The Standard-Examiner
by Mitch Shaw
September 30, 2011

Curtis Richardson says he has found a career at Hill Air Force Base.

Richardson is one of 100 Top of Utah residents who are blind or have another severe disability and are employed at Hill through the AbilityOne program.

AbilityOne is a federal initiative and the nation's largest single provider of jobs for people who are blind or have other severe disabilities.

The 47-year-old Clearfield resident has worked as a custodian at Hill for 14 years. He was hired one day before his 33rd birthday in 1998.

"Before I started working at Hill, I worked as a bagger at a grocery store and made about five bucks an hour," Richardson said. "I wouldn't have been able to survive much longer doing that, but luckily this job came along."

Richardson said some of the best things about his job are the benefits that come with it. He has health care, a pension plan and life insurance, things he wouldn't have been able to get elsewhere.

Richardson was among many AbilityOne employees honored Friday at a picnic at the base's Centennial Park. The event was sponsored by the Clearfield-based Pioneer Adult Rehabilitation Center.

At Hill, AbilityOne employees perform a variety of tasks, including operation of the base supply store, laundry and custodial services, food service, and the handling of package reclamation and scrap-metal recovery.

The base works with four AbilityOne vendors -- PARC, Enable Industries, IB Milwaukee, and the Utah Industries for the Blind.

"Hill is a strong supporter of the AbilityOne Program and its mission to provide employment for people who are blind and have other disabilities," said Nancy K. Andrews, Ogden Air Logistics Center director of contracting.

"Each person (in the program) should be recognized and commended for (the) continued contribution to the mission here."

Tooele resident Miles Raymond, 29, also works at Hill because of the program.

"Right now, I feel like I am lucky to even have a job," he said. "The economy is so upside-down right now, and I don't see it changing anytime soon."

Jim Crosby, director of operations with PARC, said most of the people his organization sends to Hill as part of the program love their jobs.

"These are very reliable people who love doing their jobs. They are an employer's dream."