Great service at a competitive price.

That's what drew Skullcandy, which makes headphones and other accessories, to Columbus Community Center when the Park City-based company was looking for help processing products returned through its warranty program, according to operations manager Bradford Smith.

A chance to help educate and employ workers with disabilities was just another benefit.

Skullcandy started working with Columbus in May to develop a process whereby workers at the center unpack and tear down broken products for recycling.

"Our relationship with Columbus gives us the best of both worlds: cost-effective services and socially responsible contributions to this community," Smith said in an e-mail. "We love the opportunity to help people find 'dignity through work.' "

Columbus values its relationship with Skullcandy, too. On Tuesday, it honored the company with a Social Enterprise Award as part of its annual Dignity Through Work awards program.

Pepsi Beverage Co. received the Outstanding Business Partner Award, while Columbus also honored center co-founder Geraldine Clark with its Visionary Leadership Award for the role she played in writing and getting passed a 1969 Utah law that allowed disabled children to be mainstreamed into public schools, spokeswoman Stephanie Mackay said.

Utah's law was among the first of its kind and led to the 1977 federal Education for All Handicapped Children Act, she said.

Columbus, of course, also honored the workers, with Benny Vigil, Joey Bolin and Danny McNeal singled out as finalists for Outstanding Worker of the Year. Bolin won the award.

Clark and others who saw few vocational opportunities for disabled youths started the nonprofit center in 1968 with eight students, Mackay said.

Now, Columbus is a full-service nonprofit agency that serves 400 adults with disabilities, providing job training and opportunities to a sector of the population that typically faces a 65 percent unemployment rate.

"Three of the original teenagers are still working," Mackay said. "They're now in their 50s."

Skullcandy's Smith finds the service Columbus provides impressive.

"It is more than a charitable organization," he said. "The Columbus team has turned a great charity idea into a legitimate service provider for local businesses, so I am both a customer and an admirer."

Pepsi's Michael Berg agrees.

His company for the past two years has worked with Columbus to help it recycle products it is unable to sell. The relationship has helped Pepsi "achieve our sustainability goals through recycling," Berg said in an e-mail.

Pepsi also has saved money in transportation costs because it used to ship non-saleable items out of state for recycling.

"On the flip side, this relationship has allowed us to help give local people with disabilities meaningful work with a paycheck," he said.

jrascon@sltrib.com —

About Columbus Community Center

The nonprofit center based in South Salt Lake serves people with disabilities by providing residential services, day activity programs and training and employment services.

The center serves people from 16 to retirement age.