WE CARRY ON IN UNCERTAIN TIMES
IN THIS ISSUE
Notes from Emeritus Director Jan Santos followed by the voices of two of our great volunteers. Then Mike muses about how the Center can change and do more, and an article on the power of referral as a Center function. Another old friend leaves us. And finally, a celebration that made a joyous sound!
GREETINGS FROM JAN SANTOS
I was director of EBCB for fourteen years, and am currently still an active and appreciative member of our center. In my twenty-seven years of participating in classes and center activities here, I have learned much and gained wonderful friends. The other day, someone mentioned in our exercise class, that EBCB offers the warmest and most caring group of people, she knows, which expresses my truth as well. I have grown tremendously in my years at this center. I have witnessed major changes in the lives of many, with major growth in their quality of life, feelings of self-worth, with marked increased participation in the life of EBCB and other areas of life. Please become involved; you may want to personally join our activities and classes; you can spread the word to your community and connect others with our services and support at EBCB. You or people you know might be able to donate funds, or in some ways help with fundraising. You, or other interested people are encouraged to contact us for information about our services, including information and referral, and a warm listening ear. Please come join us in the ways that please you and fit your needs.
CENTER NEWS
East Bay Center Board Member Dr. Josh Miele had three Book Signings for his new book, Connecting Dots – A Blind Life, written in collaboration with veteran journalist Wendell Jamieson.
The Center hosted a fundraising concert on May 11th, featuring the Cecilia String Quartet. This special musical event was greatly enjoyed by all who attended.
The Center will host descriptive movie afternoons on the fourth Saturday of the month starting in March and continuing into Summer, with audio described movies, starting with Wicked.
OUR VOLUNTEERS SPEAK
MY VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE AT EBCB
By Alan Wick
I’ve been volunteering at the Center for about 7 years now and you would have to lock me up to keep me away. I have experienced what I have heard many volunteers express, which is that I get more out of volunteering at the Center than I give.
Being at the Center has enriched my life. I knew very little about how people with vision loss navigate their lives, so it has been a big education for me. I have come to admire and appreciate the resilience and good will that I see in our Center members. My good bosses are all blind people; we have fun and take each other seriously pulling in the same direction.
I have enjoyed helping with a variety of projects that benefit from having sighted volunteers, like computer admin work, helping members fill out forms, reading info on grant application websites, buying supplies, doing toilet maintenance. I’m highly pleased that I’ve been able to get folks in my men’s group to help out with various Center projects, like maintaining the physical building, assisting with holiday meals, helping the successful Braille class with clerical tasks and mailing work books. Board and staff include me in finding speakers and I often participate in classes too. I’m a member and a volunteer.
The Center gives to my men’s group, too, be letting us use the space for meetings. When my wife, Mary, died last March, the Center allowed me to have a “Celebration of Life” gathering for her in the main room. Mike, Jan, Dorothy, and her Son came to the celebration of Mary on a Sunday. The center is personal living on mutual respect and caring.
I look forward to coming to the Center every week.
VOLUNTEERING
by Vicky Kuo, Student in the School of Optometry, UC Berkeley
The East Bay Center for the Blind is a remarkable place that fosters a sense of belonging, understanding, and growth for its members, volunteers, and staff alike. The hours I have spent there has reinforced my dedication to working with those with visual impairments and has inspired me as a future optometrist.
One of my favorite memories was arranging a bingo fundraiser. It was amazing to see the collaboration between optometry students and the East Bay Center for the Blind members who joined in the fun. The event was not only a success in raising funds but also a joyful gathering, a mixing of two communities. I got to introduce boba tea, part of my culture, to some members for the first time too. Another highlight of my volunteering experience has been participating in the Solano Stroll and holiday fundraisers, whether it was setting up booths, engaging with the community, or working alongside other volunteers.
I also had the privilege of bringing in a low vision specialist for the monthly speakers series to answer questions and provide invaluable insights for members. The engagement and curiosity from the staff and members were heartwarming. It was gratifying to see how such sessions could empower individuals with knowledge and practical advice. Overall, I am deeply grateful for every memory and every connection made at the East Bay Center for the Blind. It is a place that is a testament to the power of community, and I encourage anyone with the opportunity to volunteer to do so — it’s an experience that will stay with you forever!
Picture Caption: UC School Of Optometry Students Join East Bay Center Members In A Bingo Fund Raiser
IMAGINE OUR POTENTIAL
By Mike Cole
Our East Bay Center is owned and operated by us, blind people. All it takes is people with a desire to work together to render our friendship effective and powerful. We are building a community center, come and join us! We think we’re active, and really, we are. We are still coming out of a dark period of shutdown because of the pandemic that halted progress across the community. The Facility can be a practice space for music, plays, stand up, and seminars about living in an era where justice is questioned and access is added to a campaign to ban diversity, Equity, and inclusion. At the Center we are proud of our diversity and our board of directors is made up of us; we are all about inclusion.
A Difficult Question: do we see a need for a united effort? Are we excited to think we have a brick and mortar club house, an intimate setting where activism can be nurtured? Are blind people so well situated the days of group action have dissolved in to the general market place of ideas? Oh we don’t think so; our activities and events demonstrate to us that we make a joyous sound! We do a lot with very little money. We need money; sustaining funding will keep us viable. Exercise, technology, intellectual exchange, a place to be together, remember Berkeley and the East Bay is where the organized blind movement began and where the disability rights movement got its start. We can do more! The Centers welcomes all who share our energy.
THE PHONE RINGS
One of the most important functions of the East Bay Center For The Blind is sharing our knowledge with people who call us. Calls to the center seek information, counsel, direct service, could someone help? People need basic information, not only about services but about blindness itself. Calls can be about people of any age. A person has lost vision. Relatives, spouses, friends, mere acquaintances inquiring of us, now what? The person is in a care facility or at home with nothing to do. All too often, the person is homeless.
