October 31, 2024 • 16 mins
If you are reading this, you're fortunate. Millions of USA residents have vision loss, whether it's due to age, disease, accident, or congenital. For those in the Tri-State who lose their vision later in life, it can be especially difficult to transition to living without the ability to see. Every day, people with cataracts, glaucoma and other impairments come to the organization we're talking with today, for help, support, and real skills to live and thrive.
The Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually impaired makes it their mission to help everyone adjust, adapt and live with their condition, through programs paid for by donations and supporters.
Today I'm speaking with Aaron Bley, the Mission officer for C-A-B-V-I.
Information about the fundraising "Dining in the Dark" can be found here.
Sat Nov 9, 2024 at the Hard Rock Casino in Cincinnati.
(513) 221-8558 info@cincyblind.org
The Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually impaired makes it their mission to help everyone adjust, adapt and live with their condition, through programs paid for by donations and supporters.
Today I'm speaking with Aaron Bley, the Mission officer for C-A-B-V-I.
Information about the fundraising "Dining in the Dark" can be found here.
Sat Nov 9, 2024 at the Hard Rock Casino in Cincinnati.
(513) 221-8558 info@cincyblind.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This week on iHeart Sency allowing and continuing to allow
people to be as independent as they possibly can be
if they have a severe visual impairment or if they're blind.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Today on iHeart Sincy, Aaron Bly and Carol lake are
here from CAABVII. That's the Cincinnati Association for the Blind
and Visually Impaired. It's a nonprofit that more and more
residents of the Tri State rely on when their vision
becomes impaired. Today, we're going to talk about why more
and more people are needing their services, the fundraising dinner
that's coming up, and how it is unlike any other
(00:33):
dinner you've attended.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Now on iHeart Sincy with Sandy Collins.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
All right, let's get started. My first guests are from
the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired or CAABVII.
Aaron Bly is the Chief Mission Officer and Carol Lakey
is the Community Relations Coordinator. Erin and Carol, you are
here to promote this fundraiser dinner that's coming up that
will tell folks about. But first, before we get to that,
(01:00):
let's talk about the organization and what your mission is
there at the Cincinnati Association for the blind and visually impaired.
I know that people can be born with vision, laws
you can also acquire it later on in life. So
what are some of the ways that CABVI helps the
visually impaired with their daily living?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Want me to talk? Oh, okay, I don't know if
we were recording.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
This or that.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Oh my god, I thought you were just kind of
repping yourself. Oh my Goday, that sounds perfect. So yeah, absolutely.
I mean our mission we've been around for over one
hundred years in the community, and our mission really is twofold.
One side of our mission is about providing programs, services,
and equipment to about four thousand clients a year, and
our clients really run the gamut from birth to death literally.
(01:48):
And our other side of our mission, which is equally
as important, is about providing employment opportunities for people who
have a visual impairment as well. And so you know,
our mission, if we're looking strictly at our mission, it
really is about allowing and continuing to allow people to
be as independent as they possibly can be if they
have a severe vision impairment or if they're blind. And
you're right, I mean when we talk about the age
(02:10):
groups and the severity and the different levels of their acuity.
It really does run the gamut. Most of our clients
would fall into that sixty five and older group. As
we know, as we age and we're living longer, other
diseases and other things start to affect our vision, macular degeneration, glaucoma, retinopathy,
of things of that nature, and so we're here when
(02:32):
that happens and allow our clients to come in and
we take them through a low vision evaluation. We look
at all of the options that they're looking to accomplish
and then what we can do to support that, everything
from access technology. So some of them are still in
the workforce and they want to remain in the workforce,
so we're able to look at adaptive material and adaptive
(02:55):
equipment that will allow them to continue to work on
their computers and on their laptops and on their iPhones
and on their iPads. Others are just looking to be
able to continue to write checks, go to the grocery store,
just those daily living skills. So we have an area
that provides vision rehab and they're providing daily living skills.
(03:15):
How do you continue to cook and grocery shop and
clean and make your bed and just continue to thrive.
