Acting Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) Commissioner Sheila J. Poole today commended the Reader’s Digest Partners for Sight Foundation and the Catholic Guild for the Blind of New York City for helping blind business owners who were harmed financially by the federal government shutdown in December and January. The blind vendors operate food service facilities and vending machines in federal buildings as part of the New York State Commission for the Blind’s (NYSCB) Business Enterprise Program.

The Reader’s Digest Partners for Sight Foundation provided $8,000 in grants to cover the loss of food products during the shutdown by vendors who are blind. The Catholic Guild for the Blind will distribute the grants after evaluating each vendor’s losses and needs.

“I am grateful that the Reader’s Digest Partners for Sight Foundation and the Catholic Guild for the Blind reached out to the Commission for the Blind to provide this generous grant to help our vendors survive this difficult time,” said acting OCFS Commissioner, Sheila J. Poole. “This assistance is a lifeline in what would otherwise have been a devastating loss to their businesses.”

“I can’t thank our friends at the Foundation and the Catholic Guild enough for their support of our vendors,” said NYSCB Associate Commissioner Brian Daniels. “These businesses bring independence, self-sufficiency, pride, and security. This generous grant has helped to restore all of those things and more.”

The NYSCB Business Enterprise Program provides New Yorkers who are blind or deaf-blind the opportunity to operate food service facilities, newsstands, or vending operations in federal and state buildings. These sole proprietors receive training on how to operate a small business, obtain interest-free loans for startup costs, and receive continual support to succeed.

There are 75 Business Enterprise Program vendors operating in New York State with an average income of $43,000 a year. Nationally, the program employs 2,500 vendors whose annual revenue exceeds $800 million.