Visually impaired advocated for the Greater Berks of the National Federation of the Blind at a concert Feb. 8 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Fleetwood.
Topton musician Jim Meck, pianist and vocalist, and saxophone player Glenn Hofmann, Orefield, provided a variety of classical, country, jazz, rock, as well as original pieces from Meck’s CD.
Guest musicians that joined them on stage included Jeff Halbert, Allentown; percussionist, Terry Bollinger, Topton; bass and vocal, and Jonathan Quier, Kutztown; drums and vocal.
Meck, board president for the Greater Berks Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind, hopes to spread awareness for the newly formed chapter and gather support.
“Reaching out to people is an opportunity to teach them about the organization and tell them what it’s about,” said Meck. “We’re going to gather members and support. Obviously we need people to make the organization work. Because it’s our organization, it’s not somebody doing things for the blind, it’s of the blind, and so the more people we have involved the more things we can do.”
Sandy Bender, Oley, and Grace Bohn, Fleetwood, said they thought Meck’s cause was wonderful. Bender said she was familiar with Meck’s music from when he played at the Market Cafe in Topton.
“It was wonderful. He’s fantastic,” said Bohn.
“And so was that Hofmann; oh my gosh,” said Sandy. “He is really talented.”
The two friends both agreed that they would help Meck’s cause with donations.
Peggy Seitzinger, Shartlesville, said the concert was fantastic. As a member of the Lions Club in Shartlesville, Seitzinger said she wants to try to have Meck attend one of their events. She added that special guest musician, Roy McCutcheon, had participated in one of their fundraisers in October.
Janet Swoyer, Fleetwood, thinks more of this music would be nice to help spread awareness.
“Let people know what blind people can do,” said Swoyer. “You don’t have to be sightful to be able to do this stuff so that’s kind of neat.”
“The concert blew me away and showcasing the gifts of the people with visual impairment to show the whole county how gifted they are and they’re not disabled; they just do things in a different way,” said Karen Chandler, Windsor Township, secretary for the board of directors of the Greater Berks NFB. “We are going to work very hard on awareness for everybody, children up to adults. They need to see what blind people are actually able to do and we’re going to be out and about and we’re going to get in a lot of places just to help people to understand.”
Chandler said she thinks it’s important for people to know that it’s not a disability. It’s about everybody needs help with something and they just need help with different things. She said it’s about everybody working together.
“The highlight for me personally is getting the message across that we can have fun, we can bring fun amongst the members of the group, we enjoy playing with each other, we’ll express the passion of the music, having a good experience and a wonderful day,” said Hofmann.
Bollinger said, “Just playing with this caliber of musician is awesome. It’s not like we sit for hours and hours and rehearse. Jimmy just starts throwing music out and we just start playing.”
“The music just flows. There’s an amazing connection. We’re all experienced musicians,” said Meck.
“We’ve been doing it for so long and we’re having a good time doing it together,” added Bollinger.
“One of the key things is we listen to each other and we enjoy what each other is doing and we try to help out each other,” said Hofmann.
“We’re friends off the stage as well. We’re not just business partners,” said Meck.
Meck wants people to know about the existence of the organization for people who are blind that there is a support system.
“There are a lot of people out there that are very isolated or they feel isolated because transportation is an issue so a lot of people just end up staying home and they don’t know where to go and they don’t know where to turn and we want to be one of those resources for them to be able to connect with each other and share what has worked for us,” said Meck.
Meck also hopes to gather financial support through awareness. He said a lot of people who are blind are not working and do not have a lot of resources financially. One of the biggest challenges they face is transportation. They need volunteer drivers, access to public transportation in Reading because there are costs involved with that. To take a cab or even a bus can be a strain on their finances. Meck said they want to work out solutions for the transportation issues.
“We’re going to be doing fundraisers, but certainly we’re going to try to have some events and even access any kind of grants that might be available,” said Meck.
Meck can see the organization growing with active involved members and reaching more people.
“I think it’s going to grow quite tremendously. We’re also looking at working with other groups such as Abilities in Motion and even effecting legislation in order to provide access for people with visual impairments and other disabilities,” said Meck.
Patricia Kutz, Pricetown, friend of Meck’s and a member of the Lions Club, said Helen Keller had challenged the Lions Club to be the lights of the blind. She had brought materials about the organizations, Leader Dog and Beacon Lodge. She said Lions Club would send applicants for special training out of the area because what was local wasn’t as extensive.
As a former special education teacher, Kutz feels you really need to be able to help yourself and you understand what you need where outsiders don’t know.
“Outsiders often want to tell you what you need and what to do and it’s not the right thing,” said Kutz.
Kutz said Meck’s endeavors are a wonderful thing because the Federation for the Blind is blind people, visually impaired people, supporting blind and visually impaired people.
For more information, follow the Greater Berks Chapter for the National Federation of the Blind on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BerksFederation.
