NEW LENOX, Ill. (CBS) — Benches and birdhouses are some of the products they make at the New Lenox Wood Works, but what’s most important is the joy the place brings to the people who work there.

CBS 2’s Harry Porterfield says they are all someone you should know.

It’s just a wood shop, but to the men who are regularly here, it is an important part of their life. Mike McCutcheon is program coordinator for the New Lenox Wood Works.

“The men who come here have a diagnosis of a physical disability and or a mental disability, and so we work with them, whatever disabilities they have, and help them develop as individuals,” he says.

McCutcheon was once a Baptist minister in Nebraska. Having earned two doctorates — one in theology, the other in ministry — he spent time as a bible college teacher in India. Three years ago, he settled in this area and began working as a supervisor for the wood shop, an agency of Trinity Services.

Among those in the woodworking group is McCutcheon’s disabled son, Steve.

Some of the products produced by the Wood Works include picnic tables, birdhouses and lots of benches.

“It gives me a chance to get out and make a little money,” participant David Trigfrie says.

“When they get a check and they look at it, no matter what the size of the check, they earned it,” McCutcheon says.