On Thursday, April 8th, Lions Volunteer Blind Industries hosted the American Dream Team fundraising event to help support the Project Paycheck program. Numerous individuals from Morristown and surrounding counties came and learned about the mission here at LVBI and pledged their support. Here is the speech given at the event by our executive director, Don Britton:

“On behalf of the 166 employees of Lions Volunteer Blind Industries, we want to welcome you.  Of this group of workers in our Morristown and Johnson City facilities, 88 are blind or severely visually impaired, and 14 are severely disabled.

Experts will tell you – if you need to be told by experts! – that 90% of information we receive comes from visual input – eyesight.  Lose that, and you lose contact with your environment. It is a common belief that the remaining senses become stronger to compensate.  That simply isn’t TRUE.  The hard reality is that you must pay much more attention to the remaining senses to re-connect with the world.  Transportation, recreation, socialization, self-reliance, your very independence is at risk!

How many of you have said, “I’ve done that so much I could do it with my eyes closed!”

Let’s do that.  Close your eyes for a few minutes and wear a blind man’s shoes.

“I’ve done that so much I can do it with my eyes closed!”  Can you? Maybe, but let’s deal with more immediate questions:

1. Where’s the restroom?
2. How are you going to get out of this room?
3. You are in luck if you didn’t drive, because you can ride with your friend.
4. But, where is he or she?  Are you sure?  You could speak to the person beside you, but what if your friend has moved, or just walked away to speak to someone else?  You could yell out a name, but that would be embarrassing,….wouldn’t it?
5. You’re lucky!  Your friend is there, you don’t have to use the restroom, and you have a ride back to…..WORK!
6. How are you going to do your current job?  You can’t see, remember?

NOW FOR THE BIG QUESTIONS…

1. How am I going to work?
2. If I can’t work, how will I provide for my family?
3. If I can’t provide for them, who will?
4. How can I live with these questions every day for the REST OF MY LIFE?

Now, open your eyes.  You can… they can’t.  In the face of overwhelming obstacles, our blind employees get up every morning, come to work, perform their jobs to the best of their abilities, provide for their families, buy homes, pay taxes, become an asset to their communities.

Let’s assume you are at a social function and you meet a stranger.

“Hello, my name is Don Britton”.

“Pleased to meet you, I am Joe X”.

What is the next question?  In the vast majority of cases it will be some variation of “What do you do?”.  And the answer will be “I work…”  Our work is so much a part of our lives that we use it to describe WHO WE ARE!  “Tell me about yourself”.  I work…I drive…I manage, I sell, I build, I contribute, I have VALUE!

So what is “PROJECT PAYCHECK”, and why employment Scholarships?

Last fiscal year we spent over $1.6 million in wages to our blind employees alone.  That is an impressive number, and while $1.2 million was considered earnings based on productivity, the balance, $400,000, was paid in Employment Scholarships to provide competitive wages to ALL our employees.  Many of our blind workers can compete in any manufacturing setting, with skills comparable to their sighted counterparts.  There are others who meet their challenges every day to give us their best effort, and with structured opportunities make tremendous contributions.  Then there are those who need and deserve the benefits employment brings, and can find that only in our workforce.

We all understand the benefits derived from an academic scholarship.  A deserving student, who might not otherwise be able to attend college gets an education, learns a skill set, and returns to a community as a contributing member of society.  Our “Employment Scholarships” do the same thing for our blind workers.  A blind person, who without this scholarship, might not have an opportunity to become employed, gets a job, learns a skill, and like the academic student, becomes a contributing member of our community.  The “PROJECT PAYCHECK” scholarship enables challenged workers to have competitive wages as they learn to work by WORKING.  The blind employees in our work force range in efficiencies from 20% to over 100% with a company average of 70%, but each one gives us their personal best effort.  Scholarship funds supplement the majority of our blind workers to varying degrees.

Lions Volunteer Blind Industries has had a presence in Morristown since the 1950’s and has literally employed hundreds of blind people for all across the state.  For many of those people, we often offered the ONLY chance, other than welfare, to support their families.  In spite of that, we are a well-kept secret!  Some believe we are ”volunteers for the blind”.  We get repeated requests to purchase window blinds!  Others believe we are state or federally funded ..OR

.. we get all our operating budget from the Lions Clubs of East Tennessee.  These beliefs are partially true, but neither is adequate to for the support necessary to meet our mission of “ the dignity of independence through employment”.

The Federal government is our largest customer, by far, with over $9 million in sales annually.  WOW!!!  But, in order to compete in this marketplace we must meet the rigid quality, pricing, and timely delivery requirements of a very demanding customer.  Additionally, we must guarantee that 75% of the direct labor hours going into manufacture of those products are generated by people who are blind. Last year our blind employees worked 126,533 hours to help us exceed this requirement with an 83% ratio.  While we must survive off our sales, we are mission-driven rather than profit-driven.  Instead of achieving the most output with the least amount of labor burden, we strive to create as many opportunities for blind employment as possible, and still continue to be a viable business.

Our ‘PROJECT PAYCHECK” program is an unacceptable business expense in the private sector.  LVBI paid over $400,000 in “standard of living” supports for which we received no return in productivity.  That equates to 16 employees who receive a paycheck each week, but NEVER come to work!  Can any of you, as responsible business people, absorb this kind of financial burden in your business?  Of course not, and we understand that and support your decision.  But because you can’t……WE MUST!

The American Dream:

To reap the rewards of hard work…

To enjoy the comforts of your own home…

To provide a secure future for yourself and your family…

Since 1951, blind people from across Tennessee have come to Volunteer Blind Industries with the HOPE of…and the willingness to WORK for….their own realization of that dream.  We ask YOU to become a member of our “American Dream” team.”

The event was a great success, and we would like to thank everyone who was able to attend. For those who were unable to attend the event or are interested in learning about LVBI, please feel free to drop by or contact us. We would love to be able to show you our operation and how we are giving back to the community and helping blind people achieve independence through employment!