SEKRI officials hold grand opening in new Middlesboro location

Southeastern Kentucky Rehabilitation Industries (SEKRI) opened their seventh location on Monday in Middlesboro.

Litefighter is the leading back-packable shelter system for the United State military, and the demand is back-ordered for over 30,000 items, which could help increase the number of people needed to work on their products.

Rich Coachys, President of Litefighter Systems, says the relationship with SEKRI is growing each day, keeping SEKRI employees just as in-demand as their 4.9 lb tents, that SEKRI employees are currently working on.

"SEKRI is key, right now we are back-ordered. And, bringing SEKRI on in this new location in Middlesboro, is really going to help us out to catch up with the demand for our product," says Coachys.

Executive Director of SEKRI, Norm Bradley, says, the impact will be not only economic for Middlesboro, but the jobs they are providing are unique.

The plant currently has 12 employees, but SEKRI officials say they intend to have up to 100 employees by the end of their first year.

The most pivotal part of SEKRI's hiring process is their devotion to hiring close to 75% of their staff, that have some sort of documented disability.

At the grand opening on Monday, several state and local government officials weighed in on the impact that the new location will have in Bell County, including Kentucky's 5th District Representative, Hal Rogers.

The grand opening event started at 3:30 p.m. at the location on Cumberland Avenue.