Danette Blank
For Danette Blank, “it was time.”
Blank, 65, of Linglestown, retired June 30 after serving 23 years as executive director of Vision Resources of Central Pennsylvania, a Harrisburg-based advocacy organization for the blind and visually impaired.
“I felt it was time for myself to retire and time for the agency to have new blood and ideas,” she said recently.
Blank started with the agency in 2000 while it was still known as Tri-County Association for the Blind and before the organization transferred to its current moniker eight years ago. Previous to that, she worked 17 years as a general manager for Manpower staffing in Dallas, Texas, and then in Harrisburg. She initially worked in social welfare for three years after earning a degree in that field at Kutztown University.
After elimination of her Manpower job, Blank said that she “wanted to go back to social services work and to find something where I could incorporate my business experience with social service.”
By all appearances, Vision Resources was her perfect occupational match.
“Danette took (Vision Resources) through hard financial times,” said Paul Zavinsky, the agency’s director of development and public relations. “She had a capital campaign and helped envision our current location. She built up the organization’s businesses and has been a champion for employing individuals with disabilities.”
Blank cited that, under her leadership, Vision Resources expanded its services to include a no-cost eye clinic offering free glasses, occupational therapy services and low-vision rehab. She also spearheaded a capital campaign that raised $2 million, permitting the agency to double its working space by moving operations from Kelker and 2nd streets in 2008 to a 36,000-square-foot location in South Harrisburg.
She also oversaw expansion of the agency’s business-to-business operation, which now boasts 100 employees. Of those, 70 live with disabilities that range beyond blindness or vision impairment.
Initially founded as a mail service offering PennDOT photo IDs, business services have grown to include custodial care, laser printing and full-service flooring. A production unit offers such services as warehousing and distribution, Braille transcription and audio recording services. The program also runs a children’s summer camp, but Blank said, “The largest number of people it helps are senior citizens.”
“Danette built up the organization’s businesses and has been a champion for employing individuals with disabilities,” Zavinsky said. “She led the agency into the digital age, including social media and amazing new technologies available to the blind and visually impaired.”
Vision Resources also runs a prevention program that provides eye screenings for youngsters in area daycares.
“We want to get them before they go to school and might have behavioral or learning problems from undiagnosed vision problems,” Blank said. “Sometimes, they were born that way and didn’t know that everything in the world wasn’t blurry.”
Zavinsky said that Blank cares about everyone who Vision Resources serves.
“Her goal is to help every action that each person in the sphere of Vision Resources is engaged in to be achievable, especially the organization’s mission of creating greater independence and empowerment for those that are blind and visually impaired,” he said.
It hasn’t all been easy, though. Blank said the most challenging part of her job involved securing agency funding and personnel issues sprouting from its business service employees.
“My job was to keep everyone happy,” she noted.
As a standalone, nonprofit agency, 3% of Vision Resources’ budget comprises state funding. About 85% of the agency’s revenue is self-generated through its business service operations, while remaining funds are generated through grants and donors.
Still, Blank loved her job.
“Every day was different,” she said. “I liked coming up with a new idea and developing it.”
In retirement, Blank said that she looks forward to seeking part-time work, working in the community, and spending more time with her husband of 30 years, as well as visiting her daughter, son-in-law and grandson in Florida.
“I will miss Danette’s passion for the agency that she helped develop and sustain,” Zavinsky said. “Next to her family, it has always been evident how meaningful and fulfilling her work with Vision Resources has been to her.”
Vision Resources of Central Pennsylvania is located at 1130 S. 19th St., Harrisburg. For information, visit www.vrocp.org or call 717-238-2531.
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