After a very successful three-part workshop series last summer, LightHouse is thrilled to be partnering up with our friends at STRIVE4You for a second run of the popular “Your Personal Safety” workshop. This time, LightHouse Orientation & Mobility Specialist Katt Jones will be joined by a panel of safety experts— George Freeman, Amy Wilson, Rich Warner, and Christy Jones—to answer your questions about personal safety and provide you with information, advice, and techniques to ensure your confidence when you are out and about in your community.
 
This workshop will be a continuation of the series from last year and will be very similar to the last workshop LightHouse held. We will bring back our panel of specialists to answer questions from the community. The program is audio only over Zoom and any techniques mentioned will be described.

Katt Jones gave their thoughts on the continuation of these workshops by LightHouse. “We consistently got excellent feedback after all of last year’s workshops. I knew I wanted to continue the series and bring these experts back to LightHouse! I’m excited to hear how the STRIVE4You Seed program is going and what resources they can share.”

In order to properly prepare for this event, we’d like to hear from you. The event coordinating staff is asking that participants send us questions. Our panel of experts want to make sure everyone’s questions and concerns are addressed as accurately as possible. We want to know what safety issues are on your mind; whether you are asking about specific products you would like to use or techniques you are curious about, this workshop is all about you!
 
Please send your safety questions to Katt Jones at KJones@old.lighthouse-sf.org.

The workshop will be held on Tuesday, May 31, from 10:00 am to noon via Zoom.
 
To RSVP to this event, please contact Jaclyne Atoigue at JAtoigue@old.lighthouse-sf.org. LightHouse and STRIVE4You team are looking forward to helping the blind and low vision community feel safer and more confident!

Recently, we wrote about our fantastic LightHouse volunteers and that four of these incredible people would be awarded 2022 Volunteer of the Year.
 
The award ceremony took place at LightHouse headquarters and was well-attended with a very warm and friendly atmosphere with everybody being there to share their gratitude for these four community members.
 
The four people awarded were:
 
Peter Goetz who has shown great dedication to our community by giving his time and traveling long distances to work with a number of blind people. Watch LightHouse student Eric Holm thank Peter. 

Dietician and author Alicia Connor recorded this video to recognize 2022 Volunteer of the Year Aubree Fairchild who, Alicia says, has been a friend and ear during the tough times in the pandemic when consistency was most important to her.
 
Longtime LightHouse volunteer Mike Cole was also one of the recipients, having volunteered with the LightHouse for more than twenty years. Every week, no matter what, Mike has facilitated “Coffee with Mike Cole” every Monday morning to give people who are blind or have low vision the opportunity to talk with a group to share and learn from each other. LightHouse staff member Jaclyne Atoigue tells the story of just how giving and reliable Mike Cole is.
 
The fourth recipient, Leslie O’Neil, gives her time to a number of LightHouse community members including our Vice President of Communications Lee Kumutat. Nothing is too hard or much for Leslie. Here’s Lee describing some of the adventures they have had together.

All of these volunteers have given a number of hours to LightHouse students through one-on-one volunteering, programmatic support, and more. We are honored that they have chosen to give their time to our organization and to the LightHouse community. Thank you Mike, Leslie, Peter, and Aubree!

Photo by Lauren Scott, 4/10/22

Article by Maia Scott

Half a lifetime ago, I had the pleasure of offering enrichment and also arts and crafts programming at Enchanted Hills Camp (EHC). The experience validated my long-time desire to pursue a career in making the arts accessible to those of us who may not fit the mold. As an overweight blind woman embodying a deep love of dance, movement and creative process; I often had to break the mold and create my own. That led me through a long career developing adapted programming specializing in the arts and fifteen years as a bodyworker.

I am delighted to come full circle to join up again with the vibrant LightHouse community as one of two Adult Program Coordinators. I look forward to meeting you out in our colorful city to visit museums, attend performances, take in festivals and build amazing community connections. I want to incite moments of “Yes” and empowerment through body positive movement and centering, writing and celebrating our truths, exploring nature and the nature of things, making art and messes and sometimes even making waves.

