Society for the Blind: Meet Debra Celiz

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With a heavy heart, Debra Celiz of Curtis Park decided not to go to her high school reunion several years ago when she started losing her vision.

“I wanted to go and reconnect with friends because I knew I’d be coming back to the area, but I was so self-conscious,” she said. “I was terrified of falling and making a fool of myself or not recognizing anyone. I pictured myself sitting in a corner in the dark because people would feel sorry for me.”

She responded no and began planning her move from San Francisco to Curtis Park as she worked to find ways to cope with her vision change. Doctors had discovered she had a rare form of Retinitis Pigmentosis (RP) called Bietti’s. She gradually began to lose her vision – she had trouble seeing her computer at UCSF Medical Center where she managed 12 physicians and 45 staff. She could not drive at night, had some serious falls and even endured a traumatic brain injury from walking into scaffolding. That is when depression started to sink in, and she feared the only satisfaction she would have from life was reliving her memories.

Once she moved to Curtis Park, she went directly to Society for the Blind. She was fortunate to know about the organization because her family lived in the area and she would pass by the office. Yet she had no idea how Society for the Blind’s Senior IMPACT Project would change her perspective on her vision – and on her life.

During the weeklong Senior IMPACT Project retreat, Debra learned basic living skills such as how to cook, navigate streets using a white cane, use public transportation, shop and organize money in her wallet, and use talking gadgets like a labeler.

“I must say, that retreat changed my life,” Debra said. “It opened the doors to new possibilities when I saw how the instructors lived their lives so independently despite vision challenges. They gave me a lot of support and I started to develop my confidence and become hopeful for my future.”

A key moment for Debra was when she purchased a pair of high-heeled shoes to wear to her latest high school reunion this past October.

“I had developed some mobility skills with my cane, and I was determined to go,” she said. “I walked in with my cane and high heels and was greeted so warmly by everyone there. I danced and had a fantastic time, and I reconnected with people I had not seen in more than 40 years.”

At one point, someone at the reunion commented that her vision loss was a tragedy, and Debra admits to giggling and explaining that vision loss is a challenge and inconvenience, but definitely not a tragedy.

Debra and her high school friends have continued to get together regularly since the reunion, often gathering for lunch or parties. One night they even went out to clubs and laughed and reminisced the whole time. She has spent a significant amount of time and energy restoring her Frank “Squeaky” Williams home and beginning advanced classes at Society for the Blind so she can work again as a health care administrator. She also volunteers at Society for the Blind as a mentor in the Senior IMPACT Project and at community outreach events.

“I feel like I have back everything I had lost after starting to lose my vision,” she said. “All those feelings of despair, isolation and fear are gone. Society for the Blind gave that to me – they’re like my family. I’m exhausted now, but it’s fantastic because it means I have a full, rich life.”

 

 

 

Society for the Blind: Meet Paul Gray

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Paul Gray started losing his vision at age 16, but that didn’t stop him from being named Junior Prom King. In fact, the born athlete remembers his whole football team getting into trouble together at the hospital as he was dealing with his diagnosis. He also remembers being the “fun blind guy at the party,” and his friends playing good-natured pranks on him.

“My mom and dad are tough folks and taught me I had to get over it,” Paul said. “I could dwell on it and waste life or I could learn to move on and figure it out. So I kept my sense of humor and my friends kept taking me to parties. I continued to play football, baseball and basketball as long as I could.”

Paul was born with a genetic disease called Leber hereditary optic neuropathy that normally begins affecting men’s central vision when they are in their 40s and 50s. Women carry the gene, but only men experience the vision loss and cannot pass on the gene. Doctors believe Paul began losing his vision at such a young age because he underwent chemotherapy for a year and a half at age 11 to beat cancer and that stress triggered the disease to kick in.

“We had no idea this gene was in our family,” Paul said. “Now we know all of my brothers have it, but they can still see.”

Paul remembers playing basketball one day as a junior in high school and he couldn’t see a player’s jersey number. The next week he couldn’t see the scoreboard. The following week, he started missing the ball. He thought it was wind or sweat in his eye – or a football injury. Many tests later, Paul realized he would never be able to go to college on a sports scholarship as he had planned.

