The Massachusetts Association (MABVI) for the Blind and Visually Impaired was recently awarded a $45,000 grant from The Liberty Mutual Foundation, which is MABVI’s largest ever grant from the Foundation. This funding will support MABVI’s services for older adults with visual disabilities throughout Greater Boston.
For the past seven years, the Liberty Mutual Foundation has invested more than $180,000 in MABVI. The Foundation’s most recent grant will help MABVI expand comprehensive vision rehabilitation services to ensure that older adults living with blindness or low vision remain healthy and independent. MABVI’s services include in-home volunteer support, access technology training, and mental health services. READ MORE…
Brookline, MA – (July 2022) Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) announced it had received a $5,000 grant from the Catholic Health Foundation of Greater Boston to support services for older adults living with visual disabilities. More than 700 older adults with visual disabilities from throughout the Archdiocese of Boston will receive medical and support services that help them to live safe, healthy, and engaged lives in their community thanks to the support of this grant. READ MORE…
Brookline Patch | July 26, 2022
BROOKLINE, MA — MAB Community Services, a Brookline nonprofit that creates opportunities for individuals with a range of disabilities, has been awarded a $75,000 Open Door grant from The Boston Foundation. The grant will support the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired programs and services, one of MAB’s divisions. It is one of just 22 awards of its kind in this funding round and is awarded to exemplary Open Door applicants or grantees who align with one of The Boston Foundation’s field of interest funds.
“We are very grateful for The Boston Foundation’s partnership and investment in the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired,” Barbara Salisbury, CEO of MAB Community Services, said in a statement. “This grant will allow MABVI to expand services and ensure that healthy aging supports are available to the growing number of older adults in Greater Boston who are living with a visual disability. The Boston Foundation’s deep commitment to and leadership in ensuring equity and access for individuals with disabilities is invaluable.” READ MORE…
By Meghan Smith GBH News |June 24, 2022
The federal government this week announced a new initiative to deliver free at-home COVID tests for people who are blind or low-vision. People can now request the set of two tests through the USPS website. Since the beginning of the pandemic, advocates, including the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, have been calling on the government and test manufacturers to create more accessible at-home tests, a lifeline for people who are immunocompromised or especially vulnerable to COVID-19. READ MORE
Jerry Feliz, Director of the Access Technology Program, is interviewed by Valley Eye Radio, an online station that provides accessible local news to blind and visually impaired residents of Hampden County, the Springfield area, and Northampton and Greenfield. Listen Here
Brookline, MA (July 14, 2022) – MAB Community Services (MAB)has announced the election of Brookline resident Paul Saner to its Board of Directors. Saner recently has significant nonprofit, community, and business experience as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB). Saner was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) at the unusually young age of four and declared legally blind at thirty-six. Now totally blind, his lived experience, extensive leadership, and successful advocacy make him a uniquely qualified ambassador for Commonwealth residents with blindness and visual disabilities. READ MORE…
Brookline Patch | BROOKLINE, MA — Ivy Street School, a school in Brookline for neurodivergent youth, hosted a prom on June 2 for its students. During the prom, Ivy Street students had their caricatures drawn, took silly pictures with friends and teachers, worked on themed crafts, and participated in a baby animal petting zoo. According to the school, these activities provide safe and fun environments for students who find themselves less comfortable on the dance floor. READ MORE…
GBH Morning Edition | June 2, 2022 It’s prom season for schools across Massachusetts, and this year it’s a welcome release after pandemic restrictions, national tragedies and turbulence. For students at Ivy Street School in Brookline, their enchanted forest-themed prom happening tonight is especially exciting. The small school works with a diverse community of kids and young adults who are neurodivergent.
Natasha Kaufman, the school’s director of strategic initiatives, says that for many students at Ivy Street School, prom wasn’t always a good experience for them. “Often associated with prom for our students is this feeling of not belonging,” she told Morning Edition hosts Jeremy Siegel and Paris Alston. “Here we get to take back prom for all of our students. And we get to give them an event that’s designed for them.” READ MORE…
Brookline, MA – (June 1, 2022) The Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) has received $7,500 from the Community Foundation of North Central MA and the Nashoba Valley Healthcare fund. The purpose of the Nashoba Valley Healthcare Fund and Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts is to advance the community health of residents in thirteen communities, including Ashby, Ayer, Bolton, Dunstable, Groton, Harvard, Lancaster, Littleton, Lunenburg, Pepperell, Shirley, Townsend, and Westford.