Outside the couple days a week I get to spend with you, I teach community-based accessible arts for City College of San Francisco, advocate for museum access working gig jobs and participating on committees, engage in occasional web access testing, serve on the Alumni Board for Guide Dogs for the Blind and keep my own creative practice going by generating new works for art shows and performances. To keep myself centered and grounded, I love participating in and offering sessions in mindful practices such as meditative drawing, walking labyrinths, guided meditation, observing nature and sound healing.

To my delight, my Adult Program Coconspirator and I have a similar mindful mindset. Both of us aim to support a positive culture in which we come together and raise each other up through active listening and compassionate collaboration. If you haven’t already, I can’t wait for you to meet Sabrina Bolus, a gentle and powerful wise woman I am certainly delighted to call a teammate.

I am one of those lucky people whose work smoothly blends into fun. Every time I show up for work, I get to clock into my Happy Place. I look forward to meeting you there.

If you would like to reach me to share thoughts and ideas or if you would like to opt in to receive emails focused on Adult Program activities and news along with local blindness and disability centered happenings, please send me an email: MScott@old.lighthouse-sf.org.

When: Thursday May 5, 2022 from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm

Where: LightHouse Sirkin Center, 2175 North Loop Road, Alameda, CA 94502 in person or you may attend virtually via Zoom.

Please Note: All students, customers, visitors and staff are required to wear a mask at all of our sites.

Members of the Public Welcome

Members of the public are invited to attend the May 5 meeting of the Board of Directors of San Francisco’s LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. This meeting will be held at LightHouse Sirkin Center in Alameda and thirty minutes will be reserved for public comment. In an effort to provide a fair and equitable speaking opportunity for all members of the public, up to three minutes will be provided for each person’s questions or comments.

At this meeting, the Board welcomes Board nominations, questions, and comments from the public on the operations and services of the LightHouse. As time is limited, members of the public are asked to sign up to speak no later than noon the day before the meeting by email.  Contact information for the LightHouse is provided at the end of this notice.

Members of the public who want to speak are encouraged to sign up early, as the 30-minute public comment session can accommodate no more than 10 speakers.

Board Member Nominations

Members of the public can bring potential Board candidates to the attention of the Board’s Nominations committee. To do this, please send an email of no more than 500 words describing why the prospective Board candidate should be considered. Members of the public may use their three minutes of speaking time to speak about a Board candidate, but in order for a Board candidate to be considered, members of the public will still need to email the Board prior to the meeting. The Board will review and evaluate each potential Board candidate in addition to those made by the LightHouse staff and other members of the Board.

Board of Directors Meeting Agenda

A typical LightHouse Board meeting usually includes Executive and staff reports, Board Committee reports, and an Executive Session (which is closed to the public). A meeting agenda can be obtained upon request by email three business days prior to the meeting.

Contact Information

To request agendas, RSVP for the meeting, sign up for public comment, or to write about prospective Board candidates please contact us at the email address below by noon on May 4:

Board-request@old.lighthouse-sf.org

LightHouse administrative office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.

Many of the programs we provide at LightHouse center on the options for reading for people who are experiencing changing vision. Losing the ability to drive and to read, are the top two skills that people tell us they fear losing most. We can’t (yet) help with the driving part, but we sure can with the reading by introducing people to the enormous range of methods that now exist for accessing books: video magnifiers, handheld magnifiers, apps on your phone and Braille – to mention the main contenders.

One of the best resources of electronic books is Bookshare from one of our partner organizations Benetech. Electronic books or eBooks can be downloaded and read a myriad of ways on a plethora of different devices using a chorus of synthesized voices. We are proud to support Benetech to promote their efforts in finding yet another way to give people who are blind or low vision easier access to their books through Amazon’s Alexa devices.

California seniors (55+) are invited to join the world’s largest talking eBook library for people with blindness, low vision, and other disabilities for a special complimentary year. Join Bookshare today for free with promo code Read4LifeCA.

Plus, you can sign up to test their new Bookshare Reader for Smart Speaker. Thanks to the support of Ability Central, we are able to enhance the features. The new features will be available later this Spring/Summer of 2022. Contact us to be placed on the list to test the new features. The first 50 people will receive a FREE Smart Speaker device.