We say, where does she live? How old is he? These questions start the conversation, because they have everything to do with whether there is money, services, advocacy within reach. Then we inquire about the person’s health, their vision, if any, their familiarity with getting around, technology, , whether they have family. And then we begin making suggestions, now write this down, we urge, phone numbers, people to contact and because we are the East Bay Center and people respect us, we say, and listen, if you reach them, tell them we recommended that you call, it just might help; it does.
When we get the actual person on the phone, we encourage, we tell them about our support group, people just like you who have been down the same road, we say. People who now have community, people who will hear them cry and laugh with them at the crazy things that happen when you are losing vision and when you never had vision to begin with. If the doctors have recommended a walker, why? There might be a good reason, but if it’s only that a well-meaning professional can’t imagine what it would be like to walk around with severe vision loss, then we must speak up. A cane of sufficient length, procedures for checking the environment with reduced or no vision works toward greater self reliance. We want to communicate that our caller is the same person who raised a family and held down a job. Blind people manage their own meds, you have much left to give your family and your community, we say. Yes, it’s a pep talk. We let our caller know that we are blind too, if we say it at the right moment, we establish credibility with the social worker, nurse or blind individual, we really do have empathy, we know about services and how people who call us feel. And before we get off the phone, we debunk myths, no, there is no cure and no, life is not over. “You are still you!”
The Center is a proud member of the California Association of Agencies For The Blind And Visually Impaired (CAABVI). An association of focused blindness agencies directed by community leader Anita Aaron.
ANOTHER FRIEND LEAVES US
Grant Metcalf died on December 21, 2024. Grant was a very good man who headed the Center twice. As we struggle today, Grant worked to keep the program going, money has never been easy. Grant was humorous, he called himself Grandpa DOS remembering as he did the heady days of the computer before Windows when we all believed we were on our way to full participation in the promise of technology. He was for a time a regular contributor to the Tech Together Webinar of the SF Lighthouse, always working to stay involved.
Grant attended Simpson College in San Francisco for a short period, then worked in several different occupations to support his family. He was trained as a masseur and as a mechanic, rebuilding automatic transmissions, but spent most of his working life at Seton Medical Center, first as a darkroom technician, then as a medical transcriber. He also co-founded the US Blind Chess Association, founded the Bartimaeus Alliance for the Blind, acted as Director for the East Bay Center for the Blind, and had many hobbies and interests. He led a Christian-based camp for the blind, sponsored a Christian-based website, played music for various occasions (piano/organ at The Sweden House smorgasbord in San Jose, played organ in the window at Bronstein’s Music in SSF, wrote several songs, both lyrics and music, created a record album, and occasionally performed concerts at churches in the area). He was an avid chess player and traveled to England, playing in one of the first international chess tournaments for the blind in the late 60s. It was impossible to know Grant and not know how much he loved chocolate. In fact, it was one of the last words that he spoke.
Grant Eugene Metcalf is survived by his younger brother, Keith Metcalf. He is also survived by two daughters, Shari Metcalf and Pamela Almeida, and one grandson, Anthony Grant Almeida.
WE CELEBRATE TOGETHER
In December 2024, with Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa season approaching, the Center held another fine gathering with more than 50 people in attendance. About a week earlier we received a call from two different women asking if they could volunteer. They said they had family members who could come too. So on the strength of two phone calls, we welcomed six people, two families really with lovely accents from India. Volunteer Pete Goldstein who has been with us for nearly two years was with us in the kitchen. Spontaneously Pete said to Bhavna, you manage the meal. It was a fine thing, because our meal and serving, our cleaning up and organizing left overs seemed to be put in the hands of professionals. That’s not to say other volunteers were left out. Vicky Kuo’s crew helped too; we had decided to shun paper plates and cups, going for real silverware, never mind it made for a far larger task. Food and drinks, a music program of staff and volunteers entertained, raffles made for fun and fund raising. Alan Wick’s men’s group, East Bay Circle Of Men worked with us filling in where needed. Jay Rothstein of the Lions Vision Resource Network came and join in the fun, once running to the market because we ran out of creamer for coffee. And at the tables we ate and laughed and hugged, glad to be alive and together. The greatest gift of all is that people give their time in support of others. More than a dozen people gave us their Saturday, December 21, 2024. Thanks to our Board member and program chair, Maureen Schulz, along with Vice President Connie Thomas who was the M.C. for the program. Diana Perry, longtime volunteer who came to us originally through Berkeley Adult Education played piano and led the singing of festive Carrolls. A band of Technology Teacher Fran Franks on guitar and vocals, Dr. Josh Miele on the bass, Volunteer Pete Goldstein on harmonica entertained at a very high level.
You can help. You can donate; you can help us marshal volunteers, put in a good word for us, when we apply for grants or sustaining agreements with public or other nonprofit agencies. If you know us, you might find us a program worth supporting. At the rate of spending we are experiencing, things have to change; that includes replacing us as we become older. (SMILE)
WHAT GOES ON
Bingo twice each month; book club; writers-story tellers; monthly speaker series; ceramics, we have our own kiln; low impact exercise; support group; audio described movies; instruction in technology and a nationally recognized braille program with a work at home comprehensive Braille course. We’ve been to plays and had drumming workshops, we have a braille library and MacArthur Fellow Josh Miele teaching Arduino when his schedule permits. We do much with love and true concern for our sisters and brothers.
East Bay Center For The Blind Inc.
2928 Adeline Street
Berkeley California, 94703
Phone: (510) 843-6935
Email: info@eastbaycenterrfortheblind.org
Website: eastbaycenterfortheblind.org