Hey! I worked there on the production line back in '93.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Blind workers allege dangerous conditions, low pay at Fort Worth nonprofit
By Matthew Adams
Updated September 17, 2026 9:47 AM
The Lighthouse for the Blind of Fort Worth has for decades been a haven for the blind and visually impaired, serving upwards of 3,000 clients annually in recent years. But now, several people associated with the nonprofit organization say it has lost its way under President and CEO Platt Allen, accusing him of creating a dangerous work environment.
Current and former employees said Allen is largely an absentee leader who is combative and who put his workers in harm’s way by not acting sooner to address building concerns prior to a roof collapse last year.
Allen denied that he did anything wrong or that he has mistreated anyone. He said the 91-year-old institution has flourished, both financially and in pursuit of its mission, under his stewardship.
More than a dozen people told the Star-Telegram about problems they perceived in the organization, which is also registered as the Tarrant County Association for the Blind.
Most — particularly current Lighthouse employees — spoke only on the condition of anonymity over fears of job loss or retaliation. But some did go on the record, including two former senior leaders and the daughter of the Lighthouse’s founder.
Witnesses say Lighthouse for the Blind roof collapse could have been deadly
The Lighthouse for the Blind occupies a squat industrial complex on West Broadway Avenue just south of downtown. Its four connected buildings, which take up a city block, house executive and administrative offices and a manufacturing area, where blind, visually impaired and sighted employees produce, pack and ship items that the Lighthouse sells, such as office supplies, specialty packaging and drug testing kits.
On the west side of the complex is an accessible mural, which incorporates Braille, that reads “Where Independence Begins,” highlighting the Lighthouse’s core purpose.
In April 2025, after a period of heavy rain, the roof on one of the aging buildings collapsed under the weight of a rooftop HVAC unit, caving in directly over the Lighthouse’s employee break room.
Photos from inside the building show a portion of the ceiling on the floor with water all around.
Several Lighthouse employees said the collapse occurred just before the building opened. Two workers said they were in the parking lot waiting for a supervisor to unlock the doors when they heard the roof come down.
The employees said that the smell of gas was overpowering when they entered the building owing to a gas line that had snapped.
A former employee, tearful as he recounted that morning, said that he and others would have been crushed had the incident happened only a short time later when workers were inside.
In a phone interview, Allen said he didn’t realize the extent to which the roof’s structural integrity was compromised.
“I was not aware we had an issue until the morning we walked in and saw that the roof collapsed,” he said. “There was no indication that the roof was weak in that area.”
When asked when exactly the roof came down, Allen said only that the collapse occurred “overnight.” But he agreed that it was “incredibly lucky” that no one was in the building at the time.
Records provided by a former employee, however, show that Allen and Lighthouse leadership knew the roof was in need of repair or replacement as far back as 2023. In October of that year, Allen emailed the Lighthouse’s insurance provider saying, “I think we have gone as long as we can with our current roof.”
The insurance deductible for a new roof was around $373,000, according to documents. In late 2023, the Lighthouse embarked upon a fundraising effort to cover that amount. A letter sent to potential donors said that water leaks were “affecting every work area” and that the situation was “unsafe for our employees — both blind and sighted.”
The organization raised $87,000 during the fundraising campaign. Almost a year later, in October 2024, the Lighthouse received a contractor’s estimate of $268,000 to repair rather than replace the roof, but nothing was done.
Financial statements from September and October 2024 that were shared with the Star-Telegram showed the Lighthouse had more than $900,000 in available general purpose funds. A bank account for restricted funds — money tied to specific projects — contained more than $400,000, and the organization’s investment account had a balance of more than $12 million.
A Lighthouse worker questioned why repairs were delayed, saying everyone there, including Allen, knew how bad the roof was long before it collapsed.
“Employees would have died if [the roof collapse] had happened 45 minutes later,” the person said.
Kim Anding, the Lighthouse’s former controller, told the Star-Telegram that delaying roof repairs amounted to negligence.
Anding, who resigned in July, said that Allen used the collapse as a pretext to completely gut and remodel the Lighthouse’s office area, which led to lengthy delays in reopening the building. More than a year later, some employees were still working out of temporary trailers while renovations continued. Lighthouse sources said the roof was finally replaced in June 2026.
Records showed the Lighthouse was quoted a cost of more than $2 million for the roof replacement and other renovations in 2025, which included new furniture and artwork in the management offices. During renovations, Allen had a private bathroom with a shower installed in his office.
As of early August, the Lighthouse had received more than $600,000 in insurance payments related to the roof collapse, according to records, with additional funds pending.
