Students in West Garfield Park wrapping up another successful year of business
CHICAGO (CBS)-- An after school program has transformed into a bustling small business.
CBS 2 first introduced you to the middle schoolers from Reborn Ministries last year as they created and sold their own holiday wrapping paper.
CBS 2's Jackie Kostek caught up with he group again as the leader passes the torch.
In West Garfield Park, these middle schoolers are out of school and getting down to business.
For three straight years, the group has designed, created and sold their own holiday wrapping paper as a way to raise money for field trips.
Each design is bursting with personality and charm.
"We got like new designs and different paper but looking back at the ones I created and the ones they just created, it's like a nice job," Reggie Reed, 14, said.
As a high school freshman, Reed has aged out of the program, but not the business, which exists largely because of him three years ago when he was feeling a little lost.
"I didn't know what I was going to be in life," He said. "I didn't know what to do. Ms. Stephanie came up to me and asked me what I want to do in life, and I was like, be a business owner. I was like, I won't ever have a business and she helped me out by getting the wrapping paper started."
Last year the group got picked up by the pen company Uniball for online sales across the country.
"It goes all around the world and we get to go on field trips and it's nice because if we didn't make this, we would barely go on field trips but now we can go on a lot," another student said.
The success of the company not just funding field trips but fueling self confidence.
The president of Uniball told CBS 2 the company's vision is to inspire creativity and connection, and yet, it's this group that is inspiring them. In selling the paper, he says they wanted to show the young people that what they do and who they are matters, not just to Uniball, but to people they've never met.
