NONPROFIT FEATURE
2023 EDUCATION EDITION
BY BRIAN RASH
IN HOUSE ART Nonpro t United Partners in P ugerville helps people with disabilities create crafts that are then sold in the community.
Beaded illustrations
Yard art
Coasters
Executive Director Debbie Wiederhold and Program Coordinator Lynda Skellenger run operations at United Partners.
PHOTOS BY BRIAN RASH COMMUNITY IMPACT
HOW TO HELP United Partners Executive Director Debbie Wiederhold said people can support the nonpro t in several ways. 1 Sign up to volunteer at www.unitedpartnerspf.org 2 Donate money (through the website) 3 Purchase a craft at the UP store, open Saturdays
United Partners P ugerville nonpro t gives people with disabilities a creative outlet W hen Debbie Wiederhold’s son Daniel, a person with disabilities, graduated high school in P ugerville, she realized he needed a place to keep learning and developing his skills.
adults with disabilities, or partners. Today, Wiederhold, Program Coordinator Lynda Skellenger and several volunteers oversee the artistic output of 17 partners ranging in age from 15-50 from cities that include P ugerville, Round Rock, Liberty Hill and Hutto. From an art studio on Third Street near down- town P ugerville, the partners create artistic crafts that are then sold at the United Partners P ugerville Store next door. Partners create crafts from beaded illustrations to multicolored coasters that range in price from about $5-$50. Pro ts are then put back into UP. United Partners also sell the crafts at events throughout town, including in April at the commu- nity food festival called Slice of P ugerville. “We give them a purpose in life, because what they’re creating, they’re sharing with the commu- nity,” Wiederhold said.
United Partners 301 W. Pecan St., P ugerville 512-791-2292 www.unitedpartnerspf.org Hours: Sat. 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
That’s how she started down the path to creating United Partners, a nonpro t that facilitates artistic activities for people with disabilities after they age out of school. “Adults with disabilities can stay in the public school system until they’re 22,” Wiederhold said. “But if they don’t have a job after that time period, what do they do?” After visiting a similar nonpro t in 2015, Wie- derhold met with a youth pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church and discussed the possibility of creating the same type of organization closer to home in P ugerville. By 2017, she launched United Partners with four
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PFLUGERVILLE HUTTO EDITION • AUGUST 2023
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