RALEIGH, N.C. — The last job Gabi Angelini applied for before starting her own business was to be a smoothie operator.
Her mother, Mary, guesses she applied for 20 jobs. She often got interviews. She got rejected each time.
And after this interview, the employer said Gabi, who has Down syndrome, would be too slow for the job.
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
“How do they know if they never taught me?” Gabi said.
“Do you know how to make a smoothie?” Mary asked. “Of course,” Gabi replied.
So Gabi took matters into her own hands and co-founded Gabi’s Grounds with Mary in 2017.
In 2020 they pivoted to Gabi’s PALS (Packaging, Assembling, Labeling and Shipping), packaging anything from shirts to coffees, from Castile soap and candles to CBD oil gummies.
Now, Gabi’s PALS is trying to raise $200,000 to either expand its co-warehouse on Pylon Drive in Raleigh or move to a new one. They’ve started a GoFundMe to raise $20,000 for walking forklifts, pallet jacks, racking, desks and chairs.
At the current warehouse, the tables where employees label and package goods are in front of stacked pallets. Each time a forklift comes to bring a pallet down, everyone must clear out.
“We are running full pretty much every shift on project work,” said Dave Bartos, a volunteer business adviser for Gabi’s. “For us to be able to do more and reach more people, we just need more places for people to work.”
From coffee to shipping
Gabi was far from alone in struggling to find work — all her friends faced snags, too. In the United States, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is double the rate for those without a disability, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Once they graduate high school, they just fall off the cliff,” Mary said. “There’s no support, there’s no funding, there’s nothing. It’s like, ‘OK, we educated you for 12 years. Now go.’”
Anna Ward, a director of advocacy and inclusion at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, said there’s a stigma against workers with disabilities that may show in an interview — if, for example, a person with mental illness or autism struggles to hold eye contact. Employers, meanwhile, often worry they won’t be able to make the right accommodations.
Gabi’s Grounds started with a volunteer workforce running pop-ups and making coffee for passersby on the street. Soon, it was selling its own coffee blends at retailers like Harris Teeter and Lowe’s. Gabi and Mary had ambitions to start a brick-and-mortar coffee shop, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Still, they needed somewhere to store all their coffee besides the garage. So they found a loading dock they only had to pay for month-to-month. Next to their space were temporary workers packing mosquito sticks for Murphy’s Naturals. Mary said half the time, the workers were on their phones.
“So I went next door and said, ‘I got people that could do this, and they won’t be on their phone,’” Mary said.
So Gabi’s hired workers with autism to pack and label for Murphy’s.
“Every box was perfectly lined up,” Mary said. “Every label was perfect. The shrink wrap was perfect. Everything was perfect, and they were thrilled with our work.”
From there, Gabi’s PALS was born.
Overlooked no more
On its website, Gabi’s lists 24 organizations that use its services, including Lenovo, Bridgestone and Tiny Earth Toys.
Small companies look to Gabi’s PALS to process giant orders from a retailer, while big companies may need help if a retailer is having a big sale and they need more products fast.
Anyone can volunteer for a short period before the company decides whether to hire them, rather than being rejected after an interview. Today, the company has about 40 employees.
“If you have individuals in a manufacturing facility that aren’t performing up to your standard, you will replace them,” Bartos said. “At Gabi’s, we serve our individuals, so we work within their ability to perform the operations.”
Businesses that hire workers with disabilities often tailor job responsibilities to the worker’s skill set. Ward gave the example of a hostess: if someone is good at greeting customers but struggles with keeping track of reservations, a business could give the job of reservations to someone else.
“Usually, it’s just that it takes a certain open mindedness,” Ward said. “A certain level of creatively thinking about how to support someone and people at the workplace.”
Volunteering for a couple of hours is how Lauren Branch started working at Gabi’s in 2021.
“If you make a mistake, they don’t get mad at you,” said Branch, who has cerebral palsy. “They just talk to you quietly and respectfully.”
Joshua Pederson is paralyzed from the waist down, causing him back pain if he sits for too long. He worked at places like a movie theater before he joined Gabi’s in late 2022 that weren’t as accommodating if he needed to go home early.
“But here, if my back starts hurting, I’m good to leave,” Pederson said. “It’s more flexible here than other jobs that I’ve had.”
More businesses caught wind of Gabi’s PALS, so Gabi’s kept hiring. Some of those hires started going off site to package for companies in search of detail-oriented workers who they could count on to show up for work.
“They’re wanting to hire our population because they’re dedicated,” Mary Angelini said. “They’re hard working. They’re not going to call in sick. They’re not going to say their car broke down. They’re grateful that they have a job to go to.”
Still, as employees pack and label striped blue polos, they wear AirPods and headphones. Andrii Demydov said the informal atmosphere makes Gabi’s “like a small family.” Employees go bowling or to amusement parks together.
Demydov, who fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion in 2022, had no relatives or friends in the United States. After being rejected for a few jobs despite his prior work as a teacher and waiter — Demydov has ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis that makes it difficult for him to bend his spine — Gabi’s PALS gave him both employment and a place where he felt accepted.
“The day I came as a volunteer, people met me with respect, and they didn’t judge me or ask me any personal questions,” he said. “They just smiled, and we started chatting very friendly.”
Branch said she has friends here unlike other places she worked. And much of the atmosphere is thanks to Gabi herself.
“She comes in and gives everybody hugs, and then she works with us,” Branch said. “She makes the day fun and exciting for us.”
© 2025 Raleigh News & Observer
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
