The South East CT Community Center of the Blind is excited to introduce its Professional Membership Campaign. Businesses are invited to participate by joining for an annual membership fee of $250.

As a Professional Member, you will receive:

• A plaque recognizing your support of the Center of the Blind
• Access to the Center’s resources, classes, and programs
• Inclusion in Insight Scoop, the Center’s monthly newsletter
• Recognition in printed and online materials

Your support helps us build a better future for the blind and vision impaired.

For more information, please call 860-447-2048 or email [email protected].

Our First Professional Member

The Center proudly welcomes Dr. James Sanborn and InFocus Eyecare in Groton as our first Professional Member.

Members enjoyed a creatively inspiring morning at the Hartford Artisans Weaving Center, where a unique artisan program teaches weaving to people who are blind, visually impaired, or 55 and older. The level of craftsmanship was remarkable!

With the help of over 40 volunteers, the looms are set up to create beautiful items like rugs, shawls, towels, napkins, baby blankets, baskets, and handbags. The center also offers weaving and basket-weaving classes to the public. Training in the art of hand-weaving takes about six weeks, and our members were excited to try their hand at the looms.

On the way back, we stopped for lunch at Family Pizza in Colchester.

Visit the Hartford Artisans Weaving Center website for more info.

On September 9, UCP of Eastern CT hosted a Voting Rights Clinic at the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern CT on Eugene O’Neill Drive. Representatives from Disability Rights Connecticut answered questions about voting rights, absentee ballots, and voter registration. The Center of the Blind showcased devices designed to make voting more accessible for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. The Executive Director, Wendy Lusk, spoke to the audience about the Center and our services.

Disability Rights CT highlighted several ways that voting locations ensure accessibility for individuals with disabilities, including:

• Moving to the front of the line if you have difficulty standing.
• Bringing a friend to assist you with voting.
• Curbside voting if you’re in a wheelchair or unable to leave your car.
• Early voting from October 21 to November 3, with each town having a designated location, often the town hall.
• Absentee voting or voting by mail, which can be requested by contacting your town for more information.

You can register to vote up to 18 days before the election, or even on Election Day. For registration details, you’ll need to contact your town hall.

All polling places in Connecticut are required to have ballot marker devices, which are essentially laptops with magnification or earphone options. If the device is not readily accessible, poll workers must set it up and guide you on how to use it.

It’s important to note that you must ask for assistance at the polling place, as they won’t offer it automatically. If any location refuses to provide the above accommodations, contact Disability Rights CT at 800-842-7303.

If you missed the clinic and want more information on voting rights for individuals with disabilities, please visit the Disability Rights of CT website.

“The Miracle Worker” is a timeless classic. Experience it brought to life on stage at the Niantic Bay Playhouse. This powerful drama depicts Helen Keller, a young girl who is blind and deaf, and the woman who helps her communicate with the world around her. The story is a moving and inspiring testament to the power of love, determination, and perseverance, and it will stay with you long after the final curtain.

The play runs from October 18 to November 3, 2024. For more information and tickets, visit the Niantic Bay Playhouse website or call 860-850-5072.

The Niantic Bay Playhouse, the new home of East Lyme Regional Theater, is located in the former Niantic Cinema. Center of the Blind member Mike Coughlin highly recommends the playhouse.

Blind Chef Debra Erickson, Executive Chef and founder of the Blind Kitchen hosted an engaging and informative Zoom session on working safely and efficiently in the kitchen with knives, hot pans, ovens, and food preparation. She shared valuable tips, ideas, and products designed to make cooking easier for those with vision loss.

The 15 members in attendance asked challenging questions and shared some of their own food preparation tips. Debra offered practical suggestions and strategies, including how to maintain a clean and sanitized work area, read recipes, shop for ingredients, identify spices, and techniques for measuring and pouring liquids.

Her website features cooking tips, instructional videos, and recipes adapted for cooks who are blind or visually impaired. Additionally, she has a free monthly newsletter available for sign-up. All the adaptive tools discussed during the session are available tax-free through her website store. Click here to visit the Blind Kitchen website.

