Melissa Murphy says she isn't sure she'd have a job without help from Butler County's blind association.
Murphy, 29, of Butler is one of two visually impaired workers shredding documents for Out O Sight Shredding on Bonnie Drive in Butler.
The Blind Association of Butler and Armstrong Counties started the company in October to raise money to offset a recession-induced drop in donations and to offer jobs to blind people. Association officials say it's the first such venture by a blind association in Western Pennsylvania.
"This is a big deal," said Murphy, who has a degree in office administration from Butler County Community College and hopes to work as a job coach with the company. "It is hard for the blind to get a job. A lot of people just will not give blind people a chance."
The visually impaired have an unemployment rate of about 70 percent, according to the National Federation of the Blind.
"This is a social enterprise and also a business," said Jennifer Bindernagel, the blind association's executive director. "We really needed to find more stable and predictable revenue. We are employing blind people, and we are also meeting the needs of many businesses."
The association spent $300,000 on equipment and a lease to start Out O Sight and expects to make about $100,000 a year from the enterprise, Bindernagel said.
The company employs two people but hopes to have about 50 -- mostly visually impaired -- on the payroll within three years, she said.
For several reasons, the service appeals to clients such as Jocelyn Howard, president of the CW Howard Insurance Agency Inc. of Butler and Seven Fields.
"We shred several boxes of paper a week," Howard said. "We had one employee who did it, which was not the best use of her time. And we were going through a couple of shredders a year. So this is much more economical."
Howard likes giving business to the association. "The service is helpful for us but is also contributing to the community. It's not just about making money," she said.
Demand for shredding services is expected to rise. In the past decade, the government passed laws requiring the shredding of medical and financial documents.
That upside is one reason nonprofits entered the shredding industry, said Robert Johnson, CEO of the Phoenix-based National Association For Information Destruction, a trade group representing 1,400 companies.
"This is part of a trend," Johnson said. "Hundreds of nonprofits are getting into to this business."
