Looking Ahead to New Horizons
As I write this blog for September, we are finally seeing cooler temperatures and the leaves are starting to fall as summer begins to transition to autumn. This change also is a time for us to reflect at Society for the Blind and to look ahead to new horizons.
We are proud to present our 2021 annual report, Reaching New Horizons which details some of the incredible gains we made last year and how we are moving forward to serve even more people with vision loss. We hope you enjoy looking through our annual report and that you feel as proud of our work as I do.
This fall, we welcome our youth back for our CareersPLUS program, including our After-School Academy. New students in our Core Program are coming through our doors again to take classes, and we continue to offer our remote classes. In October, we look forward to holding our first in-person Senior IMPACT Project immersion retreat since the pandemic began.
We are fortunate to have the support of our community so we can continue to grow and provide a wide array of services to people living with vision loss. It is of utmost importance that we continue to meet the growing number of requests in new and innovative ways. To that end, Society for the Blind achieved a long-time goal with the launch of the Dr. Paul and Alice Peterson Endowment. This board-designated endowment will provide funding to expand existing programs, establish new services, and allow us to respond quickly when new opportunities or challenges arise. A special thanks to Dr. and Mrs. Peterson for their generous gift that established the endowment. You can read more about the Peterson Endowment in our 2021 Annual Report and online.
Our community partnerships continue to sustain us, as well. In fact, Andrea Riso, owner of Talisman Collection in the El Dorado Hills Town Center, is hosting an event to benefit Society for the Blind September 23-24. The Talisman Collection 15th Anniversary Festival will feature four designers, an art show and a book/author feature. One of the featured vendors is Anastasia Burke Miller, who lost her vision to glaucoma and uveitis. The festival will raffle unique pieces of fine jewelry, as well as one of Anastasia’s paintings. Raffle proceeds will benefit Society, as will book sales. We are grateful to Andrea for this creative way to support people with vision loss in our community.
As we look to new horizons this fall, we are grateful to our wonderful Society for the Blind family and community for everything we continue to create together.