[nfbmi-talk] made in delco

Tue Nov 11 16:09:23 UTC 2014

Keystone Blind Association CEO Jonathan Fister brought Delco Chamber guests through the CBVI toilet paper factory last week, while the plant was in full

operation, so they could get an up-close glimpse of how the product is manufactured. (Special to the Times - Peg DeGrassa)

By Peg DeGrassa,

pdegrassa at delconewsnetwork.com

Posted: 11/11/14, 10:48 AM EST |

# Comments

Toilet paper in state prisons all over Pennsylvania is manufactured right here in Delaware County. That’s just one of the many interesting facts, members

of the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce learned last week during the final manufacturing plant tour in the Chamber’s 2014 “Made In Delco” series. About

a dozen Chamber members were taken on the guided tour of the Center For the Blind and Visually Impaired (CBVI) at 100 W. 15th St., Chester. Sponsored by

TD Bank, the tour began in the main part of the Center and ended in the on-site CBVI Toilet Paper Factory.

Led by Jonathan Fister, CEO of Keystone Blind Association (KBA) in Sharon, PA (an affiliate of CBVI) and CBVI Board President Joe Saunders, the Chamber

group was shown the building that housed the CBVI instructional and social service programs, as well as the Low Vision Clinic , the technology lab and

the dormitories where teenagers with vision loss stay every summer during a month-long camp held at the Chester facility. The Chamber group even had the

opportunity to stop in on a class that was in the midst of getting safety lessons.

“Learning safety is paramount to anyone with vision loss,” Fister explained. From traveling and cooking to hygiene and community living, safety issues impact

every aspect of a person’s life. A person with vision loss cannot even attain a guide dog until they are able to travel independently so mobility training

is extremely important.”

Fister went on to say that while the job economy isn’t the best for anyone right now, the blind have an ongoing seventy percent unemployment rate. In days

gone by, the CBVI would look to grants, donations and government programs to keep blind clients working. But every year, the Center was falling further

behind in debt. Almost a decade ago, the Center reached a crisis point and needed to change its business model or face the possibility of closing. Rather

than continue to seek help from the outside to support its programs, the CBVI began offering viable services and products to earn the money to continue

its programs. The folks at CBVI created real jobs for those with disabilities and now employ about 70 people. And things have been flourishing and in the

black ever since.

“Once CGVI grabbed a hold of the hand up rather than the hand out, it was on its way to recovery and new horizons,” Fister related.

In addition to the toilet paper factory, The CBVI also operates a janitorial service which does all the maintenance and upkeep at Cheyney University, as

well two driver’s license centers in Bensalem and Fairless Hills. Additionally, CBVI runs a lawn maintenance and snow removal service that keeps the rest

stops along PA interstate highways looking in tip-top shape. According to Fister, all of these enterprises employ blind and disabled individuals who, more

than likely, would otherwise be jobless.

“Just because these folks may have a disability doesn’t mean they want to be home eating Cheetos, watching Jerry Springer,” Saunders said. “They are more

than happy to work. We hold them up to the same expectations and standards as their non-disabled peers. We expect them to work daily and do the job right.

If products or services are inferior we will lose the client we are serving. We might make a few accommodations due to their disability to help them perform

the job, but we do not make excuses.”

The various work opportunities that the CBVI offers help to fund the many services offered at CBVI, most of them geared to fostering independence in those

with little or no sight. Vision loss is isolating and often causes dependence. Programs at CBVI teach how to travel safely, work safely in the kitchen,

use technology like smart phones, tablets and computers, pay bills and keep up with personal hygiene. Assistive technology has blossomed and Saunders and

Fister both stressed that the Center works hard to stay on top of it all. The Center also offers in-home rehabilitation and life skills training. All of

the skills taught at the Center boost independence and self-image for those with disabilities, they explained.

“No blind person should ever be in a nursing home or not have the opportunity to live in the community just due to lack of vision,” Fister said.

With people living longer these days, the need for CBVI’s services is growing rapidly. One out of three people at age 90 experience some form of vision

loss. The average age of clients served at CBVI is 70. Additionally, with 52,000 prisoners in Pennsylvania’s system, quite a bit of the one-ply toilet

paper manufactured in Chester is needed each day, and that’s not even counting the CBVI factory’s other customers. The Center expects to expand its consumer

base even further, once it attains the machinery necessary to manufacture two-ply toilet tissue.

The Chamber members seemed impressed with the way the CBVI turned itself around and found a successful business model that’s working positively for them,

in addition to creating better lives for so many in the local community. Seventy-five years ago, at the exact same spot on 15th Street where the toilet

paper factory is now located, CBVI participants made three ring binders for the Federal government.

“Things change, attitudes change,” Fister said toward the end of last week’s tour. “While we used to keep to ourselves inside this little building, we no

longer do that. Thanks to the forward thinking of the staff here, we have become a vibrant part of the community around us. The Center for the Blind and

Visually Impaired has truly undergone a metamorphisis…and that’s a really good thing.”

(For more information on the services and employment programs offered at the Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Chester, call 610-874-1476, ext.

161, visit www.cbvi.com or e-mail cbvi.net/. For more information on future Delaware County Chamber of Commerce events or membership, e-mail suzannec at delcochamber.org

or call 610-565-3677.)

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