We also have orientation and mobility for people that need
or at the point where they need transportation assistance. They
need to learn how to maneuver and how to travel
within our community, so we have that as well. And
then we do have an early childhood and youth services area,
(03:36):
so we provide music therapy is one of our programs
that we do. We have summer camps during the summer
for children and for teens. We work with the school
systems on some of those individual plans and activities that
these children need. So have an amazing group of clinicians
down there on Gilbert which is where the agency is located,
that do just phenomenal work in our community.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
How big of an organization is it when I'm talking
big about you know the number of employees or the
number of counties it covers.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, we cover eleven counties, so nine in Cincinnati Greater
Cincinnati than three in northern Kentucky. So a lot of
the same territory that a lot of non for profits
in our area really support, So that it's the eleven
county area we have at in Cincinnati, we have about
one hundred and seventy or so all in employees. In
addition to that, we have sort of outlying areas. We
(04:25):
have a office supply business up at right Patterson Air
Force Base, and then we have what's called contract close
out managements. We have one of those at Right pat
and one at Quantico. In both of those, the whole
idea is to employ people who are visually impaired that
are able to again continue to thrive in a government facility.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
How many people need your services here?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
You know, we continue to expand our reach. You know,
as I was saying, we see a little over four
thousand clients a year is what we're able to really touch.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Carol Lakey. When you're talking about all of the services,
let's get right to it. How do you pay?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
We will not turn anyone away that needs services. We
are here to serve the community and that is our
number one goal. Obviously, if someone has insurance, you know,
we'll start there, Medicaid, Medicare, insurance. But we serve the
community and that's why Aaron and I work very hard.
We fundraise, we're able to supplement that. You know, we
(05:20):
get government funding sometimes and whatever it takes, so we
don't have to say no to any individual.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
People must be pretty scared, devastated, confused when they come
to you. How do you approach that we have.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
A social services area. They're just a phenomenal group of
people that we work with each and every day that
are there and their sole purpose for being with our
agency as the client supporting client care, and they truly
truly make the difference for individuals. To your point, you
come and you're scared. You've been given a diagnosis at
sixty five or seventy or seventy five, and in your
(05:59):
not really knowing what the next steps are or what
is out there for me. And that's when we step in,
and we step in and we show them that there
truly is a lot of things that will help will enhance,
we will also just help you continue to thrive.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Carol. Let's give some contact information now and then we'll
do it again at the end. So if people are
listening and they say, hey, I want to get a
hold of these guys, what's the best.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Way, I would just say, memorize since blind org and
it's since see I and see why if you haven't
received our services and you don't know how to navigate
a website, being visually impaired to blind. We'll eventually teach you,
but probably you're going to have someone helping you at
this point in your life, and they're going to be
able to navigate our website and find exactly what they.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Need, especially if you're a caregiver for someone that is
going through this as well.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Right right, And that's another piece of what we do
with our volunteer services too. We try to do match
people up one on one, so if we have somebody
that needs help, we can have a volunteer go out
and kind of be their person. There's just so many
layers to what we do. We also help find employment.
It's almost overwhelming to explain it all in one show.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Sure, we'll have you back stuff, but I want to
get to the dinner that you're having. Dining in the dark,
you're going to allow folks who are coming to enjoy
the dinner to actually sort of experience what your client's
experience on a daily basis. You want to talk about
(07:29):
the dinner and how that works.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
And Aaron's going to talk about this because this is
his baby. He started this event. I mean, how long
has it been going on there?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
This is year eight and we started it with the
whole idea of not having anything like in any event
like this in our community, and it really has continued
to grow year over year every year, and it's largely
due to the support we get from our sponsors and
from our attendees and from our internal staff, which is
absolutely amazing. Carol's not taking as much credit as she deserves.
(08:05):
It's on November ninth, It's at hard Rock Casino, and
I tell people, you know, I've been in this in
this industry for a long long time and have done
events for a long long time, and this is truly
the first time that I've been involved with a fundraising
event where you're truly in the mission. When you're at
the event, you know, you know, people can get up
(08:25):
and talk, which is wonderful, and we do that as well.
