GEM No Longer Shining in St. Marys, GA

I’ve rode past this pretty nondescript grey building just over the tracks in St. Marys in my car, on my bike, even walking maybe thousands of times over the past 30 years as a resident here and I had no clue to what went on there. Gateway Employment and Manufacturing, INC., GEM, owns and operated a bottling plant there. “To give life-changing opportunities of employment to the disabled in a competitive bottling industry,” was their mission. They were the proud bottlers of Georgia Islands Water, Tampico Punches, and Private Label Beverages and the employers of 85 workers, 75% of them with a disability. After checking out their website I found that they did an amazing thing, combined social work (helping folks with mental illness, addictions, and developmental delays) do real work. Looking at the photos of the products they bottled, flavored waters, and fruit drinks, I recognized their products as many I've seen in stores. The sad news is I've written a lot of this in past tense as in GEM is no longer open. It didn’t survive the state budget and that is a shame. When I googled GEM in St. Marys, GA I came up with lots of gems like Cumberland Island, the Riverside Café, the Osprey Golf Club, and even gems at Walmart, but the real GEM, GEM Enterprises, is no longer shining downtown and that is surely a lost community treasure.