At the Chesapeake Center’s Chesapeake Bay Industries in Easton, Md., adults with developmental disabilities work in a number of meaningful jobs and vocations. As you walk through the Center’s production center, the quiet work of computer recycling and small assembly projects is soon overcome by the sounds of saws, sanders and hammers from what’s known as the “Crab Shack.”
Here, the smell of Old Bay and the sight of bushel baskets of crabs are replaced with the smell of wood chips and boxes of dowels. The workers are craftsmen, busily focused on producing crab mallets while the machines hum and lively music plays in the background.
For more than 25 years, adults with disabilities have been handcrafting theses wooden crab mallets for sale through the Chesapeake Center.
“Everyone in the crab shack takes great pride in their work,” said Lisa Korell, vocational services director at Chesapeake Center. “We’re able to improve the lives of our [workers] by providing meaningful and rewarding jobs.”
The mallets are assembled without glue, rounded by machine, hand-sanded for durability and then sold to businesses, restaurants and other organizations throughout the United States. Mallets can be delivered plain, or branded with a customer’s logo or name in a number of quantities.
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