by Pat Austin | Nov 19, 2024 | Blog, Feature, News
An image of the front side of VLANJ’s annual appeal card is featured. It contains the text outlined below in addition to a headshot of Trisha Ebel in the top left corner. To the right is an animation of a woman with flowing hair standing outside with her back to us. She is wearing a blue skirt whipped by the wind with white flowers on the bottom.
Throughout our 81-year history, Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey has been a leader in delivering innovative programs and services for individuals with vision loss. What began as a summer residential camp for women with vision loss has grown into an organization offering unique, state-of-the-art programs that continue to empower and transform lives.
Trisha’s Story
Trisha Ebel, VLANJ’s Outreach Specialist, shares her story below:
It was a Monday evening and Mom was heating up gravy on the stove. It was leftovers – boy how I loved her cooking!
I was nine years old, watching The Brady Bunch on TV, when suddenly I felt the need to cover my right eye with my hand. I realized I couldn’t see out of my left! I told my mom and she put her hand over her heart and gasped for air – something was terribly wrong.
Cataracts in my left eye led to Glaucoma at ten years old. And within a year, my right eye had cataracts as well.
I had seven surgeries to remove the cataracts and stabilize Glaucoma and high pressure. I was so frightened in the hospital – these memories have stayed with me, making me feel unsafe.
I got through middle and high school, until senior year when I was unable to read regular size print. Nobody wanted to hang out with me. I was put down. I was called names. I became isolated and thought all was lost.
Later, I studied to be a travel agent but lost every job due to my vision loss. I felt defeated. My feeling of unworthiness was getting worse.
In 2006, a whole new world opened up for me when I found VLANJ and began classes. Being part of peer support, Orientation and Mobility, JAWS Technology, cooking, and advocacy helped me overcome my fears and ultimately, accept my vision loss.
Upon completing my programs, I felt a sense of total freedom, independence, and dignity. I was wearing a blue denim skirt with white flowers along the bottom. The skirt flared out and up when I spun around. I thought to myself, “The flowers feel like they are dancing!” I raised my arms and smiled.
Since that day, my smile has never left my face. I learned – vision does not affect how you feel!
Today, I have limited sight in my right eye, so I wear glasses to define objects in the right eye and balance the left. Cloudy days are the best days with no sun or glare. I can still struggle, but my life is full!
An image of the back side of VLANJ’s annual appeal card is featured. It contains the text outlined above and below in addition to an animation of a child in a red sweater and a blue skirt seated on the floor watching television in the top left corner. To the right, on the bottom, is an image of white daisies.
Support VLANJ
Vision loss is devastating and services for adults are limited. For over 80 years, VLANJ has empowered people with vision loss or blindness by providing support, education, and training in
independent living skills and assistive technology.
Your gift will continue to grow programs and services here at VLANJ.
To support our annual appeal, please use this link to visit our donate page.Â
Thank you for supporting Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey.
by Pat Austin | Oct 18, 2024 | Blog, Events, Feature, News
Thanks to you, we exceeded our goal of raising $10,000 for our 2024 Day of Giving to support vital mental health initiatives!
We had such an incredible celebration with our wonderful program participants, our dedicated VLANJ team members, and a special meditation session led by the amazing Diane Lang.
We are so grateful for all the support. Together, we can continue to uplift, support, and empower those living with blindness and low vision.
A huge thank you again to everyone who helped us reach our goal!
We look forward to all that next year has in store – stay tuned for next year’s celebration!
Participants of VLANJ’s 2024 Day of Giving event are seated around a table, smiling, and enjoying a meal together.
Participants wave and smile warmly at the camera.
Diane Lang presents a meditation session to an attentive group of participants.
VLANJ staff standing in front of a mural, celebrating the successful event.
Did you miss our Day of Giving? You can still donate and make an impact. Thank you!
by admin | Oct 31, 2023 | Events, Feature
More than 130 guests toasted the 80th anniversary of Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey at an Oct. 26 celebration, sampling wines paired with music while wearing light-blocking eye shades. Held during Blindness Awareness Month, “Tasting in the Dark” gave guests a brief sightless experience and a better understanding of the fortitude and resilience of people who are blind or low vision.
VLANJ President and CEO Bill Schuldt welcomed guests at the Park Avenue Club in Florham Park “to celebrate a truly amazing milestone for people in NJ who are blind or have low vision.” Schuldt honored what he termed “the pillars” of VLANJ: program participants, staff, instructors, donors and volunteers. They have provided “invaluable contributions to our past success along with their contributions to our future which will see us through the next 80 years,” he said.
