Free Press Staff Writer
In essence, a skid board is a sheet of plywood. But once it is placed under a cargo pallet bearing food, fuel, ammunition and other supplies, and dropped from an airplane to American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, it becomes a critical component of the military’s re-supply efforts.
Those boards are made in Kinston by a group of dedicated workers who are either blind or visually impaired.
The 34 employees of the Lions Industries for the Blind’s Kinston factory — who make skid boards, weapons cleaning swabs, cloth covers and bags and other supplies for the U.S. military — were honored Thursday during the organization’s 40th anniversary celebration.
“You’ve executed your contracts above and beyond expectations,” said Roy Peay, IST lead for Defense Logistics Aviation’s Airframe Division. “Congratulations, well done — and thank you.”
DLA Aviation, based in Richmond, Va., is among the military, federal government and private sector contractors that purchase goods made at the LIB plant in Kinston.
“Every bundle that’s dropped out the back of an aircraft has a skid board under it,” Peay said during the celebration and ribbon-cutting, which was hosted by the Kinston-Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce. “As the Army Program Office keeps telling me, without skid boards there is no air cargo delivery.”
The National Industries for the Blind is based in Alexandria, Va., and was established in 1938 through the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act, which requires the federal government to support employment and job training for those with blindness and other disabilities.
There are more than 600 nonprofit agencies around the U.S. affiliated with the NIB, including Lions Industries for the Blind Inc.
“We’re about anyone reaching the highest level of what they want to do as a career, because really, isn’t that what we all want to do?” asked Kevin Lynch, president and CEO of NIB.
The Lions Industries for the Blind was chartered in Kinston in April of 1971 through the Host Lions Club and the Ram Neuse Lions Club.
Its first facility was on East Street in Kinston, and it has moved several times before settling into the current plant on Berkeley Avenue, located off U.S. 70 West.
David Kephart, a 12-year employee, lauded his fellow workers for their commitment to producing quality work on time.
“When you have those goals being performed in a company, you get nothing but teamwork,” he said.
David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com.
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For more information on Lions Industries for the Blind in Kinston, visit lionsindustries.org or call 252-523-1019.