We had a fabulous turnout for the CT Tech Act Project Lunch & Learn at the Groton Senior Center! Program Manager Muriel Aparo introduced devices available for those who are DeafBlind, as well as grants and discounted loans for them. Seventeen members, two ASL interpreters, and one participant via Zoom listened intently to our speaker. Excellent questions were asked and resources were shared, including icanconnect.org and cttechact.com. Lunch, prepared by the Groton Senior Center, included stuffed peppers, potatoes, rice, veggies, sandwiches, and salad.

What a perfect day for a picnic! With a cool, comfortable breeze off the ocean, about 60 new and returning members attended this year’s event. Chef Lusk prepared an Italian macaroni salad, coleslaw with vinaigrette dressing and fantastic vegetarian baked beans. Hamburgers and hotdogs, grilled to perfection, were served by the chef and sous chef, Wendy’s grandson. Watermelon, chips, cookies, and brownies were available to snack on. Although we didn’t get to play everyone’s favorite BINGO, Wendy surprised the members with a refreshing treat of Mini Melts for dessert. Mini Melts of Norwich donated and delivered the ice cream treats.

As with any event, it wouldn’t have been a success without many helping hands. Special thanks to all our volunteer drivers, setup people, and waitstaff as well as Dave Lusk who “supervised” the cooks.

Our non-profit organization recently transitioned our web domain from a .com to a .org to better reflect our mission and values. The .org domain is traditionally associated with non-profit organizations, charities, and other entities that serve the public interest, which aligns more closely with our commitment to making a positive impact in our community. By adopting a .org domain, we aim to enhance our credibility and clearly convey our non-profit status to our audience. This change also helps distinguish us from commercial enterprises and underscores our dedication to transparency, trustworthiness, and the greater good.

Our new website address is centeroftheblind.org, which is identical to our previous site in terms of content and functionality. If you happen to enter the old .com address, you will be automatically redirected to our new .org site.

In addition, we also recently transitioned from using personal Gmail accounts to a dedicated business email system to enhance our professional image and improve operational efficiency. Using business email accounts, which incorporate our organization’s domain name, provides a more cohesive and credible representation to our public. This change also allows us to implement better security measures, ensuring the protection of sensitive information and reducing the risk of data breaches. Additionally, a business email system offers more robust administrative controls and collaboration tools, facilitating smoother internal communication and streamlined workflow management, ultimately supporting our growth and mission more effectively.

Our new email is [email protected]. Any mail to [email protected] will be forwarded to the new address for a time. Please update your address book with the new address.
The new email for the newsletter is [email protected]. The old newsletter address will forward to the new one.

We discovered that Google offers free business mail and Google Workspace to non-profit organizations. After meeting all the criteria and receiving approval, we were able to create new email addresses. This transition allows us to save approximately $350 annually on business suite expenses!

Friday, six members went for lunch and shopping at Trader Joe’s. Member Marlyn Searle and Wendy chauffeured everyone to the Warwick location. We spent about an hour shopping, each following our own list. With the help of a Trader Joe’s store associate, we managed to find some unique items such as Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, assorted cheeses, cinnamon bread, and various spice blends.

Afterwards, we headed to Pepe’s Pizza where we enjoyed a variety of unique pizzas and shared lots of laughs. The weather was perfect!

Kris Magnussen from Ledge Light Health District discussed emergency preparedness for individuals who are visually impaired or blind. She covered Emergency Support Functions (ESFs), highlighting how various groups, like Transportation, Communication, Firefighting, and Public Health, keep everyone informed before and after an emergency. Members were advised to inform their town emergency manager of any disabilities. Key vulnerability risks, such as floods, weather, and pandemics, were identified and prioritized. Methods of receiving alerts, whether by phone, text, or social media, were discussed, along with disaster preparedness tips. It’s crucial to know what essentials to take, such as medicine, hearing aids, personal papers, prescriptions, and food supplies. Kris provided some links to some resources:  ready.gov, FEMA.gov, and Sign up for CT Alerts.

Sixteen attendees, both in person and on Zoom, had some good questions for our host to take back and work on, too. Lunch was chef salad, rolls, fruit, and eclairs.