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Campaign Q & A
Q.
What are "Center Based
Services" and why are they important to vision
rehabilitation?
A.
Center based services are provided in our facility, using up-to-date
equipment in a
safe, controlled environment designed for
learning where teaching takes place in
groups or individually. One example is a kitchen area that
is fully adapted for a
vision disability (and other disabilities) with both a gas and electric stove.
Center
based services allow for intensive training in the specialized skills needed to cope
with a
vision disability.
Very often, people with a vision disability do not get to meet
other people
with a vision disability. Center based services allow for
people to get
together, share solutions, remove a sense of isolation, and socialize in
addition to
learning great skills.
Q. There are organizations that assist people with disabilities already.
Why do we
need A.V.R.E.?
A. Great question!
A.V.R.E. is the only organization in this area that specializes in
vision rehabilitation and employment.
The skills, techniques, equipment, and other
solutions used by visually impaired people are
different, and sometimes conflict
with those important to people with other disabilities.
A.V.R.E. staff is qualified by
education, training and professional
certification to assist visually impaired
individuals.
Q. I knew the old name, Blind Work Association. Why
did you change?
A. The old name served us well for over 50 years, but it did not reflect the
full range
of services we offer. This meant that a
lot of people who could have benefited
from our services did not do so. We were also often confused
with another great
organization in town and needed to establish our own identity more clearly.
Most
importantly, many consumers told us that our name needed to be update.
Q.
How will my financial support be used?
A.
First, your financial support will be directly applied to our project to
create a Center
of Excellence and not used to cover any expenses of
our Capital Campaign. Our
supporting Foundation has graciously offered to cover those
expenses. Most
importantly, you will help us meet our goals and create a community asset in which
the entire region can take pride.
Q.
What do you mean when you say services in our area are not equal to those
in
other upstate communities?
A. We have studied the specialized agencies that serve visually impaired people
in
Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, Syracuse, Utica, and
even White Plains and
Poughkeepsie. Of course, each has its differences, but they all have
"Center
based" services that provide exactly what we have laid out in our plan. The
visually
impaired residents of these other communities have that full continuum
of services that our friends,
relatives and neighbors (or us) do not.
Q.
How will A.V.R.E. pay for its operations once the new facility is
complete?
A.
A new facility will give us the space we need to expand our services and our
manufacturing business. Our real goals
are to double the number of people served
and double the number of blind or visually impaired
people employed. We can do
this by expanding our business operations into new product areas and
landing new
government and business customers. We will also have a whole range of new
services
that will attract more service consumers and create new income streams
from government and
private resources. A new building, exciting new services,
and showing we are meeting a
growing need should also help attract philanthropic
support from across our service territory.
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