“At that point, I realized something I was passionate about had been taken from me, but I’m such a positive person that I believed it would get fixed eventually,” Paul said. “My family and friends really helped me with that transition. I still worried about all of the things I had taken for granted, though, like being able to play catch with my son and support a family.”

But he found a way to pour his passion into athleticism – he moved to San Diego and became a certified personal trainer, building a successful business doing boot camps on the beach. Eventually he made his way to Oregon where he met his wife and then they moved back to Sacramento.

He knew building a personal training business would be much more difficult in the Sacramento area than in San Diego, but he was determined to find a career that he was passionate about. So he began taking classes at Society for the Blind, and his instructors noticed he had a talent for working with technology and computers. He volunteered for seven months and one day walked into the office and asked what he would have to do to work for Society for the Blind.

Paul is now Coordinator for Society for the Blind’s Access News program, which provides information, news, entertainment and reading material to the blind through the telephone. People who are blind can call up and listen to recorded articles, stories or information through their telephone anytime, any day of the week. Volunteers come into Society for the Blind’s recording booths to record themselves reading newspapers, grocery ads, magazines and more, and callers can choose from a menu of options.

“I like seeing people able to do things they couldn’t do before,” Paul said. “Technology is so great right now for blind people. When I first started losing my sight, they had these horrible tapes. Now we have iPhones that talk and can download books, and we have mobile GPS systems for walking directions. There’s a lot out there to help people have new experiences – and to give them hope that they can do anything.”

When he isn’t coordinating the Access News program, Paul teaches mobility skills to people who come to Society for the Blind – walking three to four miles a day. He also teaches computer training and is in school at the Assistive Technology Institute, where he will graduate in August.

“People change and things happen, and you can either make it a good thing or a bad thing,” Paul said. “I definitely have a very happy life. I think I was meant to be blind to encourage and help other blind people. Just because you lose your vision doesn’t mean you stop living your life. There is so much blind people can do, it’s incredible. You just have to do it another way.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1,000 Volunteers Needed for United Way’s Day of Caring

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United Way's Day of Caring

A thousand volunteers are needed to spend one day caring for the community on Sept. 11 by signing up for one of 37 volunteer projects happening across the region on United Way’s 3rd Annual Day of Caring, sponsored by Nationwide. The event, which kicks off the fall fundraising campaign, will start at 8 a.m. with a breakfast and rally at Cal Expo. Volunteer projects will begin at 9:30 a.m. To sign up: http://www.yourlocalunitedway.org/dayofcaring.

“This is what United Way does best – bringing together companies, volunteers, nonprofits and more to make a collective impact in our community,” said Stephanie McLemore Bray, United Way president and CEO. “This high-energy day has grown each year because people like having an opportunity to dig their hands in and care for their community.”

Last year, 662 volunteers completed 32 volunteer activities across five counties. Many of the participating nonprofits have expressed gratitude for the help volunteers bring on the annual Day of Caring.

“United Way has been a wonderful community partner for us throughout the years,” said Suzzanne Castaneda, public relations representative for nonprofit Atkinson Family Services. “We have made lasting relationships with the volunteers we get on Day of Caring. Many have continued to help up make a difference in the lives of our foster youth and our community long after Day of Caring is over.”

For more than 90 years, United Way California Capital Region has brought people together as first responders on needs in the Sacramento region and changed the lives of hundreds of children, families and adults. Now United Way is mobilizing nonprofits, companies, schools, government and individuals across the region, state and country to make a collective impact in the areas of education, financial stability and health in Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties. To donate or volunteer, visit www.yourlocalunitedway.org.

Sponsors Needed for Sacramento Life Center Dinner

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Sacramento Life Center Salute to Life Dinner and Auction

More than 600 local residents will celebrate the Sacramento Life Center’s free medical care, counseling and education for pregnant women and teens at the organization’s annual Salute to Life Dinner and Auction on Nov. 14. The event, which is seeking sponsors, will begin at 5 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Ballroom in Sacramento and will include a gourmet dinner, auction packages, raffle baskets and stories of people who have received help from the Sacramento Life Center this year. For information on sponsorship opportunities and to purchase tickets, visit www.saclife.org.

