Local organization shreds your sensitive documents and provides purposeful jobs, too

Service with a Purpose

Gone for Good securely shreds documents while providing meaningful jobs

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF UNITED ABILITY

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BY STEPHANIE GIBSON LEPORE

You may already be familiar with United Ability, an over-70-year-old nonprofit that provides services to connect people with disabilities with their communities in empowering ways. But if you’re not, a bit of background: Originally founded as Spastic Aid, the organization was established in 1948 by a group of people to provide services to individuals with cerebral palsy.

More than two decades later, in 1972, the nonprofit changed its name to United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Birmingham, incorporating aid to those living with other types of disabilities, as well. The organization wanted to offer more comprehensive services and made that a reality in 2001 with a move to its 20-acre Lakeshore Drive campus. Later renamed United Ability, the new title reflects the organization’s “service to persons with all types of disability, and United Ability now offers a full spectrum of services not found anywhere else statewide.”

United Ability “envisions a world where disability is neither defining nor limiting and also help unite people with unique abilities in achieving a successful future.” A worthy endeavor that includes programs for both children and adults, like Hand in Hand Early Learning, Ability Clinic, LINCPoint Adult Day Program, and Gone for Good.

“Gone for Good was established in 2006 to provide meaningful employment to the individuals we serve while also providing additional revenues for the organization,” says Abe Bernstein, Director of Enterprises for

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United Ability/Gone for Good.

Gone for Good provides secure shredding and destruction services to central Alabama. Their mission is to create meaningful employment for adults with intellectual and physical disabilities, while these employees provided a needed service to the community. Gone for Good daily employs approximately 60 individuals, providing both learning and earning opportunities that improve their quality of life.

Services included document shredding, e-waste recycling services for items like computers and cell phones, outsource solutions for tasks such as packaging, kitting, and sorting. Gone for Good works with individuals as well as with businesses in the financial sector, hotels, legal firms, insurance, healthcare, and government. To ensure security, Gone for Good is NAID AAA-certified, the highest available designation for secure document destruction businesses. As a part of this rigid certification, all employees must pass criminal background checks and drug screenings, as well as undergo confidentiality training. The organization is also HIPPA compliant, and the facility and equipment is subject to annual and unscheduled inspections.

“We have route trucks that service our 940-plus customer base, and we also offer drop-off service at our location for a fee,” says Abe. Pricing is based on different parameters. At the facility, you’ll find employees handling such jobs as shredding papers, completing fulfillment projects—packaging or kitting, baling cardboard—and disassembling electronics. Abe says the company received around 2,288,000 pounds of documents and e-waste in 2021. “We are committed not only to the people we serve, but also to the people we hire.”

For more information, visit uagoneforgood. com.