[nfbmi-talk] blind bell ringers in mi

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Blind bell ringer, leader dog, spread Christmas cheer | MLive.com

Cory Morse | The Grand Rapids Press

Julian Horn volunteers as a Salvation Army bell ringer near his leader dog, Lincoln, at D&W in East Grand Rapids Tuesday, November 29, 2011. Horn, who lives

in Wyoming, is blind. (Cory Morse | The Grand Rapids Press)

Julian Horn

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EAST GRAND RAPIDS — Amid the din of a grocery store — the clang of shopping carts, the ding of the checkout lanes, the ring of his own bell — Julian Horn

can hear the jingle of coins dropping into his kettle.

 

Yet, what he’s really listening for is a friendly voice.

 

Call it a sixth sense, but the blind man working this holiday season as a Salvation Army bell ringer can see the Christmas spirit in others. And he wonders

if some of the sighted people who pass by are blind to his presence.

 

“Some of them won’t acknowledge you,” said Horn, who rings at the D&W Fresh Market in Gaslight Village. “I love to be around the public, talking to them

and greeting them. I like to converse with people, even if you don’t put money in.”

 

The local chapter of The Salvation Army

aims to raise $1.6 million through its red kettle campaign

this year, which runs through Dec. 24. About 200 ringers are stationed at stores around Kent County.

 

Horn, who was born without irises in his eyes, and his guide dog, Lincoln, work six-hour shifts — from late morning through early afternoon — at the store,

2181 Wealthy St. SE. He is one of two legally blind bell ringers locally. The other, Mary Sibley, who rings at the Family Fare store on Leonard Street

NE, was inspired by Horn, said Roger Snider, a Salvation Army spokesman.

 

“He’s a good guy. And with the dog he’s so lovable with the customers,” said Jan Deuling, a long-time cashier at the Gaslight Village store. “There are

customers that just can’t stay away from him.”

 

Inside the store’s bustling entryway, passing customers smiled at Lincoln, a 1 1/2-year-old yellow Lab who sat leashed to a cart at Horn’s feet. One customer

stopped to feed him.

“Can I give Lincoln a Milk Bone?” Deb Kay asked.

 

“I like your little puppy there,” Lori Vacchiano told Horn. “He’s so cute.”

 

Horn, 47, started ringing for The Salvation Army two years ago in Muskegon, then moved to Wyoming and last year started ringing at the local D&W. About

five weeks ago, he got Lincoln through Leader Dogs for the Blind.

 

Now, the two tag-team on the bell-ringing job, though Lincoln pawed off the antlers Horn wanted him to wear.

 

“By me having the dog, I think I make more money,” Horn said. “You have to take care of him like a kid. But if you take care of him, he’ll take care of

you.”

 

Horn, who lives independently, keeps ringing to show and tell other blind people, and the general public, what he can do.

 

“A lot of people just don’t know how to treat us,” he said. “We’re just like everybody else, except we don’t have sight.

 

“I basically go on hearing,” he added, then paused and turned at the sound of money filling his kettle.

 

“Thank you,” he called. “Merry Christmas!”

 

E-mail the author of this story:

localnews at grpress.com

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/11/blind_bell_ringer_leader_dog_s.html