Portland Observar January 22 1981 Page 5
Safeway aids handicapped shoppers
Products on the top shelves are often out of reach for wheelchair
custom ers. S afew ay personnel have been instructed to assist
disabled shoppers in obtaining items from uppermost shelves. Pic
tured here is a Safeway Assistant Manager removing a box of cereal
from the top shelf for Ron Horne. Accountant for Goodwill Industries
of Oregon.
Karen Stanton is in hot water-
and her team could help PGE
customers save more than
$250,000 a year.
The idea originated when Kermit
Berge, Chico Safeway Store clerk,
saw one o f his store’ s regular
customers struggling to do his shop
ping from a wheelchair. The restric
tions o f the wheelchair did not allow
the customer to use a shopping cart.
Since he could not stack many items
on his lap, he could only pick up a
few odds and ends at one time.
In an attempt to help the shopper,
Berge investigated various com
panies meeting the needs o f the
disabled. To his surprise, there were
no shopping carts fo r disabled
people.
Berge said Safeway o ffic ia ls in
Sacremento,
C a lifo rn ia
also
checked and confirmed his findings.
He sat down with an Engineer,
Charlie Newqujjt o f Chico, and the
two developed the firs t shopping
cart adaptable to a wheelchair.
Berge said he’d had the idea for a
long time but was never able to do
anything with it. Safeway gave him
three carts to tihker with. Berg un
veiled his invention in November
1979 at a Chico Safeway store.
The m odified cart looks like a
regular shopping cart w ithout a
handle. A four foot adjustable arm
projects from the back o f the cart
and includes two hooks which at
tach to any wheelchair. Once in
operation, the cart is directly in
front o f the wheelchair shopper who
can easily move about the aisles.
In 1980, the cart was tested in
W ashington, D.C. A fte r a few
minor modifications were made the
cart was made available to stores in
some eastern states.
This year, Karen Stanton
and her co-workers are
aiming at helping PGE
customers save more than
$250.000 in water heating
costs as part of PGE s Water
Heater Incentive Program
(W.H I P).
Karen and her fellow
Renewable Resource
Both private and public
Inspectors are helping PGE
utilities throughout the
residential customers ar
country are facing soaring
range installation of solar
costs Higher equipment
water heating and water
costs, fuel costs and interest
heater heat pump systems
rates have everyone on a
in their homes
tight budget And the rapid
PGE customers, who take
growth of new residential and
advantage of the W H I P
business customers in our
program, will be given $300
service area is another strain
if they install a solar water
on our existing supply
heater or water heater heat
But, at PGE, we are for
pump Or, PGE will advance
tunate to have people like
them the money they get
back next year in state and Karen Stanton working hard
federal tax credits for install to keep costs down for cus
tomers wherever they can
ing a solar water heater,
People who —
“ ■
as a non-interest loan.
It's hoped that up to
Mr®
3,000 such systems will
People with cost-saving
be installed this year which
ideas for you
would mean a total
savings of 6,920,000
kilowatt-hours, or
$254,992 at
today s prices
Electricity
costs are going
up everywhere,
it's not |ust here
C
Business tricky, satisfying
(Continued from page I col 3)
business loan...
Observer: ...D id you have any
trouble yet Unit l he loan?
Farm er: A t firs t we had some
trouble getting the loan u n til we
were able to come up w ith the
capital that we needed, and with our
financial background, it wasn’t that
bit£ o f a Droblem. I would like to
thank Warren Mitchell. He was very
inspirational in helping me get the
loan, and he still helps me now i f I
run into problems.
Observer: Who is Warren M it
chell?
Farmer: At the time, he was area
representative fo r the Small
Business Administration. Since then
he has gone into another job. And
yes...I do feel that Blacks are given
a harder time. I ’ ve been in and out
of the business for the past twenty
years and have come to learn
most of the pitfalls you are confron
ted with. If you know what they are,
you can kind o f guide yourself
around them. A person who doesn’ t
know the p itfa lls can run in to all
kinds o f problems.
Observer: Is the Buddy System
also at work here?
Farmer: Yes...I think its who you
know, but most of all it depends on
your financial background.
F a rm e r’s W ife :...T h a t’ s what
we’ ve found. I f you have money,
you can get money.
Farmer: But if you don’t have any
money, then you have a problem.
The Small Business Administration
never gave me a problem. They were
ihere to help. When I did run into a
problem, it was with the banks. My
eeling was, they don’t like to make
loans i f the current loan rate is 15-
16%. They don’t like to go out and
nake a 9ffzo loan, even if it is a small
’usiness. They gave me problems in
his area.
F a rm e r’s W ife: An example is
when we just started planning for
ihe remodeling o f this place. We
had help from the SBA and they
figured in, supposedly, all o f the
costs and also enough money fo r
reserve.
Farmer: The initial plan was that
I could wait six months before I had
io make a payment.
