Fall is finally here and with it comes a busy month of October -- Blindness Awareness Month.

Oct. 6 is National Blind Sports Day and as luck would have it, Kansas City Beep Kickball will be happening in our Sensory Garden that morning.  Beep Kickball is a great opportunity for kids to build social skills, proprioception, and strengthen body parts as well as provide a fun and adaptive environment where all of our children can enjoy playing on a field. The six-week long season wraps up on Oct. 20 and we offer a big THANK YOU to KC Eye Clinic for sponsoring our inaugural season!

Oct. 11 marks World Sight Day, an annual day of awareness held to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. The theme for 2018 is “Eye Care Everywhere.”  You can learn more about this day by visiting The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness website. 

But the day that we’re most looking forward to is Oct. 15 when you’ll see our students and staff out in the neighborhood as part of White Cane Safety Day (WCSD). The date is set aside to celebrate the achievements of people who are blind or visually impaired and the important symbol of blindness and tool of independence, the white cane. In previous years our classrooms have visited our friends up the hill at KCPT/The Bridge, walked across the street to Conklin Fangman Buick GMC, and made the trek to Home Depot – all to raise awareness. As they have for several years, our friends from the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Delta Gamma Alumnae created small white canes for our students to share with others they meet while on their WCSD journey.

You’ll also be hearing from us on Oct. 15, regarding a one-day-fundraiser for our Orientation and Mobility (O&M) program. O&M is a profession specific to blindness and low vision that teaches safe, efficient, and effective travel skills to people of all ages, including infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Our participation in WCSD would not be possible without our O&M instructors.

O&M services cost $206.21 per hour. We hope you’ll give generously, not only to help the 29 students currently receiving O&M services but to help those students we haven’t even met yet.

Last but not least, we are excited to partner with Ten Thousand Villages in Overland Park for a Shop Global, Give Local  from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, October 18. For every purchase Ten Thousand Villages will donate 15% back to CCVI! 

Can’t make it that night? No worries. You can support us all week long! Mention CCVI at checkout during regular business hours Monday, October 15, through Sunday, October 21, and 15% of your net purchase will benefit CCVI.