Vision loss can be devastating but you do not have to be alone. Meet friendly people who understand because they also live with low vision every day. We laugh, we cry, we help one another. Sometimes we gather together and discuss our eyes and how to live with low vision. Other meetings feature speakers (rehabilitation counselor, person with leader dog, computer expert, vendor of low vision equipme
nt). Still other meetings are social (picnic & Christmas Party). The Valparaiso Low Vision Support Group was born out of sadness and distress. Julia Young was losing vision due to macular degeneration and was naturally very depressed over her continuing loss. In order to provide needed comfort to Julia, Arnt Gerritsen suggested that visually impaired members of their Church, First United Methodist Church of Valparaiso, meet to discuss common visual impairments. Arnt had lost all vision in one eye and much of the vision in the other due to Central Vein Occlusion, a tragic side effect of one of his numerous cancer surgeries. Arnt’s wife, Mary, encouraged him to arrange such a meeting at their home. In May of 2002, approximately two dozen parishioners gathered for discussion. It was agreed that such open discussion was very helpful to everyone, so members of the Church and others were invited to the June meeting, this time at the Church. Sitting in a circle and discussing how one lives with a visual impairment seemed to work well. The former pastor of the Church, Rev. Ralph Steele, who had attended the first two meetings and who, himself, was legally blind, suggested that the church’s mission committee take these low vision meetings on as one of their projects. The committee suggested that Rev. Rhonda Kruse, Associate Pastor, be assigned to attend the meetings and work with these people and their life changing vision losses. Rhonda attended the group’s third meeting in July, 2002. It was in August that another Valparaiso resident, Verne Sanford, not a member of First United Methodist Church, legally blind from Choroideremia and Ocular Histoplasmosis Syndrome from age 7, heard about this newly formed low vision support group and was thrilled to attend. Arnt had run the first two meetings but willingly turned that responsibility over to Rev. Kruse, who ran the meetings for the next few months. Verne was retired from Valparaiso University and, because of innate curiosity, he read numerous newsletters and talking books in order to become well informed about eye diseases, treatments, research and how to live a successful, independent life with low vision. In a natural way, after about a year or so of sharing the leadership of meetings with Rhonda Kruse, Verne took over sole leadership of the Support Group. In order to learn more about running a support group, he completed two “distance” courses on Self-Help Groups from the Hadley School for the Blind. Rhonda saw another need in the Community so on May 12, 2003, we held our first low vision meeting at Whispering Pines Nursing Home (now known as Whispering Pines Health Care Center). These were morning meetings, once a month, while the meetings at First United Methodist Church were evening meetings. We settled in to a regular schedule of meetings, the second Tuesday of each month at the Church, 6:00-7:15, and at Whispering Pines the fourth Tuesday, 10:00-11:00. Over the years there have been few changes to this schedule: we now meet at Pines Village instead of Whispering Pines at 10am CST on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Though meeting times did not changed for many years, the program topics and speakers varied widely from month to month. Jumping all the way to 2008, on April 21, 2008 we were designated an Indiana nonprofit corporation by the Indiana Secretary of State and, on March 12, 2009, the Federal Internal Revenue Service designated us as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization (retroactive to April 21, 2008). As of May 7, 2009, we are also exempt from paying Indiana sales tax. Now that we are finally nonprofit and tax-exempt, our entire operation may change. We can raise funds, spend some of this money to educate the public about low vision, help fund a variety of low vision programs, help individuals purchase low vision aids, etc. Our History continues into the future! For more information call Valparaiso Low Vision Support Groups, Julia Young at 219-462-4340.
