Street collectors a key to Braille Week success

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 659, 22 October 1996, Page 7

Street collectors a key to Braille Week success

Every year the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind relies on the success of its Braille Week street appeal to fund key services that make the difference in the life of people who are either blind or have serious vision impairment. Again this year Ruapehu Lions are collecting in the Waimarino and they'd be happy to have extra volunteers on the streets to help. Collection day, is Tuesday 29 October from 5pm. Volunteers are asked to meet at the Lions Den in Arawa Street, Ohakune. Sight loss is no respecter of ethnicity, age or social status. It can happen to anyone. Every year it happens to over 1400 people leaving them to face the challenge of learning new skills in order to cope with everyday life while creating a new and fulfilling future for themselves.

"Meeting the challenge of adjusting to losing your sight is not a task to.be fac'ed alone which is why after 35 years, Braille Week, the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind' s annual street collection, is as relevant today as it ever has been," says chief executive of the Foundation, Geoff Gibbs. It costs approximately $18 million to provide the services the Foundation' s 1 1,500 members need. Just under half of the funding comes from government and other sources. However, that leaves a shortfall of $9 million which the Foundation has to raise from voluntary donations. "Braille Week, with its target of $1 million, provides a critical and significant proportion of that amount," says Geoff Gibbs.