In the Spotlight: Golden LEAF Grant to Far West Nonprofit Is Classic Success Story

Industrial Opportunities Is Economic Boost To Three Counties

Everyone loves success stories, and the Golden LEAF Foundation likes being a part of them.

There is an inspiring success story in Andrews, the small town in Cherokee County that is about as far west as you can go in North Carolina. Industrial Opportunities (IOI), a nonprofit organization that has been providing rehabilitation services for more than 30 years, operates a manufacturing plant there and employs many workers with mental and physical disabilities.

A year ago it came to Golden LEAF with a request for funds to buy a Gerber cutter that was necessary for IOI to successfully compete for a contract to manufacture military duffel bags. A $125,000 Golden LEAF grant made it possible for the nonprofit to purchase and install the machine and complete the first contract. Almost all IOI employees on this project were displaced workers, and 30 percent had disabilities. The average wage for the workers was almost double minimum wage.

Because it has the state-of-the-art precision cutter, IOI was able to obtain nine additional contracts for military and medical related items. Jobs are scarce in the three counties the organization services - Cherokee, Clay and Swain - so the 48 new employees IOI hired to fill the contracts and the 50 it was able to retain have had major economic impact. The new equipment allowed IOI to obtain contracts to manufacture more than 46,000 pairs of cold-weather socks, 12,000 radio pouch kits, 6,000 shotgun shell pouch holders for the Special Forces, and an IV cooler bag for the United States Medical Corps in Iraq. It has been awarded a second contract for duffel bags and for three different kinds of military pouches.

"Total payroll attributed to the first duffel bag contract was $2,485,495," said Tom O'Brien, President and Chief Executive Officer, "plus $646,229 in fringe benefits. The $125,000 Gerber cutter purchased with the Golden LEAF grant then helped us generate $5,473,435 in new sales plus two pending contracts valued at $3,489,490."

IOI, which reaches out and provides training and jobs for persons with disabilities, has been able to increase its self-sufficiency from 90 percent to 93.5 percent through this new contract revenue.

Valeria Lee, president of the Golden LEAF Foundation said, "This grant from Golden LEAF's economic stimulus fund is a good example of how Golden LEAF partners with communities to create new jobs and retain workers. By awarding this grant to Industrial Opportunities in Cherokee County - a nonprofit with the special mission of employing the handicapped - we not only were able to help them secure a new contract but put them in a position to compete for other contracts as opportunities arose. They did that very successfully and also are doing what every nonprofit would like to do - become more self sustaining."

Industrial Opportunities (IOI) makes gear for the military

cargo and deployment bags, straps for aerial delivery of vehicles

cold-weather socks