Miami Lighthouse Presents Third Annual
Dog Walk
To Raise Awareness of Guide Dogs
Walkers and their dogs, including guide dogs, other
service animals and regular pet companions, will walk to support Miami
Lighthouse Sunday, March 14 at the Shops at Midtown Miami at 3401 N. Miami
Avenue.
Walkers are welcome with or without dogs. Registration is
at 9 a.m. and the walk begins at 10, followed by lots of fun events and
music by our Miami Lighthouse musicians. On-site registration is $20.
Download a registration and pledge form
here.
Miami Lighthouse prepares blind and partially sighted
people who plan to use guide dogs by providing Orientation & Mobility
training; successful completion of this training is a prerequisite for
attending guide dog school. Miami Lighthouse Board Director Carol P. Russo
pioneered the Dog Walk and has chaired the event for three years.
We are grateful to sponsors PetSmart, Shops at Midtown
Miami, The Standard Chartered Private Bank, Dunkin Donuts, Turner &
Associates LLP, Frances T. King Insurance Agency, artist Romero Britto,
Susan Conroy Design, OPCA, Banfield Pet Hospital, Starbucks, OXXO, Humana,
Mac Parking, Azul Optics and New York Life.
Miami Lighthouse Receives Third
Consecutive Four-Star Rating
from Charity Navigator
Miami Lighthouse has received its third consecutive 4-star
rating, the highest rating possible, from Charity Navigator in recognition
of its ability to efficiently manage and grow its finances.
The notification letter states: “Only 13% of the charities
rated by Charity Navigator have received at least 3 consecutive 4-star
evaluations, indicating that Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually
Impaired consistently executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way,
and outperforms most other charities in America."
To view the full press release and the award letter from
Charity Navigator: click
here.
NEI Award to Miami Lighthouse Heiken
Children's Vision Program
The Miami Lighthouse Heiken Children’s Vision Program
received one of the select national 2020 Healthy Vision Community Awards
from the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institute of Health.
The competitive award will provide funding to educate M-DCPS parents,
counselors and teachers about the importance of early eye care by
community optometrists and comprehensive eye examinations for school
children who fail their school vision screening. The intended outcome of
the award is to improve the return rate of parental consent forms since
our network of optometrists must have a signed consent form before
providing an eye examination. Last school year, the Miami Lighthouse
Heiken Program provided nearly 5,000 needy children with comprehensive eye
examinations and glasses when prescribed.
Miami Lighthouse Annual Board Meeting
The Board of Directors of Miami Lighthouse for the Blind
and Visually Impaired, Inc. held its annual meeting at the Key Biscayne
residence of Michael Silva, Esq., on January 27th. Mr. Silva has served in
several Board governance roles for Miami Lighthouse, previously as Board
Performance Oversight and Monitoring Committee Chairman and as Treasurer.
The fifty attendees at the annual meeting included Board
Directors, Honorary Directors, members of the Heiken Children's Vision
Program Advisory Committee, the senior leadership team of Miami
Lighthouse, and Miami Lighthouse friends including the legendary Henry
Stone, a former client and producer of 23 Gold and Platinum albums.
Click here to read more.
Miami Lighthouse Hosts
Miami Ophthalmological Society December Meeting
On December 10, 2009, the Miami Lighthouse hosted a
meeting of the Miami Ophthalmological Society. Attendees were welcomed by
CEO Virginia Jacko and Dr. Henry Trattler, Executive Director of the Miami
Ophthalmological Society, and heard a testimonial from MLB low vision
client Wendell Beard.
Miami Lighthouse to Expand Music
Inclusion Program
with John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Grant
Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired will
expand its nationally recognized Music Inclusion Program for young adults
to include both sighted and blind talented adults, with a $125,000 grant
from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
The Knight Arts Challenge is a five-year, $40 million
initiative to help bring the South Florida community together through the
arts.
The Knight Foundation award will be augmented by matching
funds from the Children’s Trust and an anonymous philanthropist to double
the program’s capacity to generate quality music. The enhanced music
production program will enable more talented community vocalists and
musicians to perform in the Lighthouse’s state-of-the-art Henry and Inez
Stone music production studio.
President and CEO Virginia Jacko stated, “We look forward
to the community enjoying beautiful music by both sighted and visually
impaired performers working together.”
Click here to read the full press
release;
click here to view a Channel 10 news piece about the Miami Lighthouse
Henry and Inez Stone Music and Sound Studio.
We Did It!
$1.5 million was raised for the Incentive 1:1 Challenge
announced one year ago. We are truly grateful to all the donors who
participated in the match as their investment in Miami Lighthouse programs
was doubled, and this helped us maintain our programs during difficult
economic times. Our client participation is growing dramatically. For
example, Blind Babies grew from a caseload of seven to a caseload of 98
since inception just six years ago. Our seniors have more than doubled in
our SGA program, and the number of low-income schoolchildren needing our
free eye care has grown from 2,500 the first year of our program merger in
2007 to almost 5,000 in the last school year. We could not meet this
growing demand without our community’s investment. Thank you!
Miami Lighthouse Board Director Bruce
Winick
Honored by the University of Miami
Bruce Winick, Esq. has been appointed the Laurie Silvers
and Mitchell Rubenstein Distinguished Professor of Law at his law school,
the University of Miami. He also has been named as Director of the law
school's new Therapeutic Jurisprudence Center, a branch of legal and
interdisciplinary scholarship that Mr. Winick pioneered. To learn more about
Mr. Winick, please visit his website at
www.brucewinick.com.
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute
Ophthalmologists Visit Miami Lighthouse
Over 40 Ophthalmologists from Bascom Palmer Eye Institute
gathered for an informative evening at Miami Lighthouse on August 26th.
Moving testimonials were given by Gert Stein and Furious Berrain, both
former clients and current volunteers at Miami Lighthouse. In addition,
Dr. Sander DuBovy, Miami Lighthouse Board Director and Dr. Craig McKeown,
Miami Lighthouse Heiken Children’s Vision Program Advisory Committee
Member, spoke to guests about their involvement with the Lighthouse.
Following the program, guests received personalized tours of the modern
37,000 square foot facility and our variety of programs. The event was
hosted by Eduardo C. Alfonso, Professor & Chairman of Bascom Palmer Eye
Institute and Virginia A. Jacko, President & CEO of the Lighthouse.
Federal and State Legislators Visit
the Miami Lighthouse
U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Visits Miami
Lighthouse
On July 2nd, U.S. Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen visited the Miami
Lighthouse for the Blind summer camp where she watched the children
performing their daily chores and participated in their camp activities.
To read U.S. Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen press release, please visit
http://ros-lehtinen.house.gov/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=499. To read an article by U.S. Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen featured
in Diario Las Americas, please
click here.
Miami-Dade Legislative Delegation Luncheon
Twenty legislators and their representatives were greeted
by Board Director, State Representative Yolly Roberson, Chairman Owen
Freed, CEO Virginia Jacko and others as they jointly toured the Miami
Lighthouse facility and mobile eye care units. Pictured above: State
Representative Richard Steinberg;
State Representative Julio Robaina, CEO Virginia Jacko, State
Representative Yolly Roberson, State Representative Luis Garcia and State
Representative Ronald Brisé.
Miami Lighthouse for the Blind received five
commendations with its five year
accreditation renewal from
The National
Accreditation Council (NAC) for agencies serving people with blindness or
visual impairment.
For more information,
click here.
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