They can tell their stories, they can be ambassadors for
the mission and for the agency. But at this dining
in the Dark event, during the dinner portion of the evening,
you are wearing a silk blindfold. So even for that
limited amount of time, if you have your full sight,
you are immersed in what it's like to have a
(08:46):
severe visual impairment.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So just imagining what that must be like, right, so
you've got someone up at the front that's explaining what
you want to do, and then there's murmuring and everyone's like, Oh,
what's happening here?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
You know, I have a story for year one, so
that many years ago personal story. You know, I had
personal friends that attended the event to support. At the table,
one of our colleagues was sitting with them who is
completely blind since birth, and the other nine people sitting
at that table had sight, and so they went through
the experience, they put the blindfold on. And it's funny
(09:21):
because even today, because now we're promoting it obviously for
twenty twenty four, and some of the same friends will
still continue to attend and still continue to support the agency,
and when they're talking to others in their social circles,
they still reflect back on Year one and the fact
that when they sat down, you know, in that traditional
ballroom with the traditional crystal and glassware and china and etc.
(09:44):
In front of them, they had the advantage of glancing
down and seeing the landscape of what was in front
of them, and then as if who was served, they
put this soak blindfold on. And they always talk about
our colleague who didn't have that advantage, and so they
still all these years later talk about how impactful that
(10:05):
was for them personally as they began to talk to
her afterwards and really immerse themselves in that experience while
it was going on.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
I have to tell you to this day, I still
so we do put blindfolds. Even though we dim the
lights and it gets dark, everybody also puts blindfolds, and
I have to resist every urge not to cheat and
peek out of that blindfold. And I have to tell you,
I can't imagine.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I mean, I'm not having the option to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Oh yeah, well terryte about that, because yeah, they don't
have that opportunity to cheat. And I cannot use a
fork and knife, so I just take my fork and
I stab whatever and I eat it like a lollipop.
Because you know what, I probably need to go in
and get some of our training on how to eat
a meal and not knock your glass over and be
(10:53):
able to not cut yourself and find your food. It's
all these things you just don't think of.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Oh absolutely, and then you feel guilty because you want
to pull that thing up, and so it sounds like
it's event I.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Can and some people, So that really is what it's about.
It's about truly living our mission for that amount of
time during dinner. But beyond that, it is a phenomenal event,
you know, and when Carol started talking a little bit
a little bit about our financial resources and the fact
that we do not turn anybody away for their inability
to pay. This event is our premier event of the year,
(11:27):
so all of the proceeds raised from this event will
go right back in to help fund all of those
program services and equipment, especially for people who don't have
the ability to pay for what they're coming to us
to receive. We're up to, you know, typically around five
hundred guests, so it continues to grow. An amazing group
of volunteers that help us, an amazing group of attendees
and sponsors, and we truly can't say enough about hard Rock.
(11:51):
They're our presenting sponsor and they have been. This is
year three for their presenting sponsorship level and their amazing
organization to be part of as well. So it truly
truly is a special magical night.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
The eighth annual Dining in the Dark Saturday, November the ninth,
is a night of pure imagination and when you hear
those words, you think of Gene Wilder and the Charlie
and the chocolate factory, and that's this way you're going
with this. The theme is a night of pure imagination
and it's going to be very colorful from what I gather. Oh.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yes, all the events we do, we try to appease
the sight it but we also try to be aware
of the blind. One of the things about this event
that I love that we did last year and we're
going to move it over to this year, is our
last year our event was a disco theme, so we
decided to go ahead and put a dance floor in
(12:48):
and we have the hard rock and so it was
a lot of fun. And then there were side projects
going on, like I ended up. I never thought I
was ever going to teach a blind person how to dance,
but we were practic to sing before the event, and
I like to lead what I dance. Anyway, I always
get in trouble with my husband. He's like, you can't lead.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I'm supposed to lead.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
And I'm like, well, there's a reason why I lead now,
because I'm going to dance with my blind friends. And
so we are going to go ahead. We're going to
add that again to this event. Even though it's Willy Wonka,
we're like another thing about it. It's like Gen x
ers never have a place to go dance anymore, and
they forgot how fun it is. So we have a
dance floor that can provide an opportunity for people to
(13:30):
feel safe when they're blind or visually impaired to dance,
and then the sighted attendees also have a really good
time as well.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
You want people to dress up.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Oh, yeah, we do, so we have, we always have.
