How Many Ways Can You Go Blind?

Posted on 18/09/2024 by Grumpa Joe

When I asked my friend and fellow Lion that question, Optometrist Dr. Smith replied, “Probably 500, but I’m guessing it’s more like 1000.” That gives us a huge opportunity to serve the blind. As the blind-and-deaf Helen Keller challenged us in 1926 to become Knights of the Blind, she gave us something to work on. Back then, she was so far ahead of us in this topic that it was scary.  Thankfully, the Lions Club International decided to adopt blindness as a pillar of service. We have been striving to help blind people ever since.

Statistically, there are over 12 million people over the age of 40 in America who are classified with visual impairment. Out of that 12 million, over 1 million are legally blind.

Lions have been supportive since Helen Keller presented her challenge to us. For instance, we invented guide dogs and the white cane.

The World Health Organization (WHO) cites five causes of vision impairment and blindness:

1. refractive errors

2. cataract

3. diabetic retinopathy

4. glaucoma

5. age-related macular degeneration

Many more reasons are apparent, like accidents and disease, but there are too many to discuss now.

I am proposing a new way to serve the blind to Lions Clubs. Many newly diagnosed blind people are above the age of sixty. When they are struck with the diagnosis, they are devastated as they would be if they heard they had cancer. Older people have trouble adapting to the condition. The loss of independence is devastating. The loss of mobility combined with losing independence makes living stressful. Yet, people adapt, but often with a significant loss of personal dignity.

About thirty years ago, a young couple from the south suburbs of Chicago, both blind, decided to do something positive with their lives and formed a support group they called OASIS. They worked hard to turn their handicap into something positive. They figured they could help people get back into life even with the lemon they were handed. They met with a handful of vision-impaired individuals and led them in prayer and discussions about handling things that were hard for them. They used their personal experiences as a positive motivation to lead others to do the same thing: leading everyday life as good one can lead without sight.

Five years ago, the Frankfort Lions became aware of OASIS through our neighboring Mokena Lions Club. Together, we joined them by sending money to help them with their work. Since then, Kim and Joe Kuster, the originators of OASIS, have retired and moved to Tennessee to be near their grandchildren. This left the two clubs with a more significant opportunity to keep the organization going and self-supportive. It has been a full year since the Kusters left, and we are still in business and are growing in numbers.

We have learned that people with visual impairment, especially older ones, enjoy the company of people with the same affinity. They feel comfortable with each other, knowing they are not standing out as being different.

OASIS brings together a community of people in similar situations. They come with someone who can drive them and sit around a table with people they can talk to and share experiences with. A facilitator leads them in prayer and motivates them with ways to overcome hardships. Often, they lead the group to share how they handle situations.  The leader introduces them to items that make life easier, like large print calendars, talking clocks, and magnifiers. Every meeting is different from the one before. Lions serve a snack and kibitz with the attendees. They clean up and assist with a game if one is played. A favorite is bingo.

I am telling you this because OASIS is an instrumental and helpful organization within this community. I am sure you also have many people within your realm who could benefit from a vision-impaired support group. We would be happy to help you start a chapter within your club. If you wish to help but are not ambitious enough to begin your own OASIS chapter, you may want to assist OASIS in several ways.  Our most urgent need is for volunteer drivers who can adopt a visually impaired person to take them to and from OASIS meetings once each month. Our second largest need is money to run the meetings and expand services.

 You can donate to OASIS (a not-for-profit 501c3 organization) by clicking the OASIS website link below.

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OASIS, Support for Visually Impaired

Posted on 26/10/2023 by Grumpa Joe

A few years ago, I became acquainted with OASIS, a support group established by Joe and Kim Kuster. Both of them are legally blind. Joe has lost 100% of his vision, and his wife Kim was born with a condition that seriously reduced her vision. She can see, but only if she holds a document up to her face and thru a magnifying glass. Over twenty-five years ago, they decided to do something with their gift and established OASIS, a support group for people with vision loss.

