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Board President Ina Zec thanks outgoing president Mark West.
2006/2007 WINTER EDITION
IN THIS ISSUE…Awards and Recognition
FALL 2006
The Annual Meeting was filled with great Italian food, compliments of Palermo Ristorante Italiano, and lots of good friends. Awards were given for outstanding achievements throughout the year.
2006 Award Recipients: Joe & Denise Witmeyer, Couple of the Year; Betsy Behny, Philanthropist of the Year; and Perla Xochitl Gonzalez, Volunteer of the Year.
Thank you to everyone for making 2006 a fantastic year for our children and families.
January 2007: Marathon Committee co-chair and past president of the Board of Directors, Mark West, was honored at the National Philanthropy Day Celebration for his work at the Blind Childrens Center. The event was held at the elegant Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Ruth Jane Ensslin beloved friend of the Blind Childrens Center passed away on December 25, 2006. Ruth served on our Board of Directors for 10 years, and was president of Les Marraines, a support group for the Center for 8 years.
Ruth had a deep sense of Spirit and was a healer, teacher of yoga, a wonderful friend and lover of life. A woman of immense class and dignity, her generosity, compassion, laughter and joy, truly made the world a better place. She rarely missed an event at the Center. Ruth loved to see the children romp and slide in the snow, search for beeping Easter eggs, sing and giggle in delight as they touched Santa’s beard, and walk confidently down the hall with their white canes.
She will be remembered and missed by the many she touched with her kind and loving heart.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made in Ruth’s name to the Blind Childrens Center.
Memoirs of an Eleven-Year Old Blind Boy [Hardcover]
by Tom Sullivan
Blind since birth, author, well-known entertainer and friend of the Center Tom Sullivan recounts with wicked wit and captivating clarity the hair-raising adventures of his eleventh year in 1950’s New England…escaping from his blind school, relief pitching in the neighborhood league, and boxing in a backyard bout with the neighborhood bully.
Adventures in Darkness is a classic tale of boyhood adventure through a formative season, a summer of hilarity and heart, tears and triumph. Armed with a daring dream, and the fearlessness and mischief of youth, Tom refused to settle for the conventional confines of his blindness, and set in motion a chain of events that dynamically changed his life forever.
Adventures in Darkness can be purchased by visiting amazon.com.
Thank you to HtoO “Hope to Others” Tom, Ginny, and Tom for choosing the Blind Childrens Center to benefit from the profits of HtoO bottled water sales.
We were saddened to lose our longtime friend and former Board Member, Ann Kiddoo, in January 2007. Ann, you will be missed.