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September, 2024

Please reach out to schedule a tour of one of our programs, and/or to find out how you can be a part of helping ensure everyone with a visual impairment can find their possibilities.

VISIONS is proud to offer programs, training, and other services to individuals and their families with vision loss in New York City, Long Island, Westchester, and the Lower Hudson Valley, all at no charge to them. Every donation, no matter the size, helps us empower more and more people to live productive, fulfilling lives.

See the impact of our services in action below!

For several years, 1919 Investment Counsel (“1919”) has been thrilled to support VISIONS in a variety of ways, including participation in the Annual Charity Golf & Tennis Outing.

1919’s devotion to helping others extends beyond providing daily wealth management advice to over 2,000 clients. While providing investment counsel to help clients achieve their financial goals is crucial, 1919’s commitment to being a responsible corporate citizen remains a top priority.

Through charitable contributions, volunteering opportunities, and year-end giving, 1919 employees are committed to making a difference. Last year, 1919’s 140 employees supported more than 85 organizations financially or through volunteer work. 1919’s parent company, Stifel, is also committed to investing in and giving back to their communities. In the past two years, matching donations totaled more than $1.5 million in support of volunteer hours, and impact organization partnering; Stifel’s charitable contributions totaled over $9 million. In the visions area, Stifel sponsored Andre Bocelli, an operatic tenor and multi-instrumentalist born with congenital glaucoma and completely blind by age 12, on his U.S. tour.

On behalf of 1919 Investment Counsel, Lori Laub is delighted to represent her firm as the 2024 VCB Campus Sponsor. With over 35 years in the wealth management industry, Lori has always found time to give back to the community. Talbot Perkins Children’s Services, The NY Junior League, The Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, and the Financial Women’s Association are just a few organizations that have benefited from her previous involvement. In more recent years, she and her husband, Van, have supported diverse organizations including The Florida Coalition and the education-focused Roots & Wings. She is delighted to be on the VISIONS Annual Charity Golf & Tennis Committee.

This summer, our participants went on to prove that visual impairment is no match for creativity. When Austin, one of our Summer Transition Program participants felt words simply couldn't express how much he enjoyed the program, he and his friend Yakov harnessed the power of AI to come up with a catchy dance track, highlighting his experience! Austin was able to create this masterpiece using tools like ChatGPT, Suno, and Bandlab. It's incredible how far technology has advanced, allowing people to find new and exciting ways to express themselves. And best of all, these tools are readily available and accessible, even to those with vision loss.

You can hear the song by visiting https://youtu.be/PQT13XlQKJM

The Nancy D. Miller Vocational Rehabilitation Center is currently hosting seven participants for our 15-week Employment Readiness program. These students have been diving deep into courses to prepare them for employment, and participating in the Rockland Works Employment Readiness Bootcamp and Rockland Works-sponsored job fair. In addition to vocational training, these participants have been receiving Vision Rehabilitation Therapy (VRT) and Orientation & Mobility (O&M) Training. They have been honing their travel and independent living skills in preparation for their upcoming internship experiences. They recently participated in a VRT “Top Chef” challenge where the group was broken into two teams and tasked with working together to complete all the steps of making a dish, starting with choosing a recipe and following through to presenting the dish to the judges. Congratulations to our winning team, the “Ladies Frijoles”, for their amazing dish of homemade flautas topped with black beans, cheese, and homemade guacamole, served with a delicious cookie lasagna for dessert! We can’t wait to see what more these amazing participants accomplish in the remaining weeks of their program!

In August, VISIONS Center on Blindness hosted three groups of children who are blind or have low vision and their families, 59 families total, for a week of Rehabilitation and Recreation! Each week featured sessions in Vision Rehabilitation and Orientation & Mobility with VISIONS fabulous rehabilitation staff. These sessions included activities such as making homemade soaps, smoothies, and grilled cheeses to improve kitchen skills, role-playing store games to teach financial literacy, and tie-dying shirts to teach clothing maintenance and laundry skills! Each week also featured special activities such as our annual Sports Day hosted by the Foreseeable Future Foundation, a visit from the Petting Zoo, local police, and fire trucks! While the children were in their group sessions, parents participated in educational workshops including sessions on Vision Rehabilitation, Braille, Technology, Social Work Services, and more. They also had time to socialize recreationally with other parents during morning yoga sessions, facials, manicures, and mocktail happy hours. As always, both children and parents enjoyed afternoon swims in our accessible pool. Evenings were bustling with activities such as Family Bingo, Paint Night, boating on the lake, and the world-famous VISIONS Talent Show! Thank you to all of our participants who shared their talents with us each week! We are so grateful to all of the families who shared their summer with us and are already counting down to Summer, 2025!