“This event is our largest fundraiser of the year and helps us continue to expand our reach and services to ensure low-income women and teens who are pregnant have the resources and support system they need to become amazing mothers to healthy babies,” said Marie Leatherby, executive director, Sacramento Life Center.

The Sacramento Life Center’s mission is to offer compassion, support, resources and free medical care to women and couples facing an unplanned or unsupported pregnancy. The Sacramento Life Center’s licensed Sac Valley Pregnancy Clinic includes a primary clinic and two Mobile Medical Clinics that provide all services for free, including pregnancy tests, STD tests, ultrasounds, counseling for men and women, education and resource referrals. The nonprofit also offers a school-based teen education program, a 24-hour hotline and a program for women seeking support after having an abortion. For more information about the Sacramento Life Center’s Sac Valley Pregnancy Clinic, visit www.svpclinic.com. For more information about the Sacramento Life Center or to make a donation, visit www.saclife.org.

24 Local Nonprofits and Schools Honored by Intel Folsom

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Intel honors United Way at its Intel Involved Celebration

Bringing together hundreds of employees with dozens of local nonprofits and schools where they have volunteered, Intel held its annual celebration of its Intel Involved Matching Grant Program on Monday. Five hundred fifty Intel employees gathered with 24 local nonprofits and schools to celebrate the program that combines financial and volunteer support. When employees volunteer with schools and nonprofits, their volunteer hours are matched with dollars from Intel.

“One of Intel’s objectives is to be an asset to our site communities,” according to Intel Director of Regional Public Affairs, Jonathan Williams. “Nothing exemplifies that more than the thousands of Intel volunteers who support schools and nonprofits across the Folsom-Sacramento area. I am so proud of our volunteers for both the amazing work they do and longstanding relationships they have developed with education and community leaders across this region.”

The event included check presentations to local nonprofits and school districts, prizes and a tour of Intel’s Innovation Center and lab facilities. In 2014, more than 3,000 Intel Folsom employees participated in the Intel Involved program – more than half of the employee population. They donated more than 240,000 volunteer hours to local nonprofits and schools that resulted in matching grants totaling nearly $2 million, including $216,755 to Folsom Cordova Unified School District and $193,570 to San Juan Unified School District.

“There’s a reason Intel is the top member of United Way’s Million Dollar Giving Club,” said Stephanie Bray, president and CEO, United Way California Capital Region. “Their generosity in the community is unparalleled, and it’s great for employee morale and business that Intel gives to organizations that its employees care deeply about. This is a model program for giving, and we are grateful to be a recipient.”

The Intel Involved Matching Grant Program aims to recognize and motivate Intel employees, globally, to engage in outreach and volunteerism to make communities a better place to live, work and play. Its objective is to support employees giving their time and talent to qualified nonprofits, non-governmental organizations and schools. After a minimum of 20 hours has been accrued by Intel employees volunteering at a school or qualified nonprofit, a donation match grant of $10 per hour volunteered is triggered from the Intel Foundation with a maximum of $15,000 per school and $10,000 per nonprofit each year.

For more than 90 years, United Way California Capital Region has brought together nonprofits, businesses, donors, volunteers, community leaders and more to meet the community’s greatest needs, give immediate aid and find lasting solutions for future generations. United Way mobilizes members of the community to be first responders in repairing the education level, financial stability and health of everyone in Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties through donation and volunteer opportunities. To donate or volunteer, visit www.yourlocalunitedway.org.

Local Medical Group Fills 100 Baby Baskets for New Moms

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Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society Alliance presents check to Sacramento Life Center

Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society Alliance has awarded a $5,000 grant to the Sacramento Life Center to fill 100 baby baskets for low-income new moms in the Sacramento area. Baskets are filled with needed items including formula, diapers, newborn clothes, pacifiers and more, and are given to every Sacramento Life Center patient after her baby is born.

“We want to encourage women and teen girls and their partners that they are capable of caring for a child, and we understand the hurdles that they often face – sometimes as simple as wondering if they will be able to afford diapers,” said Marie Leatherby, executive director, Sacramento Life Center. “We are grateful to the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society Alliance for this grant that will give new moms a boost of confidence and needed supplies.”

