town of Niagara: 4701 Military Rd. (near the Rt. 31 intersection)
Both sites are open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. They are also open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
There is also a 24-hour drop-off bin located outside of the 4701 Military Road location.