Elder Ibanez began his career back in 2017 as a Goodwill clerk, and had worked there until the store’s closure in 2022. With 3 excellent recommendations from his former managers and a strong desire to continue working, Elder, and his Workforce team including Jake Mariani (Workforce Coordinator), Sophia Huynh (Business Development Specialist), and Marc Wentz (O&M Specialist) helped him land a job at Amazon’s DYY8 warehouse in Hawthorne, as well as learned how to navigate to and around work safely, and advocate for his workplace accommodations. Today, Elder now works 30 hours a week, using specialized tools to assess inventory bags and ensure efficient deliveries. Elder’s dedication earned him Amazon’s Associate of the Month award in August 2024. He is proud of his success, and grateful to VISIONS for helping him achieve financial independence.

VISIONS Community Advisory Boards continue to spread awareness of our mission and raise funds to support our services in NYC, Long Island, Westchester, and the Lower Hudson Valley. Our summer fundraising events in Brooklyn and Queens have raised over $18,000 to support these services so far, with even more to come from our upcoming events planned for the rest of this year.

Visit www.visionsvcb.org/events to see our upcoming events, and consider joining us.

We would like to welcome our newest Advisory Board members and celebrate new leadership roles in Brooklyn and Manhattan::

Bronx-Westchester
Alondra Isidro, Community Volunteer

Brooklyn
Chairperson, Nandanie Appana, Touch of Kindness, Inc.
Vice Chairperson, Mike Berman, Wells Fargo Advisors 
Bailey Binke, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Elvi Rivas, Con Edison 
Jessica Rivera Baptiste, Medgar Evers College

Manhattan
Vice Chairperson, Ananth Sampathkumar, NDNY

Staten Island
Christine Ortiz, VISIONS Participant
Valerie Williams, OD, Northwell Health and Williams Eye Works

Nisha Falcigno, a 60-year-old cancer survivor and legally blind New Yorker regained her independence through VISIONS Adaptive Living Skills training, funded by the New York State Rehabilitation Services Administration. Nisha learned to safely navigate her community, cook for her family, and even use technology to simplify daily tasks. Today, Nisha volunteers at a hospital specializing in Cancer treatments, and inspires others with her perseverance.

To read the full story on the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitative Services Blog, visit https://bit.ly/meet-nisha-blog

VISIONS intergenerational tech training program, has been funded for the third year in a row by The Eisner Foundation. This program pairs visually impaired older adults with tech-savvy high school volunteers, promoting digital literacy and fostering meaningful connections. We at VISIONS appreciate The Eisner Foundation's continued support in making this initiative possible. To read more about how the Eisner Foundation is helping bridge the digital divide between older and younger generations, visit https://bit.ly/visions-eisner-spotlight

A huge thank you to the amazing volunteers and donors from our community who provided so much to VCB! Two Blind Brothers so generously donated a box of some of their quality brand items, including braille bags, t-shirts, and stuffed animal guide dogs, which were distributed to our youth and families during the R&R programs and were greatly appreciated! VCB hosted their annual Lions Appreciation and Family Day on August 4th, to celebrate the Lions Club members committed to VCB’s success. We had a wonderful turnout and a splashing good time as our supporters socialized and took a dip in the pool! VCB also hosted volunteers from both UPS and Dominican College who helped beautify the campus and get it ready for Summer programs. As always, we are grateful for all the support from our donors and volunteers who continue to play a vital role in allowing us to help participants see what is possible!

VISIONS is proud to offer programs, training, and other services to individuals and their families with vision loss in New York City, Long Island, Westchester, and the Lower Hudson Valley, all at no charge to them. Every donation, no matter the size, helps us empower more and more people to live productive, fulfilling lives.

VISIONS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit rehabilitation and social service organization, whose mission is to develop and implement individualized programs to assist people who are blind and visually impaired of all ages to lead independent and active lives, and to educate the public to understand their needs and capabilities.

Donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

A copy of our most recent financial statement is available by e-mailing info@visionsvcb.org or by visiting the NYS Attorney General's Charities Bureau's website. To learn more about charities, call (212) 416-8686.