CABELL COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – Ahead of primary elections, one water supplier is looking for more funding through a levy to support their staff and operations; though this water supplier, LeSage Natural through Green Acres Regional Center, said their mission goes beyond bottling water.

“As a social enterprise, which is what we are, it is a business, but it’s a business with a social purpose, which is employing people with developmental disabilities,” executive director Matt Muller said.

The company is dependent on Cabell County residents voting “yes” to a levy on this May’s ballot to continue employing people and expanding their work. LeSage has been on the ballot in the past to support their mission.

Thanks for signing up!

Watch for us in your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Breaking News

Green Acres came to life in the 1960s to support people with developmental disabilities through education. The water supply came years later to make sure they could also make a career.

One of the employees, Matt Boggess, fills up water bottles every day at Green Acres.

When asked what he loves about the job, Boggess responded, “Just being around the people and enjoying the water.”

Boggess’ reason for loving his job is more than filling up bottles and jugs. That’s because the product may be the water, but the purpose is to surpass limitations placed and build a passion through work.

“It helps people with disabilities and they employ people with disabilities. They’ve been around for a very long time,” Boggess said.

“For folks that have never been here before, they’re not going to understand, they’re not going to totally get what Green Acres is about. They may think we’re a charity, but we’re not,” Muller said. “We create a product, and therefore, our costs are much higher to create that product and get it distributed. Because you can create it, but if you don’t get it out to people, it doesn’t do you any good.”

Muller continued, “Folks that society has told them ‘you can’t do anything or you’re not capable or we don’t necessarily want you.’ We are just the opposite. We want you to come here because we are going to find a place for you to thrive and to succeed.”

Just like Matt Boggess, Larry Smith has found the same purpose through shipping those internationally recognized bottles and jugs all across the country.

“It’s getting to help people that’s handicapped. Helping them out and everything. Helping them learn and do stuff. I had this one guy who said ‘You’re an angel Larry.’ That makes me feel good because I first thought he didn’t like working here,” Smith said. “Now he loves working here and everything. He calls me an angel because I showed him a little bit. He said ‘You done good.’”

Primary Elections are May 14 and early voting begins this week. That’s why Muller said he wants people to know Green Acres’ mission and support them through elections.

“By not having the levy, it would basically cripple our ability to continue doing what we’re doing, and we’re growing. That’s the whole purpose. The whole purpose is to continue growing, adding more people that have developmental disabilities so that we accomplish what our actual mission is. The mission is not producing water. The mission is ‘can we find a place for you, if you do have some sort of a disability and other places will not take you, we will find something for you to do.”

Muller said without levy support, it will hurt the people who find that new purpose through Green Acres and LeSage Natural.

Muller said, “When you see the smiles out of people’s faces and the fact that they get meaning, they get a purpose in life by coming out here, how do you put that in dollars and cents? That’s the thing. It’s something that you cannot quantify, but when you see it, you understand it.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOWK 13 News.