I missed that we're having a we're having a costume
contest this year. So it is to your point. It
is Willy Wonka themed, Willy Wonka esque. So it's going
to be full of a lot of candy as you
can imagine, a lot a lot of bright and brilliant colors,
a lot of music, a lot of laughter, a lot
of joy, some phenomenal food, and again just that experience
(14:01):
for those who come out and support us that evening.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
And what do you expect people, Carol to wear? If
a woman is hearing that she has a Willy Wonka
theme and she's gonna come to this, what do you
want her to wear? You want to wear.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I was up until about eleven last night researching my
costume and I've changed it like three times.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
So I.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
You know what, I expect people to dress like a
piece of candy, characters from the movie, you know what.
I just can't wait to see what they're gonna wear.
I mean, I know, one year we had a superhero
theme and I was shocked at how many people came
as villains. I was like, whoa so, And you know what,
I also love our blind of visually impaired clients, board members, employees.
(14:47):
They take pride in their costumes as well. They want
to be included, and so as a cited person, I love,
you know, working with them to help them with their costume.
So anyway, I haven't decided yet. I can't decide. There's
so many fun things.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, I know, I hear there's gonna be a lot
of blueberries in the arts, because there's gonna be a lot.
I keep hearing there's gonna be a lot of blueberries.
So only we'll say.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Are you tired of the ompA lupa jokes yet? Or
is there any sort.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Of never tired of that? But that's what Yeah, we're
just uh so a lot of our decora will be
Umpahlopa esque, like I said, a lot a lot of
Willy Wonka, a lot of the original cast throwing in
some of the newer cast kind of themes as well.
And again, like I said, we always wanted to be
fun and entertaining and memorable so that next year when
this time comes around, Uh, they remember that they had
(15:38):
a good time and we raised a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah. So this is November ninth, and you've got an
auction going on that you want folks to participate in,
and you're having them actually sign up to bid on
those auction pieces online in advance since he Blind dot org.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Correct. Yeah, if you want information specifically in this event,
feel free to visit since he Blind Backslash Dining and
that's It'll take you right to our page. You can
purchase tickets. We have table host availability as well, and
we're always looking for some great, great sponsors and all
the contact information is right out there for anybody who's interested.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
It's the eighth annual Dining in the Dark, going to
be at the Hard Rock Casino November the ninth, with
Aaron Blygh and Carol Lakey. They're both from the Cincinnati
Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired or CABV. I
thank you for what you do. I know that you
change lives with your mission, and we appreciate that you're there.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
To do it.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Thank you for having us
This week on iHeart Sency allowing and continuing to allow
people to be as independent as they possibly can be
if they have a severe visual impairment or if they're blind.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Today on iHeart Sincy, Aaron Bly and Carol lake are
here from CAABVII. That's the Cincinnati Association for the Blind
and Visually Impaired. It's a nonprofit that more and more
residents of the Tri State rely on when their vision
becomes impaired. Today, we're going to talk about why more
and more people are needing their services, the fundraising dinner
that's coming up, and how it is unlike any other
(00:33):
dinner you've attended.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Now on iHeart Sincy with Sandy Collins.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
All right, let's get started. My first guests are from
the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired or CAABVII.
Aaron Bly is the Chief Mission Officer and Carol Lakey
is the Community Relations Coordinator. Erin and Carol, you are
here to promote this fundraiser dinner that's coming up that
will tell folks about. But first, before we get to that,
(01:00):
let's talk about the organization and what your mission is
there at the Cincinnati Association for the blind and visually impaired.
I know that people can be born with vision, laws
you can also acquire it later on in life. So
what are some of the ways that CABVI helps the
visually impaired with their daily living?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Want me to talk? Oh, okay, I don't know if
we were recording.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
This or that.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Oh my god, I thought you were just kind of
repping yourself. Oh my Goday, that sounds perfect. So yeah, absolutely.
I mean our mission we've been around for over one
hundred years in the community, and our mission really is twofold.
