Tapping into the power of work

Photo: Neighbors of the Wasatch Back // Sarah Severson.

“Anne’s creativity, her love for her daughter, and her foresight motivated her to create something incredible,” says Margaret “Muggins” Haerter. “The number of people she impacts goes way beyond the amazing people she employs.”

The place that Muggins is describing is Maker Union, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to creating meaningful, paid employment for adults with disabilities. There, inside a modest storefront in Park City’s Prospector neighborhood, you’ll find around a dozen or so young neurodivergent adults, including Muggins’ 22-year-old son, CJ, carefully folding tissue paper, painting illustrations, mixing bath salts, and assembling packages bound for doorsteps across the country. While monetary compensation is a benefit, being part of the crew at Maker Union is not all about a paycheck. There, staff members get to experience the sense of achievement, skill-building, and social interaction associated with being employed that many of us take for granted.

Who Maker Union serves

For those unfamiliar with the term, neurodivergence refers to the natural variations in brain function and development from one human to the next, encompassing a broad range of conditions, including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and Down syndrome. Neurodivergent individuals think, learn, and process information differently from neurotypical individuals.

Anne Peters, Maker Union founder, knew her daughter, Kira, had developmental delays when she adopted her as a one-year-old from an overseas orphanage. “But then in fifth grade, when she was not reading or writing, I began to wonder what the future would look like for her and realized I needed to figure that out,” Anne says. “My goal was to create a safe, enjoyable workplace where people like my daughter can feel included and enjoy some socialization.”

Alongside being a mother, Anne has nurtured a 30-year career in fashion design and merchandising. A few of the household-name lifestyle and retail brands she’s helped shape include Kate Spade, Tommy Hilfiger, Sundance Catalog, Eddie Bauer, and Ellen Tracy. Then, in 2008, she launched her own agency, Render Union, focusing on bringing together creatives and professionals from a variety of marketing-related disciplines to help her clients meet challenges of growth, branding, and merchandising. Render Union’s client roster includes businesses and organizations like the Hope Alliance, Gumps, Kleinfeld Bridal, Carve Designs, and Gigi New York handbags. As such, when Anne began imagining a future for her daughter and other young adults like her, she turned to what she knew best: building brands and creating beautiful things people want.

 What Maker Union makes

Maker Union’s operations span two areas: original product design/creation and thoughtfully curated gift boxes. Items designed and made by staff members include the Maker Zip Pouches, which are canvas pouches embossed with cheery and colorful art and available in a variety of sizes. The staff also illustrates and/or paints notecards depicting beloved Park City scenes, like Main Street, hot-air balloons in flight over the Wasatch Back, and the annual torchlight parade at Deer Valley. And the nonprofit’s bath salts and pot simmers are hand-assembled with all-natural ingredients.

Some of the other beautiful and very giftable items rounding out the Maker Union product line, not made by the staff, are darling 14-karat gold-filled gold necklaces; bread boards and cheese knives; artisan tea towels; vegan candy; and dog toys. “A common thread through all the products we create and curate is quality,” Anne says. “Every item is something people would be glad to have and is not just a nice sentiment you’ll eventually throw away.”

This attention to quality and creativity carries through Maker Union’s gift boxes. Here, Anne leans into her well-honed merchandising skills to create thoughtfully curated collections of items that are then beautifully packaged by the nonprofit’s staff. Maker Union’s Reflection Gift Box, for example, contains a candle, a glass vial of matches, a gourmet chocolate bar, a leather-bound journal, and a braided sweetgrass bundle. Others that are thoughtfully themed include the Essentials Gift Box for outdoors lovers, the Baby Gift Box for new arrivals, the Self Care Gift Box, and the Housewarming Gift Box.

Maker Union gift boxes also feature items from several Utah and Wasatch Back businesses—an intentional effort by Anne to call attention to the community she loves and give a shoutout to its local entrepreneurs, like Charleston’s Ritual Chocolate, the Park City–roasted Fiji Coffee, Heber City’s Ghost Flower Beauty, Cabin Candle in Park City, and the Salt Lake City–based Cotopaxi outdoor gear and apparel.

