KEYSTONE BLIND ASSOCIATION
SERVING LAWRENCE COUNTY, THE SHENANGO VALLEY, GREENVILLE / NORTHERN MERCER COUNTY, GROVE CITY, WARREN (OH) / SOUTHERN TRUMBULL COUNTY, AND NORTHERN TRUMBULL COUNTY
AMOUNT DONATED: $0
Founded in 1947, Keystone Blind Association (KBA) has become a premier agency for blind and visually impaired individuals in Pennsylvania. KBA’s mission is to empower, educate, and employ individuals living with vision loss or other disabilities. Keystone provides a full array of services including Specialized Services, Rehabilitation Education, Orientation & Mobility, Prevention of Blindness, Assistive Technology Evaluation and Training, Children and Young Adult Services, as well as a Low Vision Clinic. Support services and skills training enable individuals who are visually impaired to live their lives as independently as possible, to reduce isolation and to avoid institutionalization.
Giving Week Progress:
FUNDRAISING GOAL: $8,000
Programs Supported by Your Donations
Transportation/Sighted Guide Program-
KBA provides transportation services to doctor’s offices, pharmacies, grocery stores, banking, and other locations, enabling people to live independently in their homes.
Life Skills/Rehabilitation- KBA provides instruction in adaptive techniques that enable visually impaired and blind persons to perform daily living tasks independently, including identifying/organizing money, medical management, and other self-care skills. KBA’s teaches kitchen/home safety, food preparation skills, labeling and organization, housekeeping, and home repairs.
Orientation and Mobility- KBA teaches clients how to navigate through their environment safely, effectively, and independently. Specialists instruct clients how to use a long cane, support cane, guide dog, or walker.
Low Vision Specialist- KBA has a low vision specialist, Dr. Paul Freeman, who sees clients in the Hermitage office and provides low-cost vision exams and vision rehabilitation therapy and equipment to our clients.
Access Technology- KBA offers access technology programs to help blind and visually impaired individuals learn how to navigate the Internet. KBA helps clients utilize visual supplementation technologies such as screen magnification and screen reader programs, optical character recognition, scan and read programs/devices, speech recognition programs, accessible personal data assistant devices, video magnifier devices, Braille translation programs, Braille embosser devices, and accessible mobile device apps.
Needs that Cannot beMet without Your Help
Demands that have been placed on our program would be finding drivers with part time hours, increased fuel costs, and the increased number of clients who need our services compared to the amount of staff available to serve them. Clients who need out of county transportation for medical appointments result in less drivers being available on a daily basis for local trips. Many of our drivers works with 3-4 clients per day and sometimes more if we can combine rides to similar places.
