“Bottom Dollars Movie Chapter 07” produced by Rooted in Rights [NARRATOR]: Bottom Dollars [mid-tempo electronic music] [NARRATOR]: Chapter seven - "The Joe-Hawk." AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Joe skis down the ski slope. Joe skis by, giving two thumbs up. Joe uses an iPad to speak. JOE (VIA IPAD): My name is Joe Steffy. I own Poppin Joe's Kettle Corn. AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A banner reads, "I love Poppin Joe's." Joe dumps the kettle corn popper. (JOE): As a business owner, I must be able to produce every type of popcorn product that I sell and complete the daily business tasks. This includes the weekly deliveries. AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Joe places bags of his popcorn on shelves in a small store. JOE: I am always active and love being busy. AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Joe looks up from his iPad and gives a thumbs up. Joe plays a bell in his church choir and then plays basketball with E.R. E.R.: My name is E.R., he's my uncle. I live with him and I help take care of him. The Joe-Hawk, yeah, everywhere he goes he'll go like this, and he wants everyone to know that he has a Joe-Hawk. AUDIO DESCRIPTION: E.R. rubs the center of his head in reference to Joe's mohawk. Joe shoots and makes two baskets in a row. The rolling hills of Louisburg, Kansas. Minimum wage $7.25 per hour. JOE: I was 14 years old, my parents and I met with my school transition team. AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Ray and Janet Steffy. RAY: And basically what they told us was, "We don't know why we need to set up a plan," and that basically, "Joe has no attention span, he can't keep on task, he probably-- he will never hold a job, so why do we need to make a plan?" AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Photos of Joe as a younger man. JOE: You know the greatest disability there is? It is low expectation. They had no expectations for me. JANET: We were known as parents with great expectations, that were in denial of how serious the disabilities were that we were facing. RAY: This ticked me off, in that I was going to prove to these people my son could work. AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Joe pours out popcorn from a kettle. RAY: There was a workshop, and we went in there to observe what they did and that kind of thing. And basically, what we saw in there wasn't what we wanted Joe to go through, and basically not get paid for doing it anyways. AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The Kansas farm. Cattle grazing in the background. (JANET): I grew up on a farm, we milked cows, there were cows there, there were chickens there, and so there was a lot to do. You knew where you fit in. So, I expected that out of my kids. (RAY): We needed to find something that we could do as a family. AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Joe, Ray, and E.R. working in the backyard. RAY: We didn't even know what kettle corn was at that time. We went on a cruise to Alaska, and it was in Anchorage, Alaska, on a Saturday during market day, and there was this business there that was popping popcorn. We watched them pop and sell and everything, and there was a variety of jobs within the business. You could pop the corn, you could bag the corn, you could help sell the corn, all those were different phases. Well I thought this would be ideal for Joe, because when he got tired of one, he could move to another one, whichever one he wanted to do. JOE: I learned by watching and would do exactly as I saw it done. RAY: Which comes down to what customized employment is. [NARRATOR]: Customized employment. (RAY): Janet went to classes to learn how to write a business plan. We submitted that to the DD Council in Kansas, which-- at that time they were supporting people starting their own business, so they gave him all new equipment. AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Joe making, bagging, and delivering the kettle corn. RAY: And then we went to Social Security through their PASS Plan. They supported the finances of his business by giving him cashflow money to make the business work for an 18-month period of time, and then we also got equipment from the vocational rehab people for a computer and a printer to make labels. And so that's how we got started, and on the fifth day of April in 2005, the business became Joe's business, and he was the sole proprietor of that business, and has been 'til this day. AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Photo of Joe proudly holding papers in his hand. RAY: We help manage the business. People say, "Well, how does he do his accounting?" Well, like any other business. If you don't do accounting, then you hire an accountant. So that's what we do, we hire the people that are needed to run specific parts of the business. But basically, Joe is the owner of the business. [soft uplifting music] AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Joe and Ray wear matching tie-dye bandanas as they work at a stand selling popcorn. JOE: Festivals average three weekends each month, April through October. I have several retail outlet stores where I supply products on a weekly basis, as well as internet sales. JANET: Say we're out shopping. Somebody will see him, and they'll say, "Are you Poppin Joe?" And you can just see Joe stands up straighter and gets a big smile, and he knows he's Poppin Joe. AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Exterior of Joe's house. (JANET): And the business has given him the opportunity to rent his own place, pay utilities, he buys his own food, he's not on any subsidy for food or housing or utilities. He pays his own way, and then he gets to choose the activities that he likes. AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Joe skis to the ski lift. Ray and Janet look on as Joe takes the lift up. (RAY): When we're gone, then the business could go ahead and support him in the same manner. What we would like to see is to bring on a person who would be interested in being a partner in the business, doing the management part of the business, and Joe would keep the capacity that he has as being an owner. (JANET): On a farm, it's a team effort. You all pull together to make it happen. AUDIO DESCRIPTION: In the backyard, the family works together making kettle corn. (JANET): We expected Joe to be a part of it, to do the part he could do, from the very beginning. [slow electronic music] [NARRATOR]: Share the full film in your community. Host a screening. BottomDollarsMovie.com End of transcript.