Years later, they were introduced to the Frankfort Lions Club and gave a short program on their work. Back in the nineteen twenties, at one of the Lions’ first conventions, Helen Keller, both blind and deaf, gave a speech about living in a silent and dark world. She challenged the Lions to become Knights of the blind. The Lions accepted the challenge and have been doing so ever since. Our club is no different. Every year, we donate to causes assisting people who have vision loss. Sometimes, we give to the Leader Dog Foundation others, we send blind kids to a special camp. Every year we support our own Lions of Illinois Foundation whose sole purpose is to help the people of Illinois who have vision problems. We stand on street corners dodging cars with a bucket in our hands giving out rolls of spearment candy to anyone who donates; the money goes to Lions of Illinois Foundation.

So, when Joe and Kim came to us with their story, the Frankfort Lions became avid supporters of their group. At first, it was with a solitary donation. Later, some of our members went to their meetings and helped them with handouts, serving refreshments, and leading them to the restrooms. Over the past few years, the Frankfort Lions and the Mokena Lions have challenged each other to help OASIS with money and service.

Sadly, Joe and Kim decided to retire and move to Tennessee to be near their daughter and grandchildren. I am proud to say that the two Lions Clubs have opted to continue OASIS for the many members who rely on them for help. OASIS is not a part of the LIONS. It is a separate organization that supports people with vision loss. The Lions also help people with vision loss, so we are a happy marriage. I left my role as a member of the board of directors for the Frankfort Lions and joined the board of directors of OASIS.

I am still a Lion doing service to the community. I participate in the annual Winter Coat Drive, collecting coats from people who don’t need them and dispersing them to those who need them. This Saturday, I will participate in the Frankfort Police Department’s annual Trunk or Treats Halloween Parade and candy giveaway. Over two thousand kids will parade with their parents along a route of cars, trucks, and tents decorated in ghoulish skeletons, witches, zombies, and ghosts dragging their collection bags past a waiting monster Lion for a piece of candy. Lions have fun, too.

After the Halloween Parade, Lions begin their Holiday collections of money by standing in front of various local businesses, shaking our buckets, and looking for donations that we will spend on food for families within the community who are in desperate need.

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A Demon Inside Me

Posted on 11/11/2021 by Grumpa Joe

It was a bit chilly this rainy afternoon when I attended the OASIS monthly meeting. The theme today was “Being Thankful.” The Lions club turned out in healthy numbers and that was a good thing. Because there was a Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all the trimmings, it took a bunch of Lions to serve the meal to the twenty visually impaired people in attendance. For the second time this week, I ate a meal from Cup A Joes cafe. They were identical, and both were delicious, KETO be damned. I can feel the slippage away from a rigorous diet in my waist. I am mentally defeated and rapidly succumbing to the carbohydrate world of mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, bread-stuffing, pumpkin pie, and more. The only thing KETO on my plate was the turkey.

In my mind I am building a case of determination to get back to a rigorous KETO meal plan with 1500 calories per day. I will not buy new clothes to match my waist again.

The biggest challenge will be getting my breakfast back in control. Ever since I found KETO bread at the grocery I have been living carb high. The bread is certainly lower in carbs than normal sliced white bread, but two slices is just two grams away from the daily carb-limit of twenty.

Once I finally make up my mind to get off bread again the sweets will also fall off the plate. I’ll again be substituting berries for dessert. One reason I fell off the plan was a sudden distaste for eggs. Eggs are a staple for KETO breakfast plans. Hard boiled, scrambled, omelets, poached, after awhile the palette simply rejects eggs no matter how they are cooked or disguised. Another mistake I have made is to allow portion control to become a dirty phrase.

My, my how I have to get myself back into control once more. I will add one more thing before I sign off. It is a whole lot easier to gain weight than it is to lose it. With Thanksgiving right around the corner the temptation to gorge on carb-calories becomes a demon inside me.

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