Anding questioned whether some of the insurance claims were justified and filed a complaint with the Texas Department of Insurance seeking an investigation, but she has not received a response. She said one of the reasons she left the Lighthouse is she didn’t want to feel complicit in that endeavor.
Allen said about half the building’s interior was damaged when the roof caved in, and all remodeling work was a direct result of that incident. The Lighthouse’s headquarters hadn’t been upgraded since the 1980s, Allen said, so the collapse provided the impetus to bring the facility into the 21st century.
Allen said the remodeled offices with new furniture and artwork — as well as his new private bathroom — reflected a desire to provide the kinds of amenities needed to attract talent in the modern age.
“The expectations of new employees are much different from what they were 20 years ago,” said Allen.
In addition to refreshed offices, Allen said, the Lighthouse’s new space will include an area where blind clients can try out assistive technology devices and practice doing household tasks in a mock apartment.
“The intention behind the renovation is to make sure we’re able to serve the community,” he said.
Anding, though, described the remodel as Allen’s vanity project, a perspective shared by Ann Allan.
Willie Fay Lewis, Ann Allan’s mother, founded the Lighthouse for the Blind in 1935 after losing her eyesight as a young girl due to scarlet fever. Ann Allan characterized her mother as an energetic advocate for blind Fort Worthians and as a woman who never let her physical limitations dictate what she accomplished.
“It’s a good thing her name was Willie because she had an iron will,” she said.
Ann Allan is a Lighthouse donor but is not involved in the organization’s day-to-day operations. She said she would like to serve on the Lighthouse’s board of directors, but Allen had never invited her to do so.
Nevertheless, people connected with the Lighthouse recently contacted her with concerns about Allen, largely stemming from the roof collapse and subsequent renovations.
Ann Allan questioned why Allen needed amenities such as a private bathroom, and she alleged that his remodel project did little to improve conditions for blind workers in the Lighthouse’s manufacturing area.
“He needs to be gone,” she said flatly, accusing Allen of being self-centered.
Lighthouse employees have strong opinions about Allen; former board members defend him
At least 11 current and former employees who spoke with the Star-Telegram shared Ann Allan’s opinion of Allen. Among them is Erica Simonton, one of five controllers who worked at the Lighthouse over the past decade.
Allen let Simonton go in early 2024 after about four months on the job. In an email he sent to board members after she left, Allen referred to her as “a mess,” according to records shared with the Star-Telegram.
Simonton said in a phone interview that she had qualms about working for Allen from day one, but she pushed those aside and tried to focus on the good the Lighthouse was doing.
Several people, including Simonton, described Allen as aloof from his workers. The Lighthouse is a relatively small place, with fewer than 70 employees.
Sources, Simonton and Anding among them, said Allen was rarely in the office and that he regularly declined to appear at outreach events on behalf of the Lighthouse. When asked how much time Allen spent at the organization’s headquarters, most said he was there around six hours a week.
Allen denied that, however. He said he’d had some medical procedures that limited his time in the office in recent years, but for the most part he’s there
Monday through Thursday (the Lighthouse offices are closed on Fridays), and he’s among the last ones out the door each evening.
Then there was the issue of pay. Employees said Allen declined to give raises, arguing that wages were fair because blind employees also receive federal Social Security disability benefits.
Based on payroll records obtained by the Star-Telegram, most of the Lighthouse’s blind and visually impaired employees earn between $10 and $11 an hour.
A blind employee who recently departed said he received one raise in five years at the Lighthouse: He started at $10 an hour and ended at $10.30 an hour.
He now earns around $17 an hour at another company that employs blind workers, he said.
Ten dollars an hour equates to just under $21,000 annually, assuming a standard 40-hour work week throughout the year. On top of that, blind employees with work history qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Nationwide, the average SSDI benefit is $1,600 a month,
but the actual amount is based on how much the recipient has contributed to Social Security over time.
Blind individuals with low income and limited or no work experience qualify for federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. The average SSI benefit for blind and disabled recipients in Texas was $734 a month in July of this year.
To be eligible for disability benefits, a blind worker must earn no more than $2,830 a month, which equates to approximately $16 an hour for a 40-hour work week.
Even with those benefits, a visually impaired employee told the Star-Telegram the pay at the Lighthouse isn’t enough for most people to live on. But given the lack of job opportunities for the blind, it’s hard to walk away, the employee said.
“The majority of us don’t have options. Platt knows that. He’s not keeping us here, but where else can we go?”
