Determined Oaklander Joins Ranks Of Maryland's Blind Business Owners

Jan. 13, 2011

by Peggy Santamaria

Before charting a course for the New Year that stretches ahead, people often reflect on the year that has just ended and review accomplishments, losses, lessons learned, and moments treasured.

Robin Fife may look back on 2010 as a time of incalculable loss and joyful gain. Both led her to triumph over challenge. During the previous year, she achieved a lifetime dream of operating her own business but also faced the death of her mother, following a long illness. These events are magnified by the fact that Robin Fife is blind.

Following her education at the Maryland School for the Blind, Fife returned home to her mother's house in Oakland and began a career in the sheltered workshop at Appalachian Crossroads, where she was employed as a mailroom clerk. With the assistance of aides, she tended to the tasks of affixing labels to envelopes using a guide and weighing each piece of mail on an audio scale.

"I always enjoyed my work in the mail room, but I wanted to do something more," Fife said. Her bubbly personality and sense of independence afforded her the confidence to research other job opportunities. Assisted by Appalachian Crossroads, Fife interviewed with several employers, but did not succeed in finding a position that matched her strengths in the workplace.

Scott Hollingsworth, director of Day Programs at Appalachian Crossroads, was aware of Fife's desire to expand her career.

"Robin has a lot of initiative. She wanted to create her own future," Hollings-worth said. "So she set about finding an opportunity to control her own schedule, to set her own goals, and to do something that would allow her to measure her success based on her individual effort."

When former Appalachian Crossroads trainee Roger Uber moved to Virginia, the business he started, Sunshine Vending Service, became available for acquisition.

"The vending machine business seemed like a good fit for Robin," said Hollings-worth. "She would need assistance from a job coach, someone to be her 'eyes,' but with that, she thought she could be successful."

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