The Big Share is just around the corner on Tuesday, March 3! The Big Share is an annual online day of giving organized by Community Shares of Wisconsin (CSW) to benefit the Council and other Wisconsin nonprofits making a difference in their communities and across the state. The Council is a proud CSW member, and we collaborate regularly with other member organizations. Those collaborations include educational events like Birding by Ear, on which we partner with the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance; and our advocacy alliances with Disability Rights Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin. More than 80 CSW member organizations are participating in The Big Share this year, representing a wide range of important causes, from voting rights to healthy food systems to environmental protection and much more. Supporting the Council during The Big Share helps us continue building our capacity to meet the growing statewide demand for all our services.
“The Big Share is a marvelous opportunity to uplift the Council’s vision services, education and advocacy work to a broad audience, including people who may not be familiar with us,” says Executive Director Denise Jess. “It helps us expand our outreach and grow our community of donors.”
According to recent reports from VisionServe Alliance’s Big Data Project, there are about 135,500 Wisconsin adults (44,500 older adults age 65 and over and 91,000 working-age adults) who are blind or low vision. Those numbers are expected to increase dramatically over the next few decades. There is already a severe shortage of vision service professionals in the state, especially in rural areas. To meet this growing need, the Council must expand our ability to provide these services. Your support during The Big Share can help make that happen.
Noel Pearson of Madison has just started working with the Council. A longtime reader and sports fan, Noel says her vision has become blurry and she can no longer read her books or make out the score during games. Noel met with Certified Low Vision Therapist Amy Wurf of the Council. Amy connected Noel with the Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library to get a talking book player and showed her some lamps in the Council’s Sharper Vision Store that can help make her paper books more readable. “I’ve always loved detective stories, and one of the first things I found in the talking book library was a detective story. I’m so excited!” Noel says. “Amy was so nice to work with. We spoke for about an hour and I never felt rushed. I’m so grateful for all the services at the Council.”
Your gift to the Council during The Big Share allows us to help Noel and others experiencing vision loss continue participating in the activities they love and living their lives on their own terms. Our Big Share goal this year is to raise $10,000. You can learn more about this year’s Big Share campaign and even give early at TheBigShare.org/Organizations/Wisconsin-Council-Of-The-Blind-Visually-Impaired.