[NFBSF] Cane Share: That Old Cane You’ve Been Hanging On To Still Has Work to Do

[Laura Millar]

Hello NFBSF chapter members!

If you’re part of the blind community, you probably have a couple of canes
tucked away. One might be too short. Another too clunky. Maybe you don’t
like the sound the tip makes. Or maybe it’s from your early training
days—before you found the one that really worked for you. Some of us hold
on to old canes just in case. Others hold on to them because they remind us
of how far we’ve come.


However that cane came into your life, your story with it is personal. And
while it may no longer be right for you, it could be exactly what someone
else needs to begin their journey.


The cane you don’t use anymore could change everything.


That simple idea is what sparked the creation of the You Cane Give
Initiative. Its founders, James Boehm and Marc Companion, are blind
advocates who realized that while many of us in the U.S. have extra canes
sitting unused in closets or garages, blind people in other parts of the
world are navigating life without even one. They saw the gap—and decided to
do something about it.


In many places around the world, blindness is highly stigmatized. Blind
people are discouraged from moving freely, and tools like white canes,
training, and even organized blind advocacy are limited or unavailable. But
when someone receives a cane and is supported in using it confidently and
proudly, it’s not just mobility that changes—it’s perception, access, and
self-determination.


You Cane Give collects donated canes from across the U.S. and puts them
directly into the hands of blind people in communities around the world,
from Uganda to India, Mexico to Bolivia. Their work is rooted in the same
values many of us know through structured discovery: blind people are
competent, resourceful, and powerful when given the right tools and
expectations. One of their team members, Marc Companion, is a graduate of
the Colorado Center for the Blind and a blind Orientation and Mobility
instructor who brings those values to each cane they deliver.


That’s why the San Francisco chapter of the National Federation of the
Blind is organizing a Cane Share. This is a community-wide effort to
collect used, spare, or broken canes from blind people in the Bay
Area—canes that still have value, still have purpose, and still have places
to go.


If you’ve got a cane that’s no longer part of your daily life, consider
letting it continue its journey in someone else’s hands.


How to Donate Your Cane:

If you’re coming to Friendsgiving, please bring your cane with you!


If you’re not planning to attend Friendsgiving, please reach out to
nfbsf.community at gmail.com to arrange for pickup or mailing.


To learn more about You Cane Give, visit: <https://youcanegive.org>


And if your cane has a story, we’d love to hear it. Because that old cane
you’ve been hanging on to? It still has work to do.