For the 200 community leaders attending the 2017 See the Light Luncheon, the focus was on opportunity and raising funds necessary to sustain programs that improve the lives of children through its new innovative Learning Center for early learners.
Organized by the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired on Oct. 12, the See the Light Luncheon filled the ballroom at the Riviera Country Club in Coral Gables with enthusiastic supporters who learned about the capabilities of the blind from various perspectives.
Keynote speaker and best-selling author Michael Hingson urged the audience to stand up for the rights of the visually impaired and empower them to achieve their full potential. He noted that the unemployment rate among the blind currently stands at 70 percent, although a clear majority of that population is able to join the work force.
“It’s not that blind people can’t do the jobs,” Hingson said. “It’s other people who don’t believe that blind people can do the job.”
Hingson’s remarkable best-selling book, Thunder Dog, describes his life story as a blind man, leading up to his incredible escape with a faithful guide dog from the 78th floor of the World Trade Center during the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001.
His inspiring presentation reflected his lifelong determination to achieve parity in a sighted world, and described the unshakable relationship between a blind person and his guide dog.
“I was brought up to believe that I’m as good as anyone else,” he said, explaining that he was born blind and grew up in a supportive home.
Later in the luncheon, philanthropist Mary M. Spencer announced that she had established a new matching challenge grant, which will match private contributions to Miami Lighthouse during the next four years to a maximum of $2 million. She explained that the grant is intended to motivate others to support the Miami Lighthouse Learning Center for Children to create the type of opportunity for today’s blind children that Hingson advocates.
The recently opened Miami Lighthouse Learning Center for Children provides innovative intervention programs for youngsters from birth through age 5. These children’s programs include a first-of-its-kind inclusion pre-kindergarten program in which an equal number of blind and visually impaired children from communities throughout Miami-Dade attend alongside sighted classmates from the surrounding neighborhood. Miami Lighthouse introduced this unique education opportunity for early learners, in partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the Early Learning Coalition, to more easily transition blind and visually impaired students to public schools.
Virginia Jacko, Miami Lighthouse president and CEO, cited many of the important and unique programs that attract thousands of program participants to this accredited comprehensive institution each year. These include Miami Lighthouse’s award-winning Music Program, Heiken mobile Eye Care program for schoolchildren, Blind Babies Early Intervention program, senior low vision services and adult basic education so blind adults can earn their GED.
She also explained that her ascent to leadership at Miami Lighthouse is a direct result of the Miami Lighthouse progressive philosophy. A former Midwest university financial executive, Jacko was forced to reexamine her life after going blind as an adult. She received lifestyle and workplace training at Miami Lighthouse before being appointed to lead the agency.
“I relocated to Miami because Miami Lighthouse was the first institution in the United States to rehabilitate blind people for main stream employment,” she said.
Sponsors of the See the Light Luncheon include The Art of Shaving, JM Private Insurance, GenSpring Family Offices and Serendip-A-Tea.