Monetary donations and new items for baby baskets are accepted year-round. For more information, visit www.saclife.org.

“We are so privileged to be able to provide this grant to such a wonderful organization,” said Kim Majetich, president, Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society Alliance.

The Sacramento Life Center’s mission is to offer compassion, support, resources and free medical care to women and couples facing an unplanned or unsupported pregnancy. The center’s licensed Sac Valley Pregnancy Clinic includes a primary clinic and two mobile clinics, all providing free services including pregnancy tests, STD tests, ultrasounds, counseling for men and women, education and resource referrals. The Sacramento Life Center also offers a school-based teen education program, a 24-hour hotline and a program for women seeking support after having an abortion. For more information about the Sacramento Life Center’s Sac Valley Pregnancy Clinic, visit www.svpclinic.com. For more information about the Sacramento Life Center or to make a donation, visit www.saclife.org.

The Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society Alliance is a nonprofit dedicated to improving the quality of health in the community through education, funding and volunteer support. The group has contributed to the well-being of the community for more than 80 years, granting more than half a million dollars to community organizations throughout the Sacramento region. The alliance also contributes thousands of dollars annually to support medical school and nursing scholarships. Alliance membership is composed of physicians, medical students, staff, spouses and domestic partners. For more information or to make a donation, visit www.ssvmsa.org.

 

Society for the Blind: Meet Aser Tolentino

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Aser Tolentino

Aser Tolentino just collected his first ever paycheck. After years of law school and volunteer legal positions, he thought his first paycheck would be from a district attorney’s office, but when his vision became so bad he couldn’t read the computer, the Natomas resident knew it would be awhile before he would receive paid employment.

Though Aser was born legally blind due to glaucoma and congenital eye conditions, he still had some vision through law school and played a lot of video games as a kid.

“It was fun while it lasted,” he joked. “After all, they’re never going to make another Super Nintendo.”

Through his teen years and undergraduate career at UC Davis, he could see well enough to walk around campus and read large print font. He experienced a gradual decline through law school and lost his right eye in the middle of his worst semester in fall 2009. He was volunteering for the Yolo County district attorney’s office and his eye started hurting terribly. It would be three weeks before they could remove the eye and relieve the pain.

“I still got a 4.0 that semester,” Aser said laughing. “When I came back, a lot of my friends gave me notes from classes I had missed and told me about upcoming study sessions. We’d always been really good about helping each other with group study, but they really picked me up and carried me that last bit. That actually ended up being the high point of my academic career.”

After he graduated from UC Davis Law School in the top 5 percent of his class, passed the bar exam and had been volunteering with the deputy district attorney’s office in Placer County for a year, he walked into work one day and realized he couldn’t read his computer. That started a year of biweekly doctor’s visits to discover what was going wrong. In the span of a year, Aser had cataract surgery and two corneal transplants, but nothing was working.

“I cried like a baby a few times when I started losing my vision,” he said. “I was intellectually prepared for my vision to get worse, but not emotionally. It was a shock.”

Aser had already been concerned about what life after law school would be like. He knew there were quite a few blind prosecutors, but most became blind after practicing for many years. Very few entered the field with visual impairments, and those that did, did not live in the area. As his vision was getting worse, he also realized he did not have solid answers to interview questions about how he would get around his visual impairment.

“To be honest, you’ve got a guy who’s top 5 percent of his law school who can’t see and one who can, you might be more inclined to pick the one that can see,” Aser said.

He began to isolate himself, spending time online. In 2013, he read 150 books. When he couldn’t take the isolation anymore, he began making friends online through role-playing games and met his girlfriend on Twitter.

He also started searching for jobs and started with training. Fortunately, he had received some adaptive aids from Society for the Blind as a teen, so he knew right where to go. In July 2014, he began mobility training, and in October, he began taking Society for the Blind’s assistive technology classes – an area in which he had always been interested. Sometimes he would assist the instructor by helping another student. When his course was completed, Aser was asked to become a volunteer teaching assistant. In April 2015, he was hired as an Assistive Technology Instructor at Society for the Blind.