Maker Union also offers customized gift boxes, created on demand to celebrate a specific event or occasion. Conferences, weddings, and client holiday gifts are a few of the occasions and events Maker Union has created custom boxes and bags for. “We’ve done super high-end boxes with luxury items like a cashmere throw,” Anne says, “to ones that are simpler and more straightforward, like a Maker Union tote with a beanie and journal inside. We just need a budget, a timeline, and a few creative cues, and we can curate a set of products, packaging, and personal touches that reflect each customer’s vision while supporting ours.” And included in every gift box or bag they curate and assemble is a card with this reminder: “Made with love and care by the team at Maker Union.”

Professionalism, accountability, and kindness

To be clear, Maker Union is not a hobby shop. It is a workplace with clearly set rules, standards, and expectations. Staff and their caregivers are required to read and sign the Maker Union Employee Handbook before the staff member’s first day of work. And the workplace is managed in a way familiar to anyone who has held down a job. “Right now, shifts are from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with a 30-minute lunch and two breaks,” Anne explains. At the beginning of each shift, Maker Union staff members are required to wash their hands, put on an apron (which Anne calls the “uniform”), and use a timecard to punch in. Anne then leads a daily staff meeting, covering the projects the team will be working on that day and reiterating expectations.

In addition to working one day per week at Maker Union, CJ works part-time at the PC MARC and at Lucky Ones Coffee. “Anne is probably the strictest of all his bosses,” his mom, Muggins, says. “She makes kids raise the bar, as she should. She is firm but also very kind and helps them work through whatever challenge they are having.”

Anne also makes efforts to seek out other community touchpoints for the Maker Union staff. “There’s a yoga studio next door that we clean occasionally in exchange for yoga classes, and we do laundry or other tasks for other businesses in the building,” she explains. “I want [the staff] to take pride and ownership in any job they do, not just their work for Maker Union.”

Anne has also arranged visits to the workshop by team members of Park City Police Department, as well as Park City Fire District and its paramedics division. “I want our staff to know what to do if something happens to their caregiver and there’s no one else around,” she says. “I also want our local first responders to be familiar with our town’s disabled community.”

One of the many people who helped Anne transition Maker Union from an idea into an organization is Andrew Caplan, a board member since the nonprofit’s 2022 founding. Andrew is also a parent—of a 15-year-old and an 11-year-old—and met Anne through the time they each served on the Park City School Board. “Anne is an extremely generous individual. You don’t serve on the school board for as long as she did just to help your own kid,” Andrew says.

Andrew and Anne forged a friendship and mutual respect through a shared love for education and helping children. And so, when Anne asked for his support in launching Maker Union, Andrew was all in. “Not enough people make the time or space for [neurodivergent] young adults in their workplaces,” Andrew says. “It’s likely that if many of the staff at Maker Union weren’t working there, they’d be sitting at home. They want to work and be productive and connect with people just like anybody else does. That Maker Union provides a safe place for people to do that to their abilities is really special.”

Hope for the future

There’s no doubt that establishing Maker Union was and continues to be a huge effort. Big challenges seem to be what make Anne tick, however. When asked about her vision for the organization’s future, she excitedly describes plans for expansion and scaling up, like adding a dedicated retail space and a coffee shop to the workshop, along with growing Maker Union’s customizable gift-box business. “Half of our income comes from grants, and the other half comes from our sales,” she says. “I feel that the custom-gift orders is an area that has the greatest potential for growth, that would allow us to employ more people here in Park City and perhaps scale up to other communities.”

Anne now sees a clear path forward for both Kira and her peers. “Watching her interact appropriately with the group and realizing there is a future for all of them in a safe, fun, inclusive, and productive environment where they are working and getting paid is incredible,” she says. “Without the option of a secondary school, most of these young adults plateau. Providing a place of employment where they are continually learning and growing keeps them stimulated and active. My hope is that Maker Union continues to be a place for our staff members to laugh, have fun, be themselves, and to learn without the pressure and shame that often comes from working alongside only typical people.”