In the heart of downtown Clemson, South Carolina, the Shepherd Hotel is a community center bustling with locals and visitors. As in most hotels, it’s the staff that makes the difference. But here, it is also the staff that makes it unique.

Around 30% of staff have a intellectual disability. Workers earn between $13 and $18 an hour, including tips, well above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Nationally, 16% of people with developmental disabilities are employed, according to a ThinkWork survey.

Shepherd’s owner Rick Hayduk brought his vision of employing people with intellectual disabilities to life, in part because two of his four children have Down syndrome.

“If we do our job well, someone will leave here inspired,” Hayduk said.

The hotel has partnered with a program at nearby Clemson University called ClemsonLIFE. The students, including Hayduk’s daughter Jamison, not only take college courses, but also learn skills that will help them. live and work independently.

Program participants learn everything from time management and hygiene to banking and budgeting, according to program director Erica Walters. Almost all graduates who complete the program are employed. Plans are underway to open two similar hotels in South Carolina next year.

“We want to grow for the sake of inspiration and change,” Hayduk said.

The program changes lives.

Recent ClemsonLIFE graduate Alex Eveland is now employed as a waiter at the Shepherd Hotel. Eveland has Down syndrome, and when he was a child, doctors thought he would never walk or talk. He is now working toward certification in hospitality and dreams of one day opening his own restaurant.

“I don’t have time to have a bad day in life, because I want to tell people that they can do anything in life,” Eveland said.

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