The grant for MABVI will support rehabilitation services for older adults with visual disabilities. Programs include MABVI’s In-home vision rehabilitation occupational therapy services, Peer Empowerment Support Groups, Volunteer Services, Mental Health disability adjustment counseling, and Access Technology training delivered directly in the region. These services support older adults as they adjust to the onset of visual disabilities and eye diseases or degenerative eye conditions. These programs assist and adapt their environment for low vision, enable people to live safely in their homes, and manage their health and wellness on their terms. READ MORE…
Norfolk Wrentham News | May 1, 2022
The Franklin Senior Center will now be working with The Mass. Association for the Blind to run its low-vision program. The program and its services are available to blind and visually impaired seniors in Franklin and surrounding towns, including Norfolk and Wrentham. It is made possible through a grant from the Greater Milford Community Health Network (CHNA-6). This same program has been established and is successful in Natick, Brookline, Worcester, Pittsfield, and Harwich.
We laid a good foundation,” said Maggie Gundersen, Social Services Coordinator at Franklin Senior Center, who has been a coordinator for The Stella Jeon Assistive Technology Center, or “Low Vision Center,” for about five years, teaching seniors with vision loss about assistive technology there to help them. “We’d taken the program as far as we could, but what I’ve come to find is that with Mass. Association for the Blind has known all along, visually impaired individuals need to learn technology. Many are resistant, which is understandable, because they didn’t grow up with it, but if they don’t learn it they will get left behind.”
In March, the Franklin Senior Center welcomed Jerry Feliz, of the Mass. Association for the Blind, who will be an active participant in the new partnership, directly working with seniors who have vision loss. READ MORE..
Brookline Patch | April 11, 2022 BROOKLINE, MA — Dr. Temple Grandin, a leading activist, author, academic, and one of the most accomplished and well-known adults with autism, recently paid a visit to Ivy Street School, a school in Brookline for neurodivergent youth. During her visit, Grandin toured Ivy Street School, conversed with students, staff, and family members, and hosted a discussion of her most recent book, Navigating Autism: 9 Mindsets for Helping Kids on the Spectrum. During her visit to Boston, Grandin also participated in a speaking event and book signing at WBUR’s Cityspace, where she spoke on the topic of “Helping Different Kinds of Minds Solve Problems.” READ MORE…
Boston 25 News | April 7, 2022
Filling job openings can be a full-time job for many employers these days. It’s estimated two available positions exist for every person looking for a job. Those numbers are now creating opportunities for people with developmental or behavioral disabilities to gain employment. Sarah Barrett has a job stocking shelves at Polkadog in Jamaica Plain. “I like to be really organized. I don’t know what it is, but if there’s something messed up, I have to fix it.” Barrett is a student at the Ivy Street School in Brookline, which specializes in educating neurodivergent young people. Job opportunities for people with cognitive or behavioral disabilities have been historically few and far between. READ MORE…
Brookline, MA – (March 25, 2022) Today, MAB Community Services (MAB) announced the election of The Honorable Margaret R. Guzman to its Board of Directors. A lifelong Worcester resident, Judge Guzman will represent the organization in Central Massachusetts, where MAB operates seven group homes primarily for adults with traumatic brain injuries and serves blind and visually impaired adults. READ MORE…
Brookline Patch | BROOKLINE, MA — Dr. Temple Grandin, a leading activist, author, academic, and one of the most accomplished and well-known adults with autism, will be in Boston and visit Ivy Street School, a school in Brookline for neurodivergent youth, on March 17 and 18.
During her visit, Grandin will tour Ivy Street School, participate in a book discussion with parents on her most recent book Navigating Autism: 9 Mindsets for Helping Kids on the Spectrum and meet with students. READ MORE…
Brookline, MA – (February 14, 2022) MAB Community Services (MAB) is pleased to announce the appointment of Laura Alpert as Chief Advancement Officer. Laura brings a wealth of 25 years of experience in development, marketing, and communications for hospitals and nonprofit organizations, including Massachusetts General Hospital, The Dimock Center, Pine Street Inn, and United Way of the Greater Capital Region in Albany, New York. She most recently served as the Vice President of Philanthropy at Boston Arts Academy Foundation.