Allen’s 2025 salary was $224,910 plus bonuses, according to records provided to the Star-Telegram. Those records showed the 2025 bonus pool for all Lighthouse employees amounted to nearly $150,000. Of that, Allen received almost $54,000, based on the records. Bonus amounts for production line workers ranged from $245 to $750, with the majority receiving $750.
The most recent publicly available IRS filings showed Allen’s 2024 salary was $229,451, and he received an additional $13,529 in other compensation.
Allen did not respond to an email requesting comment on his compensation versus that of his employees, nor did he respond when asked if the Lighthouse’s hourly wages were in line with the market rate and commensurate with the work employees performed.
Former Lighthouse board member Michael Hingson defended Allen on the issue of pay. Hingson, a blind author and nationally recognized keynote speaker, concluded his tenure on the board in 2022.
“Platt was a pretty honorable guy,” he said, recalling his time working with Allen.
Hingson said that before Allen arrived at the Lighthouse, blind employees earned less than minimum wage under a law that allows employers to pay disabled workers subminimum rates in certain settings. Allen changed that, raising hourly wages to above minimum wage.
In a speech he gave at the annual convention for the National Federation of the Blind in 2014, Allen argued in favor of paying blind workers more.
“But at the Lighthouse, fair wages are deserved by every person in our workforce: blind, sighted, tall, short, blonde or brunette. It doesn’t matter what you are; if you’re working in my shop, you’re going to be paid competitively,” Allen said then.
Another past board member, Dennis Shingleton, also had positive things to say about Allen. Shingleton, who was a Fort Worth City Council member from 2011 to 2021, now serves the Lighthouse in an advisory capacity.
“We have had some financial problems, problems with the structure of the building, but Platt and a couple of other board members have worked through that with very successful results,” he said. “Platt has done a superb job.”
Shingleton said that he didn’t want to dispute any blind employee’s perception of how things were within the Lighthouse but that in his opinion, Allen was a good leader.
Other former and current Lighthouse board members either declined to comment for this report or did not respond to questions.
Aside from wages and issues related to the roof, several people were worried about workplace safety at the Lighthouse.
One of the organization’s products is a padded box containing a foam insert. Workers cut the foam pieces before placing them in the boxes, and employees said the manufacturing area and parts of the front office are covered in black foam dust from that process.
One blind employee who worked on the box line said there was a vacuum system connected to the saws to suck up some of the airborne particles, but there is no facility-wide air filtration system. Additionally, several people said workers aren’t encouraged to wear ventilators or use other types of protective equipment while operating the saws and breathing in the foam dust.
Anding corroborated this, and she brought these safety concerns up with Mitchell Moses, an attorney and former Lighthouse board member. Nothing was done, though, according to Anding. Moses did not respond to a request for comment.
Allen likewise did not respond to questions about the Lighthouse’s workplace safety protocols.
People want Lighthouse CEO gone
In a phone conversation, Allen characterized people who spoke out against him, such as Simonton, the former controller, as “disgruntled.” He said that he has led the Lighthouse with integrity, guiding the nonprofit to its strongest financial position in years.
“No matter what organization you work in, your boss is not going to be your best friend,” he responded when asked why some employees seemed to dislike him.
Allen, a two-time TCU graduate and past president of TCU’s athletics booster club, began his career with Electronic Data Systems in Plano in the 1980s and worked in automotive finance before starting his own manufactured stone business. When he shuttered that company, Allen managed operations and finance for St. Vincent’s Episcopal School in Bedford. In 2008, he took over as the Lighthouse’s president and CEO.
Discussing his management style, Allen said he had high expectations for people, and when they didn’t meet those expectations, he didn’t shy away from letting them know. That, he said, could have contributed to the hard feelings shared by his employees.
Simonton described the divide between Allen and his workers as deeper than that. She said him stepping down would be the best thing for the Lighthouse and its future.
“I’m not after Platt Allen,” she said. “I think he’s a terrible person, but what I care about more than anything is that foundation.”
Ann Allan said she also took her grievances about Allen to Mitchell Moses with the hope that Allen would be forced to resign. Moses committed to looking into her concerns, but nothing has happened yet, Ann Allan said.
While others said they worried about professional and personal backlash, Anding didn’t hesitate when asked if her name could be used in this report. She highlighted the fact that she wasn’t fired from the Lighthouse but had chosen to leave her position as the organization’s controller on her own accord.
She said she wanted Allen held accountable for how he’s operated as the Lighthouse’s chief executive.
“He can’t hurt me,” Anding said. “He needs to be exposed for who he is.”
This story was originally published September 17, 2026 at 4:08 AM.