One side of our mission is about providing programs, services,
and equipment to about four thousand clients a year, and
our clients really run the gamut from birth to death literally.
(01:48):
And our other side of our mission, which is equally
as important, is about providing employment opportunities for people who
have a visual impairment as well. And so you know,
our mission, if we're looking strictly at our mission, it
really is about allowing and continuing to allow people to
be as independent as they possibly can be if they
have a severe vision impairment or if they're blind. And
you're right, I mean when we talk about the age
(02:10):
groups and the severity and the different levels of their acuity.
It really does run the gamut. Most of our clients
would fall into that sixty five and older group. As
we know, as we age and we're living longer, other
diseases and other things start to affect our vision, macular degeneration, glaucoma, retinopathy,
of things of that nature, and so we're here when
(02:32):
that happens and allow our clients to come in and
we take them through a low vision evaluation. We look
at all of the options that they're looking to accomplish
and then what we can do to support that, everything
from access technology. So some of them are still in
the workforce and they want to remain in the workforce,
so we're able to look at adaptive material and adaptive
(02:55):
equipment that will allow them to continue to work on
their computers and on their laptops and on their iPhones
and on their iPads. Others are just looking to be
able to continue to write checks, go to the grocery store,
just those daily living skills. So we have an area
that provides vision rehab and they're providing daily living skills.
(03:15):
How do you continue to cook and grocery shop and
clean and make your bed and just continue to thrive.
We also have orientation and mobility for people that need
or at the point where they need transportation assistance. They
need to learn how to maneuver and how to travel
within our community, so we have that as well. And
then we do have an early childhood and youth services area,
(03:36):
so we provide music therapy is one of our programs
that we do. We have summer camps during the summer
for children and for teens. We work with the school
systems on some of those individual plans and activities that
these children need. So have an amazing group of clinicians
down there on Gilbert which is where the agency is located,
that do just phenomenal work in our community.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
How big of an organization is it when I'm talking
big about you know the number of employees or the
number of counties it covers.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, we cover eleven counties, so nine in Cincinnati Greater
Cincinnati than three in northern Kentucky. So a lot of
the same territory that a lot of non for profits
in our area really support, So that it's the eleven
county area we have at in Cincinnati, we have about
one hundred and seventy or so all in employees. In
addition to that, we have sort of outlying areas. We
(04:25):
have a office supply business up at right Patterson Air
Force Base, and then we have what's called contract close
out managements. We have one of those at Right pat
and one at Quantico. In both of those, the whole
idea is to employ people who are visually impaired that
are able to again continue to thrive in a government facility.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
How many people need your services here?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
You know, we continue to expand our reach. You know,
as I was saying, we see a little over four
thousand clients a year is what we're able to really touch.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Carol Lakey. When you're talking about all of the services,
let's get right to it. How do you pay?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
We will not turn anyone away that needs services. We
are here to serve the community and that is our
number one goal. Obviously, if someone has insurance, you know,
we'll start there, Medicaid, Medicare, insurance. But we serve the
community and that's why Aaron and I work very hard.
We fundraise, we're able to supplement that. You know, we
(05:20):
get government funding sometimes and whatever it takes, so we
don't have to say no to any individual.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
People must be pretty scared, devastated, confused when they come
to you. How do you approach that we have.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
A social services area. They're just a phenomenal group of
people that we work with each and every day that
are there and their sole purpose for being with our
agency as the client supporting client care, and they truly
truly make the difference for individuals. To your point, you
come and you're scared. You've been given a diagnosis at
sixty five or seventy or seventy five, and in your
(05:59):
not really knowing what the next steps are or what
is out there for me. And that's when we step in,
and we step in and we show them that there
truly is a lot of things that will help will enhance,
we will also just help you continue to thrive.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Carol. Let's give some contact information now and then we'll
do it again at the end. So if people are
listening and they say, hey, I want to get a
hold of these guys, what's the best.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Way, I would just say, memorize since blind org and
it's since see I and see why if you haven't
received our services and you don't know how to navigate
a website, being visually impaired to blind. We'll eventually teach you,
but probably you're going to have someone helping you at
this point in your life, and they're going to be
able to navigate our website and find exactly what they.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Need, especially if you're a caregiver for someone that is
going through this as well.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Right right, And that's another piece of what we do
with our volunteer services too. We try to do match
people up one on one, so if we have somebody
that needs help, we can have a volunteer go out
and kind of be their person. There's just so many
layers to what we do. We also help find employment.
