Dining in the Dark

The Lions Club motto is “We Serve” and as you learn about their amazing event coming up on Thursday, April 10th at Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino, you will discover that they mean “serve” literally. The calendar pages are flipping so book your seats quickly.

Jodi Scanlon, a 20-year Lions Club member and coordinator of this event, explained that the evening is much more than a meal. The event, dubbed Dining In the Dark, features several booths which offer experiences in what it is like to navigate this world while totally blind or visually impaired. With limited or no sight, it suddenly becomes monumental to pour a glass of water, sign a check or get the key into the door lock. Imagine being sight impaired and sitting in a restaurant having been served a meal. Can you see shadows, movement or light and dark? Or do you experience total darkness? You will get to experience some of these things which will hopefully give you a better idea of the hurdles that sight impaired individuals must jump as they navigate with a white cane.

Naturally, the hope is that no one must experience sight impairment, but the goal is to open diners’ eyes to the everyday realities that sight impaired people face. One of the things you will see demonstrated and are invited to volunteer for is a program called Be My Eyes.

Be My Eyes was created to help people who are blind or low-vision. The app is made up of a global community of blind and low-vision people and sighted volunteers. Be My Eyes captures the power of technology and human connection to bring sight to people with vision loss. Through a live video call, volunteers supply blind and low-vision users with visual assistance for tasks ranging from matching colors, to checking if the lights are on, to preparing dinner. The app is free to use and available on both iOS and Android. When the blind or low-vision user requests assistance through the app, Be My Eyes sends a notification to several volunteers. The app works by pairing the blind or low-vision user with a sighted volunteer based on language and time zone. The first volunteer to answer the request is connected to that specific user and receives live video feed from the rear-facing camera of the user’s smartphone. The audio connection allows the user and the volunteer to solve the task together. Example: The blind user will face the phone to a bus, or a street sign and request information about their surroundings. If this sounds like a way you can volunteer without consuming a lot of your time, download the Be My Eyes app from App Store or Google Play and sign up as a blind/low-vision user or as a sighted volunteer.

After cocktail hour and booth experiences, guests of Dining In the Dark will be seated for a meal, accompanied by live music. Salad will be served and eaten sighted, but guests will be blindfolded for the main course. Here’s where the bibs come out, because you will discover just how awkward it is to find the food, the salt/pepper and even your mouth! This is where “serving” comes into play. Lions volunteers will walk around the tables serving your meal and coaching you through eating it.

After the meal, Jessica Scanlon, who is legally blind and a Vision Rehab Therapist for the NYS Commission for the Blind, will give a short presentation. She will also explain how donations to events like this are what enabled the VIA (Visually Impaired Advancement) to provide her with the aids she needed at age 12 when her visual impairment was discovered.

Please remember to bring cash for the drawings. Tickets are $10 each or three for $25. Here is a peek at some of the amazing, generous prizes: Country Handcrafted Cabinet, 7 Nights of Dinner out, Lottery Tree, Large Wine Basket, 4 Tickets to Ellicottville’s Summer Music Festival, 2 Days Deluxe Cabin at Highbanks Campground, Golf Bag with gift certificate to 7 Irons Golf Simulator, Car Detail with oil change, OGIO Carryon Luggage Travel Set, and more. Prizes are given as the drawings proceed so plan to be there for the drawings. No prize will be worth less than $50

Funds generated by this event will help the Little Valley Lions Club continue their excellent work throughout the communities of Cattaraugus, Ellicottville, Little Valley and Salamanca. For tickets, reach out to the Lions on Facebook or call Schubert Enterprises at 716-938-9034 and ask for Jodi or Jordan. Tickets to Dining In the Dark are $65 each.

Dining in the Dark

Health & Fitness Fair

It’s a Western NY Thing