blog assignment 001

on friday, september second our class traveled over to the industries of the blind building. it was a little intimidating at first...this building is right across the train tracks yet none of us knew what went on inside of it. walking up there wasn't much to the building. there were few windows, a tree, a flagpole, and some shrubs. this building did not look exciting but i kept my hopes up because patrick spoke so highly of it. we entered through a vestibule (something i had never noticed until patrick pointed it out one day and now i notice them everywhere) and waited for naari to lead us further. the space was sort of like the outside...plain. i noticed a small little meditation garden of some sort under the staircase as we went up the stairs. we went into a conference room to hear from mr. lopresti after that. the room had a giant table and lots of chairs. mr. lopresti spoke about the history of the company and the work he's done there since he started there. since he's been there worker morale and productivity have shot through the roof and later we saw why. after we talked he gave us a tour through the factory. we started in a storage room and learned about the process of what they do there. we then got to check out the factory and see the workers in action. i was so enthralled with his tour that i barely even thought to take pictures! they were sewing, cutting, folding, and more. the thing that was the most amazing to myself-and i know the rest of us- was that mr. lopresti could walk right up to any of those employees, know them by  name, and make some sort of inside joke with them. and he proceeded to do so with many of them. we continued to walk through and see all of the amazing things that the workers were doing. it was strange to look at them and think that they were blind because they knew exactly what they were doing and were doing it well. they were making t-shirts, pens, parachutes, and neck-protectors for battle helmets. a few of them got to give us a run-down of what they were doing. again, it was easy to forget that they were unable to see because they were talking to us just like anyone else would. these workers were all so happy and cheerful it was inspiring. we ended the tour with a look at their productivity board. they were way over their goal, and we could all see why.

these people are so proud of what they do. when we asked one worker what his job was he happily responded with. "we save lives!". making these things for the soldiers really inspires these folks and it really got to all of us. if i was unable to see i'd probably be in a corner crying right now. not these people, they'll talk to whoever wants to listen and you'll never see them frown. i'm so glad that we're able to help them out and re-vamp their space because these people truly, truly deserve it.