“If there’s one thing you learn as a lawyer, it’s to think on your feet,” Aser said. “With assistive technology, things don’t always work the first, second or third time so you have to come at it from different angles and use novel solutions.”

Recently, Aser helped a woman find a specific book through the National Library Service’s Braille and Audio Reading Download program. He wondered why she wanted to read the book so badly and then learned it was because she was in the middle of the book when she lost her sight. She wanted to see how it ended.

“Making these services accessible to people who are blind goes beyond simple communication and access to information, although those are vitally important,” Aser said. “But they also provide the ability to live your life the way you want to. That’s what I find most appealing about this field.”

He says one day he may go back into the legal field, but if he does, it will be to work in disability advocacy, an area he studied for about 10 weeks in law school through an internship in Berkeley. He now feels equipped with the right assistive technology to compete in the field. For now, he’s happy to be collecting a paycheck doing something he loves that he knows makes a difference in people’s lives.

“I loved my job to death as a prosecutor, but there were some days I didn’t feel so good about society,” Aser said. “I don’t have to do that in this job. Helping people in this job, I get to go home really happy knowing I helped someone reach out and touch the world in a way that’s personally fulfilling.”

 

Society for the Blind: Meet the Sekoras

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Lynda Sekora knew she was losing some of her vision, but the night she realized she couldn’t read her insulin pump anymore, the Orland resident sank into a deep depression.

“I cried all through dinner,” Lynda said. “I flat had a nervous breakdown and quit living. I spent my days watching stupid TV shows and would have welcomed death.”

Due to a lifetime of Type 1 diabetes, Lynda was blind in one eye and had macular degeneration and glaucoma in the other.

As her husband, Palmer, watched her sink further and further into anxiety and depression throughout 2012, he knew something had to be done. Lynda’s ophthalmologist in Chico did not know any place that could provide resources, so Palmer began digging through the phone book and newspapers. He wanted to do anything to help Lynda feel better – she had always been such an independent person. But he kept hitting dead ends.

Meanwhile, Lynda began seeing a therapist and taking anxiety medication, but nothing was helping her realize that life could go on.

Then Palmer came across Society for the Blind, and one of the instructors came to their house to visit with them. They described her as a “big ray of sunshine.” She told them about Society for the Blind’s Senior IMPACT Project that starts with a weeklong retreat. Though the retreat is geared toward the person losing vision, Palmer decided to participate alongside his wife so he would understand her experience.

During the training, Lynda and Palmer learned to cook using real knives and a real stove. They learned how to navigate streets using a white cane, shop and know which bills they were using, thread a needle, read braille and use talking gadgets like a labeler.

“We spent a week in that program with those wonderful positive people and their can-do spirit,” Lynda said. “They showed me that there is life after blindness – that I could do anything I wanted to, I just would have to do it a different way. When we left, we were walking on cloud nine.”

After the retreat, Lynda’s depression lifted. Her counselor was so impressed that she decided Lynda didn’t need her anymore. She also began weaning off the anxiety medication. Three years later, Lynda is proud that she can cook, tend her house, go out to dinner, go on trips and have lunch with her friends. Palmer manages her insulin pump, but Lynda makes all of the decisions regarding her care. They credit this transformation to the retreat at Society for the Blind.

“Everyone hits the lows,” Palmer said, “But it’s how you deal with it that determines whether you’re going to be happy. Many of the Society for the Blind instructors have a family and travel, and one even rock climbs! They teach you that the only limitations are those that you place upon yourself.”

Since the retreat, Lynda and Palmer have attended a few of Society for the Blind’s workshops for seniors including yoga, exercise and self-defense.

Because of their own experience searching desperately to find help, the Sekoras now volunteer at expos around the Sacramento area, distributing information and talking about Society for the Blind so that others will never have to experience the same isolation.

“For us, this experience was like wandering in the wilderness and finding your way out and realizing you’re not alone anymore,” Palmer said. “At Society for the Blind, it’s a person-to-person effort, and that’s what makes it so worthwhile and effective. When you can meet someone who has experienced what you’ve been through and is living his or her life fully, you say to yourself, I think I can do that too.”

