Ark. blind group gets Navy contract

Ark. blind group gets Navy contract

	Published : Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:30 By : Agencies Print this Story

LITTLE ROCK (AP) - Anthony Ruffin didn't know how to sew when he began working at the Arkansas Lighthouse for the Blind. But he picked up the skill, and also taught himself how to use the touch-screen computer that he can't see.

'It gives me a lot of independence,' Ruffin said Monday as he used a machine to sew the bottom seams of a cotton T-shirt. 'I have got to have goals and dreams like everybody else. This gives me security.'

Ruffin, who is legally blind, is among the Lighthouse workers who will make navy-colored T-shirts for the U.S. Navy. Officials marked the opening Monday of the new manufacturing line at the southwest Little Rock manufacturing plant.

The nonprofit agency, which opened in 1940 and was dedicated by Helen Keller, first made mops, brooms and doormats on the campus of the Arkansas School for the Blind, said Bill Johnson, the agency's executive director.

'As you can see today, that's not us,' he said. 'We are high-tech, we are professional, we are producing high-quality products that are being worn by American servicemen and women.'

Workers at the Lighthouse -- blind, visually impaired and sighted -- are making the T-shirts for the Navy, as part of a three-month contract worth $187,000.

Regina Dumas sews shoulders onto the cotton T-shirts. Visually impaired, Dumas can see well enough through her glasses to line up the shoulders, then she pushes the fabric through a sewing machine using a foot pedal.

'I love it because I'm able to do it,' said Dumas, who sews about 800 to 1,000 T-shirts a day. 'I'm proud to be able to serve the men and women who serve our country.'

A few sighted coworkers who sit near Dumas then sew collars onto the shirts.

The Lighthouse will make 20,000 of the Navy T-shirts a month from January through March. If the contract is extended, the Lighthouse plans to make double that.

Lighthouse workers already make a moisture-resistant T-shirt for members of the U.S. Army serving in the Middle East and other desert climates, as well as a nylon utility belt and a Bandoleer pouch for the military.

The Navy shirts will be used as part of a task force uniform, said Gilbert Montoya, deputy commander of the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia.

'I'm in awe of the amazing work you do here,' Montoya told the workers, before giving commemorative coins to a longtime employee for his leadership and another worker who offered him a home-cooked meal during his visit to Arkansas.

For Ruffin, who's been sewing shirts for the past six or seven years but has been at Lighthouse since 1989, working at the agency was basically his first job.

'People think if you can't see, you can't do it,' Ruffin said as he fed two shirts through the sewing machines. 'But you can just learn to figure it out.'