Laura will join MAB’s senior leadership team on February 14, 2022. She will lead a six-member Advancement and Communications team that increases awareness of MAB’s mission and impact, builds relationships, and secures support from private individual and institutional donors. The Advancement department also supports “Team With A Vision,” an international team of visually impaired runners, sighted guides, and volunteers who raise funds for MAB’s statewide vision rehabilitation services. READ MORE
Brookline, MA – (February 15, 2022) The Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) has received $250,000 from NextFifty Initiative, a Colorado-based foundation that supports efforts to improve the lives of older adults and their caregivers. This funding will allow MABVI to expand its services for older adults across Massachusetts with blindness and low vision and invest in innovative efforts such as MABVI’s Age-Friendly initiative and Access Technology Training Program.
Sassy Outwater-Wright, MABVI’s Executive Director, shared: “MABVI is incredibly proud to have been awarded a grant from NextFifty Initiative to support thousands of older adults in their journey through vision loss. Grants such as these are transformative – especially in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has exacerbated already-present obstacles for older adults with disabilities.” NextFifty’s investment will allow MABVI to have an even greater impact ̶ more older adults who are blind or have low vision will have the tools and resources to live healthy lives with confidence, autonomy, and increased social connectedness. Through statewide Age-friendly efforts, MABVI is also working with key state elder service agencies and five Gateway city partners to ensure that health equity and access to care is prioritized for every individual who is blind or has low vision. READ MORE
“We are knocking on every policy and activism door we, as a disability activism community, can get to in order to advocate for the accessibility of COVID resources and policies,” said Sassy Outwater-Wright, executive director of the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, which was founded in 1903 as the first U.S. social service agency dedicated to serving blind and low-vision people. Helen Keller was on its first advisory board.
Accessible at-home tests should be a top priority during this phase of the pandemic, she said. “Not all of us have a family member who can help, especially if we’re isolating with COVID.” …READ MORE
COMMONWEALTH MAGAZINE Op-Ed by Ivy Street School’s Executive Director, Brandon Cardet-Hernandez
Commonwealth Magazine | June 23, 2021 FOR A MOMENT, imagine you commute to work each day by train. A co-worker also commutes by train, but on a different line. Every day your co-worker arrives late, missing important meetings. You both live equidistant from the office and take the same mode of transport, yet you are always on time, while your co-worker is not. Now imagine you discover that your co-worker is late because of a train track in need of repair that requires the conductor to go slower at certain times. The system has failed your co-worker. And while this may upset you to learn of it, it doesn’t impact you directly. That is until the route you take develops the same problem. Now the system has failed you both. This story illustrates what the COVID-19 pandemic exposed about our education systems. For too many—primarily poor, Black and brown students, students living with special needs, and English language learners – the system had broken down long ago. READ MORE
WCVB TV | June 23, 2021,
BROOKLINE, Mass. —At the Ivy Street School in Brookline, prom was held celebrating the end of a difficult year. Like all students, those at Ivy Street had to deal with remote learning, isolation and pandemic-related anxiety….See video here
For the visually impaired, getting vaccinated has been a challenge NEWSY |April 01, 2021 – With a walking cane in one hand, Kyle Robidoux does his best to navigate the sidewalk in front of a vaccination clinic in Revere, Massachusetts, the 45-year-old first started losing his vision when he was a teenager.
For Robidoux, who is legally blind, arriving at any new location always offers its set of challenges. The first time an Uber dropped him off, he was a few blocks down the street. It took nearly 30 minutes to finally get back to where he needed to be.
“The lack of familiarity definitely increases anxiety,” explained Robidoux, who serves as the director of volunteer service and community planning for the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
In an effort to make sure vaccination sites are accessible to others who are visually impaired, he has been working with public health officials to eliminate any obstacles that may exist for those who can’t see. READ MORE…
City and MABVI Hold COVID-19 Vaccination Appointments Designated for Seniors With Vision Loss
Beacon Hill Times | The City of Boston recently partnered with the Massachusetts Association for the Blind, Visually Impaired (MABVI) to arrange for older adults with vision loss to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury. Fourteen individuals were vaccinated this afternoon through the coordinated effort by MABVI, the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), City of Boston’s Age Strong Commission and the Commission for Persons with Disabilities.
Boston is working with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to vaccinate residents against COVID-19. Following the State’s lead, the City is working to create equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine across all populations and neighborhoods in the city.
