American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Convention Issue 2025 NOPBC BOARD MEETING
by Belinda Banks
Introduction by Cassie McKinney: We all have high expectations for our children, as we’ve talked about in many different ways today. We also understand that college isn’t for everybody. Some people want to have a trade. They want to do something that doesn’t require a college education. I asked our next speaker to come. Belinda Banks is from South Carolina. Some of you may not know this fun fact about me—if it weren’t for the Randolph-Sheppard program, I would not be here today. Now I’m going to let Belinda tell her story.
I’m going to start off by telling you a little bit about myself. I am totally blind. I have two kids of my own and one bonus son, which makes three, and one half-son, which is my oldest. His name is Derique Simon, and he is also blind. So, I understand how it feels to be a blind child, a blind parent, and a blind student.
I want to start off by telling you a little story about when I was younger. My family was very protective, and they just did not understand what I was going to do with myself. At the time I was the only one in my family who was visually impaired. I went to the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind.
When I graduated I was unemployed for a while. Then I became employed by the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind as a residential advisor, working in the dormitory. Then I got married and had Derique, my blind son, who is now twenty-four years old and well on his way to being very successful. He’s working at BISM in Baltimore. He moved away from home, and that was very hard! I’m so proud of him!
I went through a divorce and left the School for the Deaf and Blind. I was a single mom, trying to figure out what I was going to do with myself. I was blind and my son was blind. I knew college was not the answer for me. I reached out to the South Carolina Commission for the Blind and found out about the Randolph-Sheppard program, which is called the Business Enterprise Program.
That program changed my life for the better! I started off in a very small location, and I was just bringing home a hundred dollars a week. I worked that location for six months. I bid on several other locations, but I had no earthly idea that I was going to get one of the highest paying locations in the state, less than a year after being in the program! It changed my life and my son’s life!
I have had seven locations throughout the South Carolina BEP program. I’ve worked two to three locations at one time. I’m working two locations right now. One is a roadside rest area. I’m also working on one of the biggest military bases, which is Fort Jackson Army Base.
As I say, college is not for everyone. There are other paths you can take to be successful. The BEP Program has not only taught me to be successful in vending and food service. It has also taught me to be independent and to teach my kids to be independent.
I’ve remarried, and I just renewed my sixteen-year vow. One of the things I told them at my wedding renewal was that it took a strong man to take on a blind wife and a blind son. My husband and I and our three kids have worked my vending program machines, and my family has been very successful. We do everything that anyone else can do. We travel on vacations.
I want you all to know something that a lot of people in South Carolina don’t even know yet. I’m about to open up my own personal business. I just passed my last inspection. [Applause] I’m so happy that I pushed myself and motivated myself to move forward and do something on my own, without having the South Carolina Commission for the Blind help me.
Question: You’ve talked about the vending program as an option for blind people who don’t want to go to college. Do you have any thoughts about people who want to go to college but want to open a business later? Is there a good option for people who want to do that?
BELINDA BANKS: Of course! I tell everybody the sky is the limit. If you dream it, it can happen. Several of our licensed blind vendors went to college. They have several degrees, and then they decided they want to come into the BEP program. We have several vendors who went to college and had jobs in the field they studied. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Question: Could you please explain a bit about the Randolph-Sheppard Program, how it works?
BELINDA: Every state has its own rules and regulations. In South Carolina we have a sixteen-week program where you start off at the Commission for the Blind in the classroom. You have to have O&M training, JAWS training, and independent living skills. You go through your vocational rehabilitation counselor to get that training, and then you can come into the BEP program. You have four weeks of classroom training, and then you go out into the field and work in different types of locations. One type is a vendor route, where you have multiple stops, handling machines in multiple places. You may have five stops, you may have twenty stops, some people have a hundred and fifty machines that they work every week. It varies from person to person. You may start off small and add on locations as you grow. When you can handle more, the Commission for the Blind will give you more.
They also have what they call walk-through locations. A walk-through location is like a canteen in a state, city, or federal building. Those locations usually have extra vending added on. They have a cash register. It’s like a mini store. Some just have drinks and snacks. Some cook breakfast and lunch. They also have roadside rest areas, welcome centers—a lot of people call them truck stops. You also can have military dining, which can be Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. Those bases are some of the bigger locations.
When you’re first getting started you go out for on-the-job training for two to three weeks. Then you come back into the classroom, and they give you different kinds of testing. If you pass those tests, you move to the next level, where you can move to the bigger locations such as military dining and cafeterias. Then you have to take the service test, which is very hard. You definitely have to pay attention throughout your OJT [on the job] training and your classroom time. Once you finish the training and pass the tests, you can get your license to be a Certified Blind Vendor. Once you receive that they can place you in a location if they have one available, or you have to wait until something comes on the bid line. You interview for it and hope you get it.