Opportunities for blind workers in the region expected to expand

Opportunities for blind workers in the region expected to expand (Added: April 29, 2010)

Volunteer Blind Industries is hoping local donors will step up and help finance their expansion to employ more visually impaired workers. (more)

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Opportunities for blind workers in the region expected to expand

Volunteer Blind Industries is hoping local donors will step up and help finance their expansion to employ more visually impaired workers.

By: Dana Wachter | TriCities.com
Published: April 29, 2010

Johnson City, Tenn. -- Volunteer Blind Industries (VBI), which is primarily sponsored by the Lion's Club of East Tennessee, is hoping to expand.
The private non-profit specifically employs blind and disabled workers. This morning, VBI jump-started a major fundraising capital campaign. The company sells its own products: army helmet covers, and mattresses, box springs and mattress pads; but it also relies on federal and individual grants and donations. VBI invited potential donors to tour the manufacturing facility.
VBI's mission, since 1951, is to provide blind people the dignity of independence through employment. Overhead is high, and VBI officials say it's mission contradicts a traditional for-profit model for reducing labor costs.
"We are always looking to create jobs," says VBI's Rehabilitation Services Director, Vic Mende, "so if we see an opportunity to turn one job into three, we do that regardless of the individual's production skills or ability."
This means that donations are imperative to help the organization grow.
Once the Johnson City facility is expanded, Volunteer Blind Industries hopes to open a customer service call center there. They expect to open a call center, and to hire blind employees, at their facility in Morristown in June or July of this year.
If you're blind and interested in working, or if you'd like to donate, visit their web site, volblind.org, or call their Johnson City facility at: 423-929-7008.