Resources for the Blind began as a personal project of Dr. Arthur Lown to produce a Braille version of the Filipino Bible. Blind since childhood, Dr. Lown after retirement as the director of the Atlanta Public Schools Services for Blind Students, moved to the Philippines in 1972 to serve as the administrator of the Manila Branch of the Summer Institute of Linguistics. Soon after that, three Filipino pastors, learning about Dr. Lown’s interest in bible translation visited him to request his help in transcribing the Filipino Bible into Braille. Thus began the first project of what would become Resources for the Blind. In 1988, Dr. Lown gathered the Board of directors and formally registered Resources for the Blind, Inc. (RBI) as a Philippine non-stock, non-profit charitable organization serving the blind.
With offices in Manila, Cebu and Davao, RBI continues to reach out to those who are in need of its services in every corner of the country turning darkness into light for over half a million visually impaired Filipinos.