“We need to break down barriers that may prevent some individuals from getting vaccinated. I’m grateful for the partnership with MABVI to make today’s appointments happen as we work to ensure that all Bostonians have access to the vaccine when they’re eligible,” said Chief of Health and Human Services, Marty Martinez. READ MORE…
Innovate@BU announces community transit design winner, plan to increase transportation accessibility
BU Daily Free Press | February 2, 2021
Public transportation may be the engine of the city of Boston, but that doesn’t mean it works for everyone. Boston University student innovators are brainstorming how to expand the accessibility of public transportation, so the resource can truly be one for all.
Bus stop on Park Drive. Boston University student Sarah Hillesheim won the Innovate@BU Community Transit Design Challenge for her proposal to improve accessibility at bus and above-ground T stops.
Innovate@BU recently co-hosted a venture competition with Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Titled “Community Transit Design Challenge,” the competition invited students and alumni to design a trusted transportation system to tackle city traveling problems inhibiting rider accessibility. MORE…
BOSTON WBZ NewsRadio | November 5, 2021 — Massachusetts residents were asked to “be the eyes” for the blind one day a week. The Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) said they need more volunteers to match their waiting list of 150 people who need one-on-one aid with their daily tasks.
Alexandra Maggio, the Association’s Director of Volunteer Engagement, said to WBZ that volunteers spend one day a week lending their sight to the blind or visually impaired….READ MORE
WCVB TV | May 7, 2020 – “…A project called Food is Love underway it MAB Community Services is helping that to happen. Among other programs. MAB operates 20 group homes for people with different abilities. The crisis has been very hard on their staff and residents they’ve been unable to really go out probably since the week of St. Patrick’s Day, Liz Murray manages a MAB home in West Roxbury. She said her staff has really stepped up. “They’ve been super thorough about cleaning about wearing masks, but wearing their gloves washing their hands, the Board of Directors of MAB is now honoring that work in memory of Maxo Joseph, a staff member of 19 years. Who died of Coronavirus last month. “What he loved to do was to take care of the people on his house…he was also a fabulous cook, and always won the food competition at the annual picnic he was just all about the soul and the food and the happiness that food brings…” SEE MORE
Vice.com | April 9, 2021
Apr 9, 2020, 8:24 am Several times a day, I search for coronavirus updates online, an increasingly grim and unconscious habit I’ve adopted over the last few weeks from the confines of my New York City apartment. I’m met with a barrage of charts, infographics, and transcripts of news conferences. I’m able to grasp the harrowing reality we’re in with just a few clicks. But for the blind and visually impaired communities, information from the government and news sources remains largely inaccessible, and in the midst of a global pandemic, this isn’t merely an inconvenience, it’s fatal negligence… READ MORE
(CNN) Sassy Outwater-Wright has fought off cancer three times in the last 33 years, losing most of her eyesight to a rare form of the disease at the age of three. And now, at age 37, she’s fighting a fourth cancer — this time in her brain. As a result, Outwater-Wright is no stranger to navigating the byzantine corridors of the healthcare system, and sheguides others who’ve lost their sight in her role as executive director of the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. As someone who relies on touch to navigate the world, the potential threats to her existence have multiplied now that the novel coronavirus might be waiting on the next door knob or window sill. READ MORE…
High expectations and support for blind and low-vision people
Fifty Plus Advocate | April 30, 2020 – Amy Ruell was born in western Massachusetts about three months ahead of her due date. Ruell’s survival was a near-miracle, but the oxygen that saved her life destroyed the optic nerve. “My parents treated me as they would have treated any other child of theirs,” she recalled. As a result, “being blind was not a big deal.” Ruell’s brain learned how to navigate the physical world she could not see. “I walked to the school bus stop,” she reminisced. Using her fingers, she learned to read words written in raised dots (“Braille”). Using her intelligence and indomitable spirit, she graduated from high school and went on to earn degrees at Smith College and Simmons School of Social Work. She married, had two children and pursued a career as a social worker and advocate for blind people. READ MORE…
By Harmeet Kaur, CNN | August 8, 2020 MAB Board member and an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Boston University School of Medicine, Dr. Michelle Durham is quoted in this article.
(CNN)Michelle Obama recently revealed that because of the pandemic and racial injustice in the US, she has been experiencing low-grade depression.
For the former first lady — perhaps the most well-known Black woman in the world — to be so candid about her mental health is hugely significant, two psychiatrists told CNN.
