Out of Sight wins contract
The Venango County commissioners have decided to hire a local Butler business that employs adults with disabilities.
Out of Sight Shredding, a social enterprise program dedicated to employing adults with visual impairments and other disabilities, obtained the document destruction contract for Venango County government.
“We're always competitively bidding on new contracts,” said Jennifer Bindernagel, executive director at The Blind Association of Butler and Armstrong County. “We're continuing to grow.”
Out of Sight focuses on hiring adults with disabilities who may otherwise have a difficult time finding employment.
“We currently employ 15 workers,” Bindernagel said. “We focus primarily on blind or visual impairments, but we hire individuals with other disabilities also.”
This includes traumatic brain injuries (TBI), advanced stages of diabetes and mental or intellectual disabilities.
Those people are so grateful for a job,” said Warren Dixon, regional sales manager at Out of Sight Shredding. “It's a wonderful thing to see.”
While Dixon declined to go into the specifics of the contract, he said it would be good for business and that the organization will be able to use the additional revenue to expand operations.
“We do anticipate adding capacity to our plant and increasing employment,” said Dixon. “It's going to greatly help us out at the Blind Association.”
It currently employs 15 workers in the plant.
“In the short time I've been here, we've doubled our employment.”
Out of Sight is currently looking to hire drivers.
All the money made that does not go into running Out of Sight Shredding goes back into the Blind Association.
Dixon said Out of Sight had to compete with other firms to win the contract.
Out of Sight Shredding was founded in 2009, by Bindernagel as a Leadership Butler County project. In those 12 years it has been able to expand.
This year, Dixon said it expects to reach one million pounds of recycling.
“It's quite the landmark for us,” he said.
Last year, Out of Sight also received the Butler Health System document destruction contract. It also received a $210,000 grant from the state to upgrade and expand its facilities.
