HOUSTON – A box of old trophies is likely somewhere in your house.
Whether they’re for different sporting events or for being the “1987 South Padre Island Beer Drinking King,” what do you do with them?
Do you hold onto them? Throw them out?
Here’s another option: If you donate your old trophies to Revived Glory Awards, not only will parts of them find new life, you’ll be helping young adults with disabilities make a life for themselves.
Consider Sharon Meaden, who, until about four years ago, was searching for a way to keep her son engaged in life after graduating high school.
“Mark (Meaden) is non-verbal, so it’s very difficult for him to communicate with just everybody in the population,” Sharon Meaden said.
[WATCH: Aspiring Meteorologist Foster Thompson]
That’s when she stumbled across an old box of trophies and found many of her friends had similar boxes.
“We just decided it was right to start a business and to give them an environment to use their skills and find out what else they could learn,” Meaden said.
“She came to me and opportunity knocked at the door and I was hired,” Foster Thompson said.
Now a “trophy master” and laser operator, Thompson knew Mark and his mom through Special Olympics.
Thompson has cerebral palsy and was one of the first employees hired.
Since then, several more of his peers have joined the “trophy master” ranks and he appreciates being able to work with them.
“I think it does make it like more that we belong, not that I felt like I don’t belong but, it’s nice to see that there’s people like me that have disabilities,” Thompson said. “I can challenge my skills ... such as lasering and coining bases, and I like the aspect of learning.”
Knowing these awards are assembled by these young adults is heart-warming, but at the end of the day, it’s a real business.
“We want to provide a very market-competitive product that competes with all the big companies out there. We want people to support us because of what we offer and because of who we employ,” Meaden said.
Foster had a chance to meet with KPRC2 Meteorologist Frank Billingsley. Foster had a chance to take over Channel 2's 5 p.m. weather forecast.