“It allows other Black women and women of color to understand that we all can essentially not feel great,” said Dr. Michelle Durham, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Boston University School of Medicine. “It normalizes that mental illness can happen to anyone at any time, and that we can all struggle.” READ MORE
Ivy Street School Welcomes Brandon Cardet-Hernandez
Brookline, MA – (November 03, 2020) The Ivy Street School announced it has appointed Brandon Cardet-Hernandez as its new Executive Director. Brandon joins Ivy Street School with nearly twenty years of experience working in education, including serving as the Senior Education Policy Advisor for the Mayor’s Office of the City of New York and as the Principal of The Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters, a turnaround high school in the South Bronx. As Executive Director, Brandon will be responsible for outlining a clear vision for Ivy Street’s future as a preeminent school for youth with neurocognitive and neurodevelopmental disorders. Additional responsibilities will include increasing the visibility and community-wide understanding of the organization’s mission, goals, and activities and deepening the ongoing work of building an inclusive community for students. READ MORE…
Grafton Patch, December 19, 2019, GRAFTON, MA — A Grafton runner represented the Bay State at the finish line of a California marathon earlier this month. Chaz Davis finished first in the United States Association for Blind Athletes Championship at the California International Marathon in Sacramento, CA. Davis had a time of 2:43:11…In 2018, Davis ran the 122nd Boston Marathon where he finished 5th among 15 notable 2018 Boston Marathon finishers with a time of 2:56:22. Chaz ran as a member of Team With A Vision.
The group raises funds and awareness for the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) to promote greater involvement of visually impaired runners in the Boston Marathon.
Davis works for MABVI as an adjustment to vision loss counselor as well as the coordinator for Team With A Vision and United in Stride, a website that matches runners who are blind or visually impaired with sighted guides across North America. READ MORE
BROOKLINE, MA: The Brookline Community Foundation (BCF) awarded more than $335,000 in grants to 19 organizations through its 2019 Fall Community Grant Cycle.
These grants will support high-quality programs and organizations serving the diverse needs of Brookline residents and are strongly aligned with BCF’s strategic focus on reducing and eliminating the impacts of poverty, improving access to out-of-school time programs, and meeting the health and wellness needs of youth and other vulnerable community members,” said Gioia Perugini, BCF Vice President and Chair of the Program and Grants Committee…READ MORE
Sacramento, CA – (December 08, 2019) Chaz Davis, from Grafton, Massachusetts finished first at the United States Association for Blind Athletes (USABA) at the California International Marathon (CIM) with a finish time of 2:43:11. Chaz participated as part of the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) Championships.
The USABA Marathon National Championships are held at the California International Marathon. Since the CIM adopted the Visually Impaired Division in 2007, participation of visually impaired and blind runners has grown from 2 to nearly 70 participants. This year, the group of 70 blind runners and 40 guides included military veterans, local runners, international runners, and Paralympic athletes. …READ MORE
Brookline, MA, (October 1, 2019) – The Massachusetts Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired (MABVI) and Boston University Innovate@BU have announced a partnership to develop a challenge open to BU students and alumni to solve community transit problems that will benefit society at large–and particularly for seniors and the blind and low vision community.
The goal of the Community Transit Design Challenge is for Boston University students and alumni to develop and design new human-centered tools to improve transportation accessibility solutions for the aging and visually impaired communities, which will ultimately improve transportation for everyone while competing for a $10,000 grand prize. Ultimately, the challenge hopes to find solutions to help older adults who are losing their vision better connect to their communities.
“We each have a role in creating a more inclusive space for everyone to live and work and thrive, said Sassy Outwater-Wright, Executive Director of MABVI. “We have the duty to ask tomorrow’s designers, engineers, and social scientists to start thinking about that today and to start building smarter solutions. MABVI is proud to partner with BU to solve some of the most common problems facing older adults who are blind or have low vision. Accessibility in design today creates a more inclusive future.”
“Our students and alumni are no strangers to Boston’s public transportation challenges. We are thrilled that this collaboration will give our community the opportunity to view transportation challenges from another perspective and to use their expertise to build better, more accessible solutions for all,” said Gerry Fine, Executive Director of Innovate@BU. More info
PORTLAND, Ore. — There will be a first at the Hood to Coast relay this year: A full team of blind or visually impaired runners will take to the course. They will find their way with the help of running guides. The team is named “United in Stride Blind Runners” because the runners and guides come together through an online database on the United in Stride website. READ MORE
Woman’s Running, August 20, 2019 – Vivienne Hau fixes retinas by day; now, she’s co-captain of the first-ever visually impaired Hood to Coast Relay team.
