Chad Reeves uses his dollars to buy wrestling magazines and movies featuring his favorite lady.

"I have three Lindsey Lohan movies," the 31-year-old said. "I always say, 'That's my girlfriend.' "

Now celebrating its 50th year, the West Valley City-based Work Activity Center is a beehive of jump-rope makers, medical packagers and other workers from their 20s to their 70s. Last year two people were honored for their record length of employment: more than 40 years.

"The best day here is payday," said Kate McConaughy, the center's executive director. "It allows them to experience life like you and I experience it."

The workers' disabilities include autism, seizure disorders, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and severe cognitive issues.

Depending on their various challenges, individuals spend the day on a range of manual tasks, from stringing beads together to forming a jump rope to working a drill.

In addition to making money, the adults are developing skills, such as appropriate dressing and punctuality, that they may be able to transfer to future employment. As the parent organization of Covenant Employment Services, which places about 100 people in jobs in the community, the activity center acts as a launch pad for some people's careers.

Some people "graduate" to more independent contract jobs outside the center, such as office cleaning or packaging infant blankets.

The adults are ready and eager to work.

"I think employers are becoming more cognizant that this is a good potential work force," said George Kelner, the director of the Utah Division of Services for People with Disabilities.

People at the center are paid according to capability. The state refers many of the workers to the center, though others find it by word of mouth.

One of the center's most popular products is its jump ropes. Used by competitive teams nationwide, they come in two varieties and can be made to order in different lengths and colors.

One competitive jump-rope team even used the ropes on the "Late Show with David Letterman" about a year ago.

Coming to work to make jump ropes offers a way to socialize with friends and his girlfriend for Gary Christensen, 46. Wearing a blue Mickey Mouse T-shirt, he showed off the cell phone he and his mother pay for with some of his wages. He recently used a drill to attach nuts to the end of licoricelike red "speed" rope. Christensen has been coming to the center since 1985.

"I am so excited about his willingness to do anything and everything," said Kay Campbell, a staff member who supervises Christensen.

Nearby, Marilyn Neilson, 47, covered in a dozen or more necklaces she called her "finery," was placing tissue in plastic bags as she worked on an assembly-line team. She lives with a roommate in an apartment designed to support disabled adults.

Neilson loves to buy bridal magazines with her income. And she doesn't forget when that money will arrive.

"I like getting the paychecks that come this Friday the 28th," she said in late March.

jlyon@sltrib.com