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Scent of success Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Fred Garnett serves coffee from a stand near the Table Rock Fellowship at 3610 N. Pacific Highway. Garnett, now almost completely blind, says it took him a year and a half to find a lender who would help him with his venture. All of his equipment is tailored to his needs, including a machine that tells him what denomination of bill he is receiving. By Buffy Pollock Although business has been good since Fred Garnett opened his drive-through coffee stand a month ago, he has yet to see any customers. The 30-year-old Medford man has been blind since he was a teenager. Not that everyone notices. "Every once in awhile someone will start to talk about something they saw and I�ll just make a joke or comment like, �Oh, I wouldn�t know, I�m blind,� " he said. "Some of them figure it out and think it�s really cool, and some people still haven�t figured it out." Garnett, who began going blind at the age of 16, said opening his stand fulfilled a dream he�d had since long before losing his sight � having his own business. But The Great Awakening, which Garnett runs in front of Table Rock Fellowship at 3610 N. Pacific Highway, is easier to operate than it was to open, said Garnett. He said that took almost two years because many lenders didn�t believe a blind man could run the business. Garnett, who has an untreatable condition called Lebers Optic Atrophy, explained his level of vision as what eye doctors call "hand motion." He can see light and shadows, but no details. Garnett said he began losing his sight in 1986, just after he got his driver�s license and noticed a blind spot getting bigger. His lack of sight didn�t slow him down, but others had trouble with it, said his wife, Tracey. "We�ve been together nine years and during that whole period of time nobody wanted to hire him," Tracey Garnett said. "It was a struggle finding work for this man and he just wanted to support his family. A lot of people don�t know someone who�s blind and don�t know what blind people can do." Garnett said that Table Rock Fellowship pastor Tom Sabens, where the Garnetts attend church, eventually suggested he try to start some type of business in the stand in front of the church. The idea to sell coffee was Garnett�s. "It seemed like a fun business and the people that work in them always seemed to be having a good time," he said. The Garnetts spent a year and a half putting together the business plan required by lenders. When they began approaching banks, it felt as though they were being challenged to quit, said Tracey Garnett. "We met a lot of opposition," she said. "We�d submit our business plan and they�d ask us to go back and add something else. They didn�t come right out and say it, but it was implied. You could tell they were thinking, �How is he going to do this?� " Garnett said a lot of people couldn�t imagine how someone who couldn�t see would be able to serve hot coffee, but his stand was planned from the beginning to make everything work for him. He uses a machine that "tells" him what denomination of money he is given, has level indicators to fill cups and all of his recipes are memorized. The Medford Commission for the Blind got him his bean grinder and espresso machine, and his wife does his bookkeeping. Garnett is able to run the coffee stand on his own, but his mother-in-law is working with him while he gets comfortable with it. "There was a lot of trial and error in the beginning," his wife said. "We had to get it all set up so he could make everything on his own. "Don�t ever tell this guy he can�t do something. That just lights the fire a little hotter," she added. "If you put your mind to it, there�s always a way." Looking back, Garnett said he felt that being unable to find a job was his sign to try for something more. "I�m glad I couldn�t get a job now. I had to go through a struggle but ended up better. God taught us a lot of patience." The Great Awakening is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and serves coffee, espresso, tea, baked goods, juices, soda and smoothies. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.