Our Employees - Gabi's Workforce

Team Gabi's Rocks!

Meet our team below. Are you or do you know someone who would like to join our team? Learn more by visiting our Employment page.

Gabi

Mary

Ann

Debbie

Dick

Ricky

Terri

Monika

Team Member Highlights

Jacob

After a Budgeting/Financial Planning Life-Skills workshop at Gabi’s, Jacob and his mom decided it may be time for him to explore getting a debit card. Jacob is 28 years old, has a wonderfully comedic sense of humor, loves working at Gabi’s and lives with autism. He enjoys reading, but math has never been a strength orof much interest. After some research, Jacob and his mom landed on a “Go Henry” card, which is a pre-loadable debit card platform developed for children to learn the value of money. With card in hand, it opened conversations around his hourly pay, how many hours per week he worked and what things cost. Until this time, he had not made purchasing decisions for himself, but now he began to be able to equate the cost of an item with how many hours he would have to work to pay for it. His new debit card’s maiden voyage came during a family vacation to Colorado this summer. The family was visiting a zoo, and Jacob went into the gift shop. He was torn between two items, but eventually settled on the less expensive one. It was $29.17. As the cashier rang up his order, Jacob was asked if he would like to “round up”. Having heard this asked of his mom in grocery stores, Jacob asked the cashier where the extra money would be used. The cashier explained it would support the zoo. Now, it had been a pretty darn good day at the zoo, but cash is cash. Jacob paused and replied, “I don’t think so”. The experience of having the card has brought Jacob new feelings of independence, ownership, responsibility and adulthood. According to Jacob’s mom, he now carefully oversees deposits into his card and tracks how much money is available.

Zion

For most of our I/DD employees, this is their first job. Gabi’s provides the opportunity to develop job-skills, experience teamwork, learn time management and organizational skills in a supportive environment conducive to their needs. Zion has been with Gabi’s for several years and he is BRILLIANT (as in doing Trigonometry in elementary school). Academics came easy, but Zion is also Autistic and like many neurodiverse people, communication, social interaction, and team environments present challenges for him. Entering the work world was daunting, but Gabi’s provided an accepting place to start. A couple years ago, a major customer requested that Gabi’s allow 4-5 Special Abilities employees to perform contracted fulfillment services at the customer’s warehouse location. The driver for the request was two-fold, (1) to alleviate a step of shipping from Gabi’s, and (2) it allowed the customer’s employees to work side-by-side people with disabilities creating a more inclusive work environment. Zion is one of Gabi’s employees to work at the customer’s location. He began with typical warehouse functions, but his responsibilities quickly elevated to operating the warehouse ‘robots’ (think mini-Roomba’s with a tray feature to transport inventory from one area in the warehouse to another). Through the increased responsibility, Zion’s pride and self-confidence grew. Recently, he enrolled in a 2-year Information Technologies program at Durham Tech and this December will graduate from a Cyber Security Boot Camp certification program. He has sights set on an IT position, and we are 100% confident he will make that happen!

Parent Quotes

We are so grateful for the opportunity that Gabi’s workforce has given Nicholas. He is in a safe, nurturing environment that gives him the confidence and independence that he needs to succeed.

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Catching a Go Raleigh bus at 7:15 in the morning and transferring to two other routes is a skillset Paul has perfected over the last few months in order to reach his final destination. And that destination would be Gabi’s!

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No one would ever accuse Paul of being introverted but his time with the crew at Gabi’s has helped him blossom in ways that are nothing less than heartening. The camaraderie, teamwork and sense of purpose , all of which are on display throughout everyday , have enriched his life and brought joy to his family. Thanks to all of the team at Gabi’s!