 

 

 

 

 

Tickets on sale for Women’s Empowerment’s annual Gala

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Women's Empowerment Gala

Community members are invited to the 14th Annual Celebration of Independence Gala that benefits Women’s Empowerment, a local nonprofit job training and empowerment program for women who are homeless and their children. The event, which raises funds for the organization and honors the group’s 1,223 graduates, will take place 5:30-8:30 p.m. on May 14 at the Red Lion Woodlake Hotel, 500 Leisure Lane, Sacramento. Guests will mingle with graduates from the program and enjoy a formal dinner, live and silent auctions, live music and presentations from the graduates.

Tickets are $100. Those who cannot attend, or wish to contribute more, can sponsor a graduate to attend the event. For tickets and sponsorship opportunities, call (916) 669-2307 or visit www.womens-empowerment.org.

“Not only is this event an opportunity to celebrate the growing number of women who are overcoming homelessness each year, but it’s our largest fundraiser and a chance to bring our entire community together to help end homelessness one woman – one family – at a time,” said Lisa Culp, executive director.”

Women’s Empowerment offers the most comprehensive job-readiness program in the Sacramento area designed specifically for women who are homeless and their children. The 2014 Organization of the Year has graduated 1,223 homeless women and their 2,648 children. Last year, 89 percent of graduates found homes and 88 percent found jobs or enrolled in school or training. The program combines self-esteem courses, job training, health classes and support services to help homeless women across diverse ages, races and cultures. Women’s Empowerment is funded solely through private donations from the community. To donate online: www.womens-empowerment.org.

Women’s Empowerment receives $10K from Long Foundation

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The Joseph & Vera Long Foundation has donated $10,000 to help homeless women in Sacramento improve their health so they can find homes and jobs to support their families through Women’s Empowerment’s comprehensive program.

“Breaking the cycle of homelessness requires more than a house or job, and Women’s Empowerment has recognized that from day one,” said Lisa Culp, executive director, Women’s Empowerment. “A multi-pronged approach is critical to address the root causes of homelessness so women can meet their families’ basic needs, such as food, shelter and clothing. Through health programs and job-readiness training, formerly homeless mothers can become healthy, successful employees who provide a stable life for themselves and their children, ending homelessness for good. We are grateful to the Joseph & Vera Long Foundation for recognizing the important role health plays in ending homelessness.”

At Women’s Empowerment, 75 percent of women in the program have experienced family and domestic violence, 69 percent struggle with drug and alcohol recovery and 59 percent have a mental health diagnosis. Other health-related problems include clinical depression, high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes and more. Their children are twice as likely to experience stress, illness and developmental delays.

Women’s Empowerment provides education on women’s health, nutrition, family violence prevention and relapse prevention. They provide access to health care, including eye exams and glasses, onsite HIV testing and counseling, dental care, office visits and care from a private physician, child development assessments, yoga, fitness, nutrition, wellness and recovery groups and more. Social workers also provide counseling and advocacy for women, helping them apply for health benefits and coverage for which they are eligible.

Women’s Empowerment also partners with nonprofits and private dentists, physicians and nurses to help women address their health issues and begin preventative measures. Women are taught self-breast exams and receive pap smears and breast exams. Classes on mental health issues are provided by a licensed clinical social worker. Women are assisted in filling out forms to access services such as mammograms.

Women’s Empowerment offers the most comprehensive job-readiness program in the Sacramento area designed specifically for women who are homeless and their children. The 2014 Organization of the Year has graduated 1,201 homeless women and their 2,600 children. Last year, 89 percent of graduates found homes and 88 percent found jobs or enrolled in school or training. The program combines self-esteem courses, job training, health classes and support services to help homeless women across diverse ages, races and cultures. Women’s Empowerment is funded solely through private donations from the community. To donate online: www.womens-empowerment.org.

The Joseph & Vera Long Foundation seeks to improve the health and well-being of the residents of Northern California and Hawaii. They aim to make a difference by providing financial support to organizations that provide needed health support services, advance patient care and medical treatment through research and innovation, and improve the quality of life of those afflicted by life-limiting disease or conditions. For more information, visit www.jvlf.org.