National Industries for the Blind (NIB) is a non-profit organization benefiting those who are blind or visually impaired by helping them gain economic and personal independence through employment opportunites from the AbilityOne program, so when we heard about United We Serve, we knew our employees would be eager to get involved.
In our efforts to contribute, we have joined with the local Charles Houston Community Center in Alexandria, Virginia to initiate a summer reading program designed to encourage kids to read and to help improve literacy rates during the summer months. NIB kick-started this reading program Monday, July 27 through Thursday, July 30, and dubbed it “Education Week”. NIB employees, both blind and sighted, took the time to volunteer with the children at the center.
Throughout the week, they read to children of different ages, ranging from five to 12 years-old. They also took some time to teach the children about what it is like being blind or visually impaired.
Some of the week’s activities included Elizabeth Shelby and Rebecca Bridges, an NIB employee who is blind, reading a twin vision, Braille and print, version of “Helen Keller and the Big Storm” to the kids.
“It’s a little cliché,” Bridges said jokingly, but the children enjoyed listening and learning about the life of Helen Keller. After they finished reading, Bridges passed the Braille book around for the children to see and feel.
During another session at the center, Catherine Schultz and Stephanie Perry took some time after reading to explain to the children what it means to have impaired vision. They gave each child a card that enabled them to visualize the difference stages of vision loss when you hold the card up to your eyes.
The last two days at the center, NIB employees interacted with older age groups and organized activities where the kids were blindfolded to get a glimpse of what it might be like to be blind. “This is really hard,” said one young girl from the center when she tried to stand up.
The kids had a great time with our employees and asked us to come back soon. There’s even a possibility of a field trip to the NIB office to show them what we do and introduce them to technologies that enable people who are blind or visually impaired to hold jobs.
With funds decreasing for the Charles Houston Community Center, we hope to continue our reading program throughout the rest of the summer and into the fall, while also making ourselves available to kids for tutoring.
What we love about the United We Serve initiative is the domino effect that occurs when you do something for the better and help in the community. We are happy to say that we have already inspired others and hope it continues. Two 11-year-old girls from the community center approached Connie Wilson and Derrick Draughn at the end of their reading session hoping to get advice about where they could read to younger children, too.
NIB extends a special thanks to Rebecca Bridges, Elizabeth Shelby, Catherine Schultz, Stephanie Perry, Michelle Hobby, Sarah Schraven, Connie Wilson and Derrick Draughn for volunteering at the Charles Houston Community Center.
Written by: Kelly Jamieson. Kelly helped to coordinate all the readers and gets photo credits for all the pictures during Education Week.
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