As the crowd cheered, Schuldt added, “I’m grateful for all of you, because tonight you are joining the ranks of all of those essential supporters who are pillars of VLANJ.” He thanked the organization’s loyal donors, recognizing those who have included VLANJ in their estate planning and/or made annual or monthly donations.
Schuldt gave a shoutout to Denville couple Bob & Karen Terlizzi, program volunteers for 15 years, and the VLANJ Board of Trustees. After thanking staff, Schuldt recognized Program Director Linda Groszew, who is retiring from her full-time position after 20 years with VLANJ. “No one has demonstrated a deeper dedication to our program participants,” he said. “We wish her happiness in her retirement, and Linda, you will always have a home here at VLANJ.”
VLANJ was started in Newark in 1943 as a social club by people with vision loss looking for camaraderie and to challenge societal biases. As NJ Foundation for the Blind, it opened a summer camp for blind women in Denville in 1955. Efforts expanded in the 1990s to provide year-round, life skills training and wellness programs. Technology classes were later introduced.
The organization’s reputation grew, and in 2016, it became known as VLANJ. Focused on self-sufficiency, VLANJ added occupational therapy and expanded technology training. The nonprofit effectively pivoted to online programming during the pandemic and launched orientation and mobility outings that have boosted participants’ self-advocacy and community awareness.
Today, VLANJ serves more than 200 people and offers center- and community-based programs as well as virtual classes and support groups and in-home training. VLANJ helps more people than ever before, VLANJ Board of Trustees Chair Carl Augusto said. “Simply stated, our services work,” Augusto said. Guest then watched a moving video featuring the reflections of VLANJ participants and staff.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 6 million Americans have vision loss and 1 million are blind. Those numbers are expected to grow as the population ages: While people age 65 and up make made up 17% of the population in 2020, they are expected to account for 22% by 2040.
Two guests with learning shades tasting wine participating in Tasting in the Dark.
The highlight of the 80th anniversary celebration was the sightless wine-music pairing. Hoby Wedler, a PhD chemist and nationally recognized vision loss advocate, hosted the experience.
“Every song will make you experience the wine you’re tasting a little different,” said Wedler, who is blind since birth.
After guests donned their shades, waiters poured each guest wine tastings into four glasses. Wedler then directed guests to sniff and taste the first wine as he played Dave Matthews’ “Walk Around the Moon.” When the song ended, he asked the crowd to guess the wine’s color and type, and describe the flavors.
On the third wine, guests were asked to describe its differences to the second wine, a Sauvignon Blanc. Plenty of guests confidently called out “Chardonnay” and described different flavors, only for Wedler to inform them the two tastings were the identical wine.
Four guests sitting at a table with learning shades participating in Tasting in the Dark.
“I totally thought it was different! ” said Denise Faehner, who listened intently to each song as she sipped. The Mountain Lakes resident confessed she thought the first wine, a Pinot noir, was a white wine.
“It was such a cool experience! They tasted different, very different,” said Colleen Collier, adding that she was fully immersed in the music. Collier is director of US Market Development with Samsara Vision, Inc., a medical device company that develops ophthalmic devices for people with untreatable retinal disorders. VLANJ is currently involved in a Samsara Vision clinical study.
Joe Cicchetti, a longtime VLANJ supporter, said “the experience was a lot of fun — and enlightening.” Cicchetti and his wife, Antoinette, made VLANJ one of their charities of choice years ago because “I can see the true benefit of what they do.”
VLANJ participants served as ambassadors. “Our students are loyal and advocate for us wherever they go spreading the word of what we do and how it has impacted them,” Schuldt said. “Our program participants have been at the center of everything we have done and will continue to drive our efforts.”
Schuldt said VLANJ instructors have shared expertise in an array of areas, from independent living skills, orientation and mobility, cooking, and technology to fitness, meditation, African drumming, and horticulture, among others. Participants “will tell you of the amazing impact these instructors have had on their lives,” he said.
Bill Schuldt, President and CEO and Senator Anthony Bucco holding a proclamation in honor of VLANJ’s 80 years.
During the evening, New Jersey Sen. Anthony Bucco presented Schuldt with a resolution from both the Senate and General Assembly paying tribute to VLANJ for its dedication to New Jersey residents with vision loss. VLANJ “has established a model to emulate and set a standard of excellence toward which others might strive,” it reads in part.
Tasting in the Dark was generously sponsored by: New Jersey Natural Gas; Modera Wealth Management; Samsara Vision; General Vision Services; Thatcher McGhee’s; Carl and Sue Augusto; Kelly and Kevin Bleach; and Hoby Wedler, PhD.
If you missed this year’s Tasting in the Dark, not to worry! You can still contribute HERE.
