Capital Campaign to Fund New Site
Courtesy of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, September 20, 2007
By ANNA TELATOVICH
Before North Central Sight Services could move into its new location at 2121 Reach Road in January, more than $800,000 in renovations were necessary.
"A new roof, carpet and paint on the walls and floors, including tactile lines that can be felt with a cane, were among the safety improvements made for the agency's blind and visually impaired employees," said Robert Garrett, President and CEO.
The facility and its renovations cost $2.4 million.
"Because of our success in the past few years, we only went to the community for the money we really needed, which is the $1.2 million remaining debt on our building," Garrett said.
"The capital campaign, which started in May and is scheduled to run through the end of the year, is the first time since 1990 that Sight Services has reached out to the community for funds," he said.
Garrett said the goal of the campaign is fairly aggressive, but so far, its going OK.
The Reach Road site is nearly three times as large as the former site at 901 Memorial Ave. which housed the organization since 1957.
"At the new building, we are providing two new services to the community," Garrett said.
One new service is an access technology center. "The importance of the program is that it will provide individuals with limited or no vision to learn to use computers with screen readers that will speak what is on the screen, before users have to commit to buying the software," Garrett said.
"Being a blind guy, this is what I do all the time, and I feel it's important to extend that to others," he said.
An instructor will be on-site for the by-appointment-only center.
The other new addition to NCSS is the visual aides store.
"What we have is a variety of different products and devices for individuals who are blind and who have limited vision. Individuals can come in and look at the different options that are available, such as magnifying devices, talking calculators, Braille and large-print cards."
"You can actually put your hand on it and try it out, see if it makes sense before buying a product," Garrett said.
The store is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Anyone interested in supporting the NCSS capital campaign can go to our Web site at www.ncsight.org and make a donation there, or they can call me at 323-9401, ext. 126, Garrett said.
Employees of North Central Sight Services manufacture and distribute office supplies, computer media and targets to the federal government, according to its Web site.
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