f you’ve never heard of a Base Supply Center, you’re not alone. Most people outside the federal and military world haven’t. But if you work on one of the installations we serve, chances are you’ve walked past ours more times than you can count.
A Base Supply Center, or BSC, is a retail store operated on a federal installation through the AbilityOne Program, the same program that connects BISM’s manufacturing operations to the federal government. Our BSCs sell office supplies, cleaning products, and everyday essentials to the military and civilian personnel who work on base, and they’re staffed largely by associates who are blind or have low vision. It’s one of the clearest, most visible examples of what BISM does: creating real, skilled employment for people who are blind.
BISM currently operates eight BSCs, on installations including Dover Air Force Base, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Fort Knox, Joint Base Andrews, DIA, DISA, and the Naval Research Laboratory.
Every year, our BSC teams host Customer Appreciation Days at each one of our bases. The idea is simple: our customers support our mission every single day, and we want to celebrate that. Every case of paper and bottle of cleaner purchased at one of our BSCs supports training and employment for blind and low-vision associates. So, a few times a year, we flip the script and do the thanking.
On these appreciation days, we bring in vendors who supply the products our stores carry, set up food, and open the floor for customers to come through, meet our staff, and see the store in a different light. It’s a chance for the people who shop with us all year to actually stop, look around, and learn what a BSC can do for their office or unit beyond what’s on the shelf that day.
This year, the BSC teams welcomed roughly 250 customers through our doors to connect face-to-face with the people and the mission behind the store. Our customers aren’t just buying supplies; they’re backing a workforce, and Customer Appreciation Days are our way of making sure they know it, and that we see them too.