It's almost overwhelming to explain it all in one show.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Sure, we'll have you back stuff, but I want to
get to the dinner that you're having. Dining in the dark,
you're going to allow folks who are coming to enjoy
the dinner to actually sort of experience what your client's
experience on a daily basis. You want to talk about
(07:29):
the dinner and how that works.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
And Aaron's going to talk about this because this is
his baby. He started this event. I mean, how long
has it been going on there?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
This is year eight and we started it with the
whole idea of not having anything like in any event
like this in our community, and it really has continued
to grow year over year every year, and it's largely
due to the support we get from our sponsors and
from our attendees and from our internal staff, which is
absolutely amazing. Carol's not taking as much credit as she deserves.
(08:05):
It's on November ninth, It's at hard Rock Casino, and
I tell people, you know, I've been in this in
this industry for a long long time and have done
events for a long long time, and this is truly
the first time that I've been involved with a fundraising
event where you're truly in the mission. When you're at
the event, you know, you know, people can get up
(08:25):
and talk, which is wonderful, and we do that as well.
They can tell their stories, they can be ambassadors for
the mission and for the agency. But at this dining
in the Dark event, during the dinner portion of the evening,
you are wearing a silk blindfold. So even for that
limited amount of time, if you have your full sight,
you are immersed in what it's like to have a
(08:46):
severe visual impairment.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So just imagining what that must be like, right, so
you've got someone up at the front that's explaining what
you want to do, and then there's murmuring and everyone's like, Oh,
what's happening here?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
You know, I have a story for year one, so
that many years ago personal story. You know, I had
personal friends that attended the event to support. At the table,
one of our colleagues was sitting with them who is
completely blind since birth, and the other nine people sitting
at that table had sight, and so they went through
the experience, they put the blindfold on. And it's funny
(09:21):
because even today, because now we're promoting it obviously for
twenty twenty four, and some of the same friends will
still continue to attend and still continue to support the agency,
and when they're talking to others in their social circles,
they still reflect back on Year one and the fact
that when they sat down, you know, in that traditional
ballroom with the traditional crystal and glassware and china and etc.
(09:44):
In front of them, they had the advantage of glancing
down and seeing the landscape of what was in front
of them, and then as if who was served, they
put this soak blindfold on. And they always talk about
our colleague who didn't have that advantage, and so they
still all these years later talk about how impactful that
(10:05):
was for them personally as they began to talk to
her afterwards and really immerse themselves in that experience while
it was going on.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
I have to tell you to this day, I still
so we do put blindfolds. Even though we dim the
lights and it gets dark, everybody also puts blindfolds, and
I have to resist every urge not to cheat and
peek out of that blindfold. And I have to tell you,
I can't imagine.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I mean, I'm not having the option to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Oh yeah, well terryte about that, because yeah, they don't
have that opportunity to cheat. And I cannot use a
fork and knife, so I just take my fork and
I stab whatever and I eat it like a lollipop.
Because you know what, I probably need to go in
and get some of our training on how to eat
a meal and not knock your glass over and be
(10:53):
able to not cut yourself and find your food. It's
all these things you just don't think of.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Oh absolutely, and then you feel guilty because you want
to pull that thing up, and so it sounds like
it's event I.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Can and some people, So that really is what it's about.
It's about truly living our mission for that amount of
time during dinner. But beyond that, it is a phenomenal event,
you know, and when Carol started talking a little bit
a little bit about our financial resources and the fact
that we do not turn anybody away for their inability
to pay. This event is our premier event of the year,
(11:27):
so all of the proceeds raised from this event will
go right back in to help fund all of those
program services and equipment, especially for people who don't have
the ability to pay for what they're coming to us
to receive. We're up to, you know, typically around five
hundred guests, so it continues to grow. An amazing group
of volunteers that help us, an amazing group of attendees
and sponsors, and we truly can't say enough about hard Rock.
