Spring 2008

Kirk Adams, President Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind

Message from the President

Spring is the season of renewal. In Ethel L. Dupar’s Fragrant Garden plants are growing, buds are forming, and shoots are pushing their way up through the earth. The approach of spring is heralded by the delicious aromas and wonderful textures of this fragrance garden designed especially for blind and Deaf-Blind people’s enjoyment. This unique garden is a place where our employees can experience the miracle of spring during Seattle sun breaks

The Lighthouse is entering a season of new growth as well. We’re busy expanding our operations across the state, adapting the latest equipment for blind accessibility, and opening up new training opportunities for blind adults.

I am thrilled to announce that we will bring employment opportunities to Eastern Washington with the opening of our first satellite facility. In January we purchased the building which will become the Inland Northwest Lighthouse for the Blind in Spokane. Shortly after purchase of the building, we interviewed twenty potential blind employees for the new operation. Our first four employees will start work this spring with a goal of forty blind jobs added by our third year in Spokane.

Just as employment opportunities are expanding, so are opportunities for skills training and upward mobility.

As we know, seven out of ten blind adults are not working. Of those who are successfully employed, 90% can read and write braille. As braille literacy is so critical to upward mobility and equal access to information, braille training will be a top priority moving forward. To this end, we will open our Braille Literacy Program this spring. Our long-term goal is to have braille skills as a central competency for our organization and our region.

We have purchased new high tech machining equipment from the Okuma Corporation and adapted it for use by blind machinists with electronic screen-readers and large print computer displays. I was proud to sign a certificate for Jim Smith, a long-time blind machinist, attesting to the fact that he is the first blind person trained and qualified to operate this new equipment.

We continue to grow, creating more good jobs for people who are blind. At most recent count we now employ 195 people who are blind, Deaf-Blind or blind with other disabilities. We are delighted with the growth we are experiencing here at the Lighthouse, growth in jobs, growth in sales, growth in services provided to our employees, growth in the use of technology to make all of our jobs accessible.

We have been able to achieve all this through the support of our hardworking employees and partners, and through the generosity of our community. With each year, we have seen the community’s support of opportunities for blind and Deaf-Blind individuals increase. Your participation has helped create substantial opportunities in the blind and Deaf-Blind communities. Thank you for helping us to grow.

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