Schools
IKEA Donations Designed to Help STEP Coffee Shop Business
The coffee shop operated by VVSD will have a new look, thanks to IKEA.
Editor's note: The following is a press release from the Valley View School District 365U.
The coffee shop operated by students in Secondary Transition Experience Program (STEP) will have a brand new look when it opens for the new school year thanks to IKEA.
The international home products company, which has a store in Bolingbrook, this week donated stools, tables, trays, coffee bins and assorted other materials to STEP for use in the school-based business that was launched last year.
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“IKEA believes in giving back to the community,” said Wanda Fisher, marketing specialist for Bolingbrook’s IKEA store. “We want our communities to thrive so we want to help as many people as we can, especially children.”
IKEA has been a great community partner for the STEP program, providing furniture for the “apartment” on the STEP campus that allows students to simulate living. IKEA also serves as a job training site for the 18-to-21-year-olds who are working on transitioning from high school to adult life.
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“We’re lucky to have them as a partner,” said STEP Transition Teacher Melanie Phelan. “They’ve been very supportive.”
“Because we have students who come in and work with us, we thought this was a natural progression to help them start a business and learn the life skills of running a business by giving them the furniture that will help make that business a reality,” Fisher said.
About a dozen STEP students helped pick up the furniture at IKEA Friday morning, taking the PACE bus to IKEA from the STEP campus in the Brooks Middle School complex. Learning how to use public transportation is one of the many life skills STEP students at taught throughout the school year.
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