Thank you from the Arizona Center for the Blind.

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
sbwertz

sbwertz

Member
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
3,678
Location
Phoenix, AZ
I want to thank the members who have donated their bash prizes to the center. This project would never have got off the ground without the support and generosity of IAP members. Hard to believe it has been almost four years....

Thank you again and again for thinking of us.
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Thank you again to all of you who donated their BASH prizes to the center for the blind. The donations will let us buy some things we otherwise couldn't afford.

We have our annual fundraiser tonight...Dining in the Dark where sponsors have to eat their meal wearing blindfolds. Really makes you realize what being blind means. We are having an auction and selling some of the turnings our blind and visually impaired turners have made. Here is a link to a previous Dining in the Dark if you are interested.

https://www.abc15.com/entertainment...fit-az-center-for-the-blind-visually-impaired
 
Sharon, is there anything you need that we might be able to provide? Blanks or pen kits or other turning supplies? Im sure that if you had a need someone would step up to help out even if it was in small increments.
 
We have plenty of blanks (thank you George, and others) but we can always use kits. Simple kits that don't require tenons are best. We turn a lot of Sierras, cigars, patrizios, etc. We make a lot of slimlines, but just bought a bunch of slimline kits, so we are good there. We can always use slimline bushings...we go through them pretty fast...they get turned down because our turners don't know they are at the bushings until they hear the tool on metal. We could use letter opener kits....they are very popular. Niles bottle stoppers....the ones that stand up by themselves for display. CA glue and activator...thin and medium. Epoxy. These are the things we go through pretty fast.

Believe it or not, we are already starting to turn for Christmas! We only have two full time trainers and two lathes, and are down to turning only two days a week because we lost two of our trainers. One moved away and the other's vision finally became so bad he could no longer teach safely. I have three new trainees that are still teaching under supervision, but will be ready to open another turning day very soon. Two of them are sighted but with no previous woodworking experience,and one is visually impaired, but is an experienced turner. We are aiming for four days a week, 4 hours a day. Right now it is two days a week, with a three hour morning and afternoon session.

I just got out of the hospital with pneumonia, and I've only been back twice now. And my tail was really dragging by the end of the day. Tomorrow I am going to just have a morning session. Maybe next week I can be back full time.
 
Last edited:
sbwertz said:
Thank you again to all of you who donated their BASH prizes to the center for the blind. The donations will let us buy some things we otherwise couldn't afford.

We have our annual fundraiser tonight...Dining in the Dark where sponsors have to eat their meal wearing blindfolds. Really makes you realize what being blind means. We are having an auction and selling some of the turnings our blind and visually impaired turners have made. Here is a link to a previous Dining in the Dark if you are interested.

https://www.abc15.com/entertainment...fit-az-center-for-the-blind-visually-impaired
Click to expand...

Years ago (1980 ??) I was a Music Therapy/Recreation Therapy Intern at Highbrook Lodge, Cleveland Sight Center. One of our training sessions was to eat a meal blindfolded. I believe it was soup, and spaghetti and meat balls. Very messy... very informative... for what our clients had to manage every day.

Be well Sharon! Let us know if your program has needs. (You need to buy your husband a sippy cup!!! :eek:).
 
Sharon, Thanks for the link to the article/ photo. It is hard to imagine folks going through their entire dinner without being able to be on their phones!!
 
Why I keep doing this

I have a man from Jamaica who is in his late 70s or early 80s. He is totally blind. When he first came to turn, he was so excited he could hardly speak. All his life, his favorite hobby was woodworking, and he had not been able to do it at all since losing his sight.

After he turned his first pen, he was in tears. He told me I had given him back something he thought he had lost forever. Yesterday he completed his fifteenth pen and next he wants to make five letter openers and three pen stands with matching pens.

His wife who is sighted, comes with him every time and she cuts blanks, drills, tubes and mills them while he is turning. I talked to her yesterday, and she is going to learn to turn so she can be a trainer.

Money can't buy that kind of joy.
 
Very touching, Sharon ! . Thanks for sharing.

Congratulations for your care, patience, and success in working with those people.

I get a thrill out of making a pen with quite good eyesight. I can only begin to imagine how thrilled those people must be to be doing something they love doing and producing a pen ... it must mean an enormous amount to them.

Thanks
 
sbwertz said:
I have a man from Jamaica who is in his late 70s or early 80s. He is totally blind. When he first came to turn, he was so excited he could hardly speak. All his life, his favorite hobby was woodworking, and he had not been able to do it at all since losing his sight.

After he turned his first pen, he was in tears. He told me I had given him back something he thought he had lost forever. Yesterday he completed his fifteenth pen and next he wants to make five letter openers and three pen stands with matching pens.

His wife who is sighted, comes with him every time and she cuts blanks, drills, tubes and mills them while he is turning. I talked to her yesterday, and she is going to learn to turn so she can be a trainer.

Money can't buy that kind of joy.
Click to expand...

WOW!!! Thanks for sharing.
 
Worked with my little Jamaican couple again today. I think the reason I love to work with Terrance, is that he just radiates joy. He is so enthusiastic and joyful that it infects everyone in the shop. His wife is quiet, and a bit reserved, and quietly cut, drilled, tubed and milled blanks for ten slimlines while her husband was turning...without any help or supervision. She is a quick study, and very painstaking. Show her once and you never have to show her again. She is going to make a REALLY good trainer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom