PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

And the Beat Goes On….

By Charles Glaser, RSVA President,
(Vendorscope Summer 2008)

Read Previous Messages

In the past year, the Randolph-Sheppard Program and RSVA have seen many challenges and, in RSVA’s case particularly, more productivity.

I do not want to belabor the ongoing challenges to our program, but I do want you to be informed. The pages of this year’s issues of the Vendorscope, as in past years, have reported the barrage of new reports submitted by various government agencies regarding the applicability of the Randolph-Sheppard Act. It appears that many government agencies do not believe that the law applies to them or would like the law to be changed to exclude their agency. RSVA continues to be a strong advocate for the Randolph-Sheppard program. We work closely with the BEA and the other BEA program supporters to insure our future.

RSVA has taken on new responsibilities which have risen to new levels. Our first Sagebrush BEP Training Conference was an overwhelming success. We had unprecedented support from government agencies, the private sector, and our membership and, of course, our conference committee. Next year promises to be even better.

The Publications Committee continues producing issues of the Vendorscope that are informative, including a wide variety of topics and new columns like “On the Road Again” that are of interest to our membership. But the publications committee is not resting on its laurels. They took on the project of reconstructing our website. RSVA.biz is now a true resource for the Randolph-Sheppard community. This same tireless committee, along with the Public Relations Committee and the National Office, has laid the groundwork for continuing publication of promotional flyers to keep vendors aware of rebate and discount opportunities. Using this structure, we will also be able to rapidly alert our members of critical issues pertaining to our program.

Speaking of promotions, rebates and discount opportunities, so far in 2008 our National Accounts committee has worked with Frito-Lay and Pepsi Cola to
bring two programs to our membership that will build awareness of our buying power with national companies, while at the same time keeping money in our pockets.

RSVA has experienced significant accomplishments in the past year leading to membership growth. We will be able to continue to increase our service to our members and all blind vendors by working to strengthen our priority on State and Federal levels, by helping to maximize our members’ earnings by reducing the cost of goods, and by making the organized blind vendor community stronger. The RSVA membership committee is always ready to help any state blind vendors establish an affiliate or help revitalize an existing affiliate as we did in Oregon this year.

It is clear that there is a great possibility that there will be changes made to our program in the near future. To meet our goal of preserving our program and assuring the future of blind vendors we must all work together. Historically, the blind vendor community has been reactive to challenges to the program. We now realize that we will also have to be proactive and prepare for what will come in the future.

RSVA will focus heavily this year on communication. To accomplish this goal we need help from our community. We need contact information for every vendor and others who benefit from the Randolph-Sheppard Program. To keep a national database up-to-date, we need help from both vendors and State Agencies. Please help us help our community by calling, emailing, faxing or mailing our national office. We only need basic contact information, i.e. name, current mailing address, facility address if different, work or personal phone number and email address if applicable.

Don’t forget that you can easily go to the rsva.biz website and fill out this information under the “Join RSVA” category, or you can easily fill out the Membership Application Page at the end of the Vendorscope and mail it in. If you are a State Agency, please fill in the info under “Business”. It doesn’t matter if you are already a member; we are just looking for updated information. Remember, if the vendor managers and the State Agencies update their contact information, we will take care of the rest.

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