Farm er’s Wife ...B ut you see. it
took so long before everything was
Done. A whole year and ten months
for building and so by the time we
<Jlie Jlitile Poem
Used Clothing
Used Clothing
Telephone 289-8044
INER L. POE
Mgr.
811 N. KILLINGSWORTH
PORTLAND, OREGON 97217
Observer: What advice would you
had gone through this twenty-
give someone who was interested in
month period, in fla tio n had taken
starting a restaurant business?
up all o f the reserve ...
Farm er: W ell, in this day and
Farmer: In other words, we were
b u ilding on bids that were a year age, the best advice that 1 can give
someone, is to know something
old. And you can just imagine how
in fla tio n had worked on that. I f I about the restaurant business before
hadn’ t had other resources, I could
you go in to it. Because the
H elp Prevent
restaurant business is tric k y , and
never have gotten o ff the ground.
Birth Defects —
now-a-days you can go broke in a
Observer: You have many young
The
Nation's
m atter o f weeks i f everything
people w orking f o r y o u ...is this
doesn’ t fa ll in to place. And they
N u m b er One
tradition?
usually just d on’ t fa ll in to
Farm er: W ell, they are m ostly
Child Health
place...you have to make them fall
fam ily. We have a fa m ily type o f
Problem.
into place.
operation here...
F arm er’s W ife :... Because we
have six children.
Observer: Do you hire both
m in o ritie s and whites fro m the
community?
Farm er: We try to keep it ba
lanced. We try but the final analysis
depends on their performance. But
our biggest problem has been our
help. I t ’ s really hard to find good,
efficient help that’ s really concerned
about the com m unity and the
neighborhood serving them. We felt
that when we put this business here,
we would create a lot o f jobs for the
kids and adults in this area.
Observer: How do you feel about
the com m unity p a tro n izin g the
store? Is jt supportive?
Farmer: Yes it is, and I think it is
proud to have us here.
Observer: What other qualities
beside the g rin d in g o f the ham
burger meat do you fe e l makes
your restaurant special?
Farmer: While were were out o f
business, we would go around and
buy hamburgers at other local
places and found the meat to be
really tough. So, we said that i f we
ever got back in to the restaurant
business again, that we would
oetinately not use that kind o f ham
burger meat. So from day one, we
grind our own hamburger meat. We
buy it from the wholesale house,
grind it and make it into patties. We
know what goes into our hamburger
meat. We have no additives what-
so-ever! It’ s just pure ground ham
burger meat with less than 20% fat.
T h a t’ s why we do such a trem en
dous business. A ll you have to do is
eat one and you can tell the d if
ference. Everything is cooked to
order, nothing is pre-cooked.
Colorburst cotton terry R e g u la r (hi
towels. In solid colors
Sometimes people complain that it
S3 79 Hand towel
3.29
takes a little longer, but we wouldn’t
R egu lar $27.99
1 1 59 Washcloth
I.M
B oth ala.
have any other way.
Also save on a selection of absorbent towels
Also, we went out and bought the
in solid colors, floral prints and patterns
best o f everything. We went out and
Other site towel? also on sale. Matching
found the best flo o r covering we
bath rugs, accessories, and shower curtains
P r e lu d e au to m a tic
could buy; we found the best
also on sale See all the savings at Sears
blanket of polyester and
Venetian blinds we could find. We
acrylic. 11 s e ttin g s
really wanted to upgrade the neigh
Lighted control dial
Ask
about
Sears
credit
plans
borhood. This was one o f our pur
poses at the time.
Support the
-March of
® Dimes
*
BIRTH DEFECTS
FOUNDATION
BOLD SAVINGS ON BED
AND BATH FASHIONS
Full 5year Warranty
on Prelude
Automatic Blankets
For 5 years from date
of purchase, if a de
feet in. m a teria l or
workmanship appears
in blanket or control,
Sears will, upon re
turn, repair or replace
blanket or control at
no charge
SAVE 20%
on bath size towels
SAVE « 8
3 9 9
THANKS TO YOU
IT W ORKS...
FOR ALL OF US
Sears
IU M
Where America shops
for MMue
«ottur a a• • ro
Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Hark
United Way
PORTLAND PHONE 238-231 1
N t GRAND ai I. L ID II B IA II PARK FREE
Mondat and Frida» 9 ,10AM m 9 IWPM
Tura . Wad.. Thun 9 30AM Io ftPM
Saturday 9 ]0 A M lo S JOPM Sunday Noon lo S
I
on autom atic blankets
19"
size
Keep warm with our lab tested nylon
flocked blanket — retains its softness after
50 machine washings Velvety Burface won't
mat or shed Other sixes also on sale!
WASHINGTON SOLARE PHONE 6 20-1S10
Hiway 21 7 at GRF.ENRl RG R ll
PARK FREE
Monday ihm Fridoi 10 OOAM Io 9 00PM
Saturday 9 10AM io ft 00PM Sundai Naan la S
9