Take a stroll with me down memory lane, won’t you … It’s 1918: You’re driving your Model T to a Charlie Chaplin movie.
Your modern conveniences included toasters and zippers. Babe Ruth still played for the Boston Red Sox. And if you’re a woman, you still don’t have the right to vote.
And yet, a young, petite, blind woman named Arline Phillips gathered together a group of concerned citizens on Nov. 8, 1918, to begin The Greater Wilkes-Barre Association for the Blind, with the mission of “helping blind persons help themselves.” With meager beginnings, the agency at the time addressed providing people who were blind with employment opportunities in a workshop setting.
Now let’s fast forward 53 years, as you’re driving your Ford Pinto and listening to some tunes by Tony Orlando and Dawn, when another female pioneer changed the face of the organization by establishing the Preschool Vision Screening Program. By launching our Prevention of Blindness programming in 1971, Eilene Kaska made an indelible mark on both the agency and on hundreds of thousands of children through many decades in our region.
And here we are in the present day, known now as Northeast Sight Services, but still fulfilling the same vision and mission of Arline and Eilene by playing an integral role in helping individuals adjust to vision loss and live an entirely independent life in their homes, work, and community, as well as continuing to screen thousands of children and adults through our four-county service area each year.
We do all of this (and so much more) now, while preparing to celebrate our organization’s 100th birthday. We invite you to join us on Nov. 8 to pay tribute to the organization and those who have made it what it is today. Being held at the Woodlands Resort at 5:30 p.m., our Centennial Celebration will re-honor all of the amazing individuals and organizations that have been recognized at past awards event dinners. And while this is not a free event (all event details can be found on our website at www.northeastsight.org and all proceeds will benefit those we serve), we have no doubt that the evening will represent the history of the organization in the way it truly deserves.
If you can’t attend the event, please consider supporting the agency with a gift to its Centennial Challenge. In order to be here for another 100 years, we have almost reached our goal of $200,000. This amount, encompassing many generous gifts, will be used for many years to come – addressing the most pressing needs of those who are blind and visually impaired in the future.
As an organization, we feel so very fortunate to say that we have played such an important role in our local community for so many years – and couldn’t have done it without the community’s full support. Looking through old photos and newspaper clippings as we prepare for our Centennial Celebration has just reinforced the true importance of community and local involvement – and helps us to remember just how lucky we are to be here now and to continue the love and work of all those who came before us.
Here’s to another 100 years!