UTICA — The Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CABVI) recently won a contract with the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command (USASAC) as a prime vendor for foreign military sales (FMS) programs.

Under the contract, CABVI will provide troop-support equipment and clothing items in support of the Aberdeen Contracting Center Aberdeen Proving Ground.

“Our agency will supply U.S. allies, like Canada or Iraq, with individual troop requirements like uniforms, mess kits, and field packs, just to name a few items,” CABVI President and CEO Rudy D’Amico said in a news release announcing the contract. “These products will be produced by agencies that employ people who are blind or have other severe disabilities.”

CABVI’s job is to find the necessary products in military surplus, find the makers of the products, and make the products that it can, said Stephen Gannon, director of development at the agency.

The way the FMS process works is that a foreign military will make a request to purchase an item on the AbilityOne Procurement List from the Aberdeen Center, with most items in military surplus. Representatives from Aberdeen will forward the request to CABVI, who will then find the products or suppliers. If the items can be produced or picked from storage and supplied to the customer, Aberdeen will pay CABVI a prime-vendor fee.

While it won’t necessarily boost product at CABVI, the contract still helps the agency continue its mission to help people who are blind or visually impaired find employment., D’Amico said.

The agency expects a number of its employees who are blind to work on the contract and also expects it will need to hire additional workers, although it is not clear yet how many workers the agency might need. The agency currently employs 200 people, and about half of those employees are legally blind or visually impaired.

The AbilityOne program, formerly the Javits-Wagner-O’Day program, creates employment for thousands of people who are blind or disabled. AbilityOne coordinates its activities and participation with more than 600 non-profit organizations and employs more than 40,000 personnel with severe disabilities. 

“Every organization that has products on the AbilityOne procurement list had the ability to compete for the prime-vendor designation,” Gannon said. “Ours was the most attractive proposal.”

Headquartered at 507 Kent St., Utica, CABVI also has facilities on Beechgrove Place and Dwyer Avenue, along with locations at the S.S. Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany; a Dolphin Express Store in New London, Conn.; a Galaxy Express Store in Westover, Mass.; a Shipyard Express Store in Kittery, Maine; and an Island Express Store in Newport, R.I.       

RICHFIELD SPRINGS — During a recession, buying new furniture may be about the last thing on anyone’s mind, but now that the economy is showing signs of continued recovery, Jeffrey Sarafin is hoping to take advantage of that momentum and boost business at his furniture store.

Sarafin established Jeff’s Handcrafted Amish Furniture four years ago when he purchased the former Miller’s Furniture. He didn’t disclose financial terms of that deal. Sarafin spent eight years as a salesperson for American Homes in Richfield Springs before taking over the furniture business, located in the Price Chopper Plaza on Route 20.

The high quality of the Amish handcrafted furniture really appealed to him, he says. It has appealed to customers as well, just not quite at the volume he’d like to see.

Sarafin says he has built up business from customer referrals and the Amish name. “The Amish name is a trustworthy name,” he says. “When I bring up Amish, it sells itself.” Amish artisans in Holmes County, Ohio handcraft the majority of Sarafin’s offerings. He also works with a few local Amish crafters.

The store draws customers from New Hartford, Utica, Cooperstown, and even as far away as Albany, Sarafin says. He even sold furniture to a Texas couple passing through the area in their motor home that spotted a dining set they just had to have.

His goal this year is to make more people across the Mohawk Valley aware of his business and help draw them into the store. Once he has them inside, the furniture sells itself, he says. It’s just making people aware of the store and getting them there that has been the hard part.

To boost awareness of his store, he’s undertaking a marketing effort with WUTR, the local ABC affiliate, which airs on Time-Warner channel 7. 

“That’s probably my biggest thing I have in the works right now,” Sarafin says. He’ll be meeting later this month with someone from the station to develop and create his commercials. At this time, he doesn’t know what his budget for the marketing effort is, and hasn’t set a goal on how much he’d like to see the advertising increase sales.

“I’m just trying to branch out to people,” Sarafin says. He also does some newspaper advertising from time to time in area papers including Utica’s Observer-Dispatch. “I’m just looking for more exposure,” he says.

Jeff’s 3,000-square-foot showroom displays an array of dining room and bedroom furniture, entertainment centers, desks, bookshelves, chairs, and cedar chests. The products are special for a number of reasons, Sarafin says. First, they are all handcrafted with real wood. There isn’t any furniture made of compressed sawdust in his showroom, he notes.

“The biggest thing is it is custom,” he says of his offerings. People have the choice of buying a piece from the showroom, or, if they like a certain piece but want it in a different wood or different finish, they can order that and have it handcrafted for them.

“Every piece gets built from scratch,” he says. People can also bring in a photo of a space or measurements and Sarafin will help them custom craft just the right piece of furniture to meet their needs. That’s something that larger retailers like Carl’s Furniture City or Raymour & Flanagan, both with Utica–area stores, just can’t do, he says.

Along with his other marketing efforts, Sarafin also promotes his store online at www.jeffsamishfurniture.webs.com and on Facebook, where he has 185 fans and features photos of the furniture. Sarafin is the sole employee with no immediate plans to hire anyone.