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Welcome To National BVI Chamber of Commerce
Our Mission
Mission: To promote and grow businesses that are owned or employ people that are blind/visually impaired.
Who We Are
The national BVI Chamber of Commerce is a nationwide network united for the purpose of advocating and growing the BVI business community. From new start-ups to well-established companies, our aim is to expand opportunities in business for people that are blind or visually impaired. Learn More.
Member Spotlight
Save Point (Milwaukee, WI)
Save Point Transportation Inc. started as an idea resulting from David Zaniewski participating in the Froedtert Hospital Spinal Cord Injury support groups in the 2010’s. David went on to become a Froedtert Hospital Spinal Cord Injury mentor and participant in the Independence First transportation advocacy committee.
Basic research was conducted to determine the number of private companies offering paratransit services in the area and the cost of equipping micro-paratransit vehicles. Investigation into funding the business from grants and loans was performed but the startup cost of operating a two-vehicle business was a bit beyond David’s capability in 2017.
An additional spinal cord surgery in 2019 and Covid-19 in 2020 led to personal experiences with the lack of quality paratransit services in the metro Milwaukee community. Private providers disappeared from the market and personal Transit Plus service experiences led to a revival of the dream.
Covid-19 shut down many services in 2020 and 2021, including access to transportation and medical services. David learned of Independence Living Centers in Wisconsin providing transportation services. Connecting with and learning from those ILC program managers, proved especially valuable. David learned more about quality vehicle equipment from an Independence First co-worker, but there were still knowledge gaps and the fear of starting a new business.
2021 and 2022 were years of recovering from Covid-19 shutdowns. Many businesses reopened but private paratransit operators were not among them. In 2022, Milwaukee county announced the termination of the on-demand paratransit service. David attended meetings and was re-connected with former co-worker Lauren Grudzinski. They talked about possible future dreams and the concept of Save Point was developed by Lauren. David retired in the spring of 2023 and Lauren talked about the need for transporting people to get to her maker space dream. Lauren brought Dan Fritz into the fold during the summer of 2023 and Save Point started to become reality.
The paratransit business and budget plans were developed and modified over the next several months. Papers were filed for Save Point Transportation Inc. to become reality in December 2023.
In the words of “Weird Al” Yankovic, “The Saga Begins”.
There was much learning to become a transportation service in Milwaukee and almost nobody was able to fill the knowledge gaps. We applied for WisLoan money and were turned down, twice. We tried to buy a wheelchair accessible vehicle only to learn that nobody would lend the full vehicle value. Those partial vehicle loans could only be had at 11%+ interest rates. We all know the word DISCRIMINATION!
In December 2024 the IRS finally acted on our request for non-profit status. That’s when we learned that our lawyer filed our papers incorrectly. We refiled as a non-profit. Then the US DOT refused to recognize the state sealed papers with our refiling. I had to involve Senator Tammy Baldwin and threaten to have warrants sworn for US DOT staff because of their violation of Wisconsin law in refusing to accept state sealed documents.
Then David met Kevin and he joined the BVI Chamber of commerce, which helped him in networking the business plan. David serves as secretary of the national board of directors. Help them out by making a generous donation, all donations will be used to provide discounted fares.