ROANOKE, Va. – With the cut of a ribbon, Three Balloons is now open to the public.
The retail store aims to create meaningful employment opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities.
Director Steve Stinson worked for over a year to get the store up and running.
“Three Balloons is three things,” Director Steve Stinson said. “It’s a workshop where all of the products you see in this store - which is the second thing, the store - are made, and it’s a bookstore.”
Stinson was inspired by his niece, who has Down syndrome and works at a similar store in Missouri.
Three Balloons offers a similar concept, with 18 members on staff with intellectual disabilities.
“It’s fun, seeing a couple of people here today to buy stuff and hang out with my friends and speak with mom and dad and stuff,” Steven Motley said.
Stinson says that he hired through word of mouth alone and didn’t turn anyone away from a job.
“I want to work here because all of this stuff we’ve been doing here is awesome,” James Supan said. “I love to be here with my people.”
The goods in the store are made with repurposed or recycled materials.
Stinson believes that this is a reflection of the store itself and its motto: perfectly unperfect.
“We take things that people don’t think have any use and we give them value,” Stinson said. “We feel the same way about people.”