MRCI official explains
TACfully Unique closure
On Feb. 2, MRCI closed the TACfully Unique store in Worthington. A news account of the closing was published the following day by the Daily Globe that contained a number of inaccurate representations of the mission of the store and the reasons for its closure. Unfortunately, MRCI did not have an opportunity to correct these inaccuracies before publication.
MRCI has operated the store since assuming management of "The Achievement Center" in 1999. At that time, MRCI, a non-profit agency, assumed management of the organization to assure its continued mission of providing vocational services for people with disabilities in the Worthington area. MRCI's dedication to this mission has not wavered despite its depiction in the news article. The decision to close the store was not taken lightly nor without thought to the hardship it may cause those who worked there or love to shop there. We will miss these people and understand the feelings this evokes in the community. The hard reality however, is that to continue to maintain the economic health of the core services that The Achievement Center provides, this difficult decision had to be made.
Contrary to the article in the paper, the mission of the TACfully Unique store was not a "training center" but was operated to generate funds to support the programs at The Achievement Center. While there were people with disabilities employed there, the stores primary mission was to raise money to bolster the vocational services provided at The Achievement Center and in the community. It is accurate to say that The Achievement Center wanted to make money at the store, because that was its purpose. The store was closed because it no longer makes money to support the programs in Worthington and in fact has lost significant money this year, adding to the financial burden of The Achievement Center. The cost of operating the store has surpassed its ability to achieve its mission. It would make no sense to take this action if the store was making money. Attempts to reverse this trend in the past several years have not succeeded, despite the efforts of the dedicated staff and those of you who have shopped there.
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The Achievement Center will continue to hold its community wide sale this spring, which is a significant contributor to the financial health of the programs in Worthington. We seek the communities continued support of the sale and of the mission of The Achievement Center and thank them for the financial and moral support of the people we serve.
