COVID-19

The certificate has arrived! Of course, the winners of the 2021 Littleton Western Welcome Week Grand Parade were announced back in August, but now that we have that piece of paper we can’t help but crow a little!

And so we won first prize in the Group/School category! Hooray!

Was it the noisemakers? Was it the matching T-shirts? Was it the goofy object Gene wore on his head? Those probably all helped, but it was more likely the excitement and the sense of release as we shook our tamborines and maracas and chanted, “Who are we? CCB!” as we marched the parade route.

Last Friday's vaccination clinic here at the center was a huge success, and we want to give a huge shout-out to our partners, Vive Family Wellness, St. Benedict’s Health and Healing Ministry, and the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition for helping us make it possible for 29 people to get their first Moderna shot on May 14. The convenience was a big draw for staff, students and folks in the neighborhood to drop in, and that was the beauty of the event.

Sure the taco truck was outstanding, too. I mean, really outstanding!

The clinic for the second shot will be held on Friday, June 11 from 1 to 4 p.m.

We put this video together to serve as our report to the NFB of Colorado’s 2020 Virtual Convention October 29-31. We wanted to show the creativity of our staff and determination of our blind students of all ages to obtain the blindness skills that mean independence, which are necessary despite this pandemic. In fact, the importance of independence and blindness skills is even more critical than ever. Since filming and first showing this video, we have again moved our Independence Training Program (ITP) to be virtual until after the first of the year, while also discontinuing in-person (and socially-distanced) training sessions with our blind seniors. Clearly whether blind or sighted, resilience is a key to coping in 2020 and beyond. And resilience is something we at the Colorado Center for the Blind and in the National Federation of the Blind have some experience with.

https://youtu.be/TSU7-eTRrbo

Today Charis is graduating from the center. Hers will be a unique graduation, with the actual Freedom Bell ceremony and the “love session” that typically follows being conducted on Zoom for social distancing purposes. No hug from Julie.

Charis was just one week away from finishing her program when we closed the building in late March and many of our students went home. Graduation means, among other requirements, that she must cook a meal for the entire center. Today that’s about 30 of us altogether.

(Editor's Note: We don't blame you for wondering what is up with our summer programs for youth. The coronavirus and the subsequent shutdown orders put us into a scramble, affecting not only our youth programs, but seniors and the Independence Training Program, too. Here's an announcement from our Youth Services Director Martin Becerra-Miranda that should clear things up.)

by Martin Becerra-Miranda

Each spring, as plans for our Summer Youth programming come together, Executive Director Julie Deden eventually exclaims, “This is going to be the best summer program ever!” Her positivity, encouragement, and support have not wavered one bit through the COVID-19 pandemic.

You know, this pandemic shutdown has been going on for a minute. Especially if you are a student at the Colorado Center for the Blind, or someone waiting to come, or someone newly blind and trying to figure out how to do the simplest things you used to do now that you're blind, let alone how you can live the life you want. Our students' had their programs interrupted, some only a week or two from graduating. Prospective students who've been talking with Executive Director Julie Deden for months found their start dates paused indefinitely.