[Nfbf-l] Florida Outreach Center for the Blind moves to biggerFacility in Palm Springs

[Sherri]

Congratulations on your move Carolyn. Bigger and better than ever! Great! 
Are you attending either of the conventions?

Sherri
Have you visited my personal page at
http://www.raceforindependence.org/goto/Sherri.Brun
If so, Thank you for changing what it means to be blind.
If not, please go there now!
Thank you.
flmom2006 at gmail.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carolyn Lapp" <lappland at bellsouth.net>
To: "NFB of Florida Internet Mailing List" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 11:13 AM
Subject: [Nfbf-l] Florida Outreach Center for the Blind moves to 
biggerFacility in Palm Springs


> Blind center moves to bigger space in Palm Springs
>> Palm Beach Post
>> By Willie Howard
>>
>> http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/blind-center-moves-to-bigger-space-in-palm-1468310.html
>>
>> PALM SPRINGS - Florida Outreach Center for the Blind was started by
>> the blind, for the blind.
>>
>> Three of its four full-time staffers are blind. And more than half of
>> the nonprofit organization's board of directors is either blind or has
>> a family member who is blind.
>>
>> Carolyn Lapp, who lost her sight in a car accident in St. Lucie County
>> at age 14, started the Palm Beach County center in 2003 after
>> organizing seven chapters of the National Federation of the Blind
>> elsewhere.
>>
>> "Working with blind people, I saw the need for a training center that
>> was run primarily by blind people," said Lapp, 51. "Who better to
>> teach blind people than other blind people who have already been
>> through the training?"
>>
>> The nonprofit recently moved into a new building in Palm Springs, at
>> Congress Avenue and Dolan Road, which is twice as big as the old
>> quarters in West Palm Beach.
>>
>> About 100 clients a year take advantage of the center's free services
>> offered to those who are legally blind. They include living skills,
>> such as cooking and washing clothes, as well as job skills that
>> include using computers and reading machines, Braille reading, and
>> learning to use new technology, such as the Nokia cellphone that can
>> tell the difference between a $1 bill and a $20 bill.
>>
>> "We definitely work to make them independent," Lapp said. "If they
>> want to be employed, we work toward that goal ."
>>
>> Some of the training, especially for elderly blind people, takes place
>> in the client's homes.
>>
>> Beverly Gallus, the center's rehabilitation instructor, who is not
>> blind, teaches clients how to read and write in Braille, how to sew,
>> how to select the numbers on a phone and other life and work skills.
>>
>> Those who become proficient at Braille can read as fast as someone
>> with normal vision, Gallus said.
>>
>> Computer instructor Jason Goldfield teaches clients about programs
>> that read the text on a computer screen, such as the free NonVisual
>> Desktop Access program and the JAWS screen reading program, both for
>> Windows.
>>
>> Some clients need only ZoomText, a program that enlarges type on a 
>> computer.
>>
>> Others might use a Solo reading machine, one of the many adaptive
>> machines for sale in the center's store. Set a book or a newspaper
>> under the machine and it starts reading in English or Spanish, in a
>> male or female voice.
>>
>> "They do a great job in the community to help people function in
>> life," Palm Beach County Commissioner Shelley Vana said. "The more
>> people who can function independently the better it is for them and
>> for society."
>>
>> Special activities of the center include an Easter egg hunt (with
>> beeping eggs) and the annual Dining in the Dark fund-raising banquet,
>> during which sighted supporters of the center get to experience what
>> it feels like to dine without seeing their food. This year's Dining in
>> the Dark banquet is set for Oct. 15 at the Hilton Palm Beach Airport
>> hotel.
>>
>> The center also lends out talking books and hosts weekly support group
>> meetings, craft classes and workshops on topics for the visually
>> impaired.
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Florida Outreach Center for the Blind
>>
>> Blind people teaching other blind people to be self-sufficient.
>>
>> Address: 2315 S. Congress Ave., Palm Springs
>>
>> For more information: Call: (561) 642-0005, visit:
>> www.flblindcenter.org or e-mail info at flblindcenter.org
>>
>> Cost: Free
>> _______________________________________________
>> fcb-l mailing list
>> fcb-l at acb.org
>> http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/fcb-l
>>
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