(11:51):
They're our presenting sponsor and they have been. This is
year three for their presenting sponsorship level and their amazing
organization to be part of as well. So it truly
truly is a special magical night.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
The eighth annual Dining in the Dark Saturday, November the ninth,
is a night of pure imagination and when you hear
those words, you think of Gene Wilder and the Charlie
and the chocolate factory, and that's this way you're going
with this. The theme is a night of pure imagination
and it's going to be very colorful from what I gather. Oh.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yes, all the events we do, we try to appease
the sight it but we also try to be aware
of the blind. One of the things about this event
that I love that we did last year and we're
going to move it over to this year, is our
last year our event was a disco theme, so we
decided to go ahead and put a dance floor in
(12:48):
and we have the hard rock and so it was
a lot of fun. And then there were side projects
going on, like I ended up. I never thought I
was ever going to teach a blind person how to dance,
but we were practic to sing before the event, and
I like to lead what I dance. Anyway, I always
get in trouble with my husband. He's like, you can't lead.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I'm supposed to lead.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
And I'm like, well, there's a reason why I lead now,
because I'm going to dance with my blind friends. And
so we are going to go ahead. We're going to
add that again to this event. Even though it's Willy Wonka,
we're like another thing about it. It's like Gen x
ers never have a place to go dance anymore, and
they forgot how fun it is. So we have a
dance floor that can provide an opportunity for people to
(13:30):
feel safe when they're blind or visually impaired to dance,
and then the sighted attendees also have a really good
time as well.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
You want people to dress up.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Oh, yeah, we do, so we have, we always have.
I missed that we're having a we're having a costume
contest this year. So it is to your point. It
is Willy Wonka themed, Willy Wonka esque. So it's going
to be full of a lot of candy as you
can imagine, a lot a lot of bright and brilliant colors,
a lot of music, a lot of laughter, a lot
of joy, some phenomenal food, and again just that experience
(14:01):
for those who come out and support us that evening.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
And what do you expect people, Carol to wear? If
a woman is hearing that she has a Willy Wonka
theme and she's gonna come to this, what do you
want her to wear? You want to wear.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I was up until about eleven last night researching my
costume and I've changed it like three times.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
So I.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
You know what, I expect people to dress like a
piece of candy, characters from the movie, you know what.
I just can't wait to see what they're gonna wear.
I mean, I know, one year we had a superhero
theme and I was shocked at how many people came
as villains. I was like, whoa so, And you know what,
I also love our blind of visually impaired clients, board members, employees.
(14:47):
They take pride in their costumes as well. They want
to be included, and so as a cited person, I love,
you know, working with them to help them with their costume.
So anyway, I haven't decided yet. I can't decide. There's
so many fun things.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, I know, I hear there's gonna be a lot
of blueberries in the arts, because there's gonna be a lot.
I keep hearing there's gonna be a lot of blueberries.
So only we'll say.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Are you tired of the ompA lupa jokes yet? Or
is there any sort.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Of never tired of that? But that's what Yeah, we're
just uh so a lot of our decora will be
Umpahlopa esque, like I said, a lot a lot of
Willy Wonka, a lot of the original cast throwing in
some of the newer cast kind of themes as well.
And again, like I said, we always wanted to be
fun and entertaining and memorable so that next year when
this time comes around, Uh, they remember that they had
(15:38):
a good time and we raised a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah. So this is November ninth, and you've got an
auction going on that you want folks to participate in,
and you're having them actually sign up to bid on
those auction pieces online in advance since he Blind dot org.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Correct. Yeah, if you want information specifically in this event,
feel free to visit since he Blind Backslash Dining and
that's It'll take you right to our page. You can
purchase tickets. We have table host availability as well, and
we're always looking for some great, great sponsors and all
the contact information is right out there for anybody who's interested.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
It's the eighth annual Dining in the Dark, going to
be at the Hard Rock Casino November the ninth, with
Aaron Blygh and Carol Lakey. They're both from the Cincinnati
Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired or CABV. I
thank you for what you do. I know that you
change lives with your mission, and we appreciate that you're there.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
To do it.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Thank you for having us
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