On Friday, Hau—with Hunter—is leading the first team of visually impaired runners and guides at the Hood to Coast Relay, an overnight event in Oregon that starts at the base of Mt. Hood and finishes at Seaside. Twenty blind and sighted athletes will cram into two 15-passenger vans, taking turns running three to four legs each of the 199-mile course. Along the way, they’ll raise funds and awareness for United in Stride, the website Hunter developed that matches sighted runners and those in need of guides nationwide.
June 20, 2019 Tufts Health Plan Foundation today announced new community investments reflecting a commitment to a community approach for making our cities and towns great places to grow up and grow old. The nearly $1.9 million supports 15 nonprofit organizations working in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. MAB Community Services was awarded a three-year grant for $130,000 to integrate vision rehabilitation and care into healthy aging models through four pilot communities: Boston, Framingham, Lawrence and Springfield. READ MORE
Boston, MA – At their annual Volunteer Appreciation Celebration, held at Community Boating in Brighton on June 14, the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) recognized the Lions of Massachusetts as a Volunteer Community Partner for the Lions’ work in developing the Low Vision Rehabilitation Network (LOVRNET) in Massachusetts. READ MORE
WCVB TV – June 20, 2019
NEWTON, Mass. —A desire to help others resulted in a special relationship between a Belmont woman and a Newton family. It started nearly nine years ago, when Allie Dagg, who was in seventh grade at the time, found an opportunity to volunteer with the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, or MABVI. SEE MORE
Watertown’s Marshall Home Fund held its annual grant award ceremony on May 22, providing $75,000 to 16 local organizations that serve older adults. Through its grant making, MHF helps Watertown be an age-friendly community. The 2019 grantees of the Marshall Home Fund will provide programs and services that address many of these goals. Provide direct health, mental health, and social services for vulnerable individuals: Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired’s Technology Training for Seniors with Sight Loss… READ MORE
The Boston Globe – May 1, 2019
Blind since childhood, Sassy Outwater-Wright commutes every day on the MBTA, navigating a maze of turns, street crossings, tunnels, and train cars between her home in Salem and office in Brookline…“I need all of that information, and I need it in a few seconds. . . . This technology is able to help someone see with me,” said Outwater-Wright, director of the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired… READ MORE
The Hearst Foundations have announced that 76 grants valued at $15,975,000 have been awarded to deserving nonprofit organizations. The Foundations serve as a national philanthropic resource for cultural, educational, health and social service organizations and dedicate millions of dollars in grants quarterly…MAB Community Services, Brookline, MA: To support integrated care and interventions benefiting over 1,400 seniors… READ MORE
Brookline, MA, (April 22, 2019) – The Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) is pleased to announce it has received a $119,000 grant from The Gibney Family Foundation (TGFF). TGFF partners with organizations to develop sustainable resources that foster independence, primarily for those who are blind. The funds will support MABVI’s statewide volunteer program.
The grant, which will be distributed over the next three years, will enhance MABVI’s statewide volunteer program through which individuals who are blind or visually impaired are matched 1:1 with community volunteers who provide in-home support. Trained volunteers help older adults accomplish daily activities of their own choosing including wellness activities, technology support, reading print information, shopping for groceries, or serving as sighted guides at the gym―all of which foster autonomy and enable older adults to remain active in their communities. READ MORE
CBS Boston-Apr 15, 2019
… Flaherty, a visually impaired runner, will run her first Boston Marathon Monday to raise awareness for the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired…SEE MORE
BU News Service-Apr 15, 2019
BOSTON — …Last year, Hasting’s was contacted by the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) to run with Team With a Vision in the Boston Marathon. Team With a Vision is a program within MABVI that connects blind and sighted runners to support individuals throughout Massachusetts living with vision loss…
BROOKLINE, MA – The Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) has announced that Joe Walsh, MS, MEd of Adaptive Sports New England will receive the 2019 Kara Macdonald Aspire Award. The award was created to celebrate the life and work of the late Kara MacDonald, and her dedication to athletes with disabilities.
BROOKLINE, MA – Every runner who takes on the legendary Boston Marathon course faces a challenge, but few more than the members of Team With A Vision (TWAV), a group of blind and visually impaired runners (and their sighted guides) with a common cause: to raise funds and awareness for the visually impaired. The team, fielded by the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI), draws runners from around the world, the nation, and the region to show that with the right support, people who are visually impaired can do anything they set their minds to. This year’s team includes a number of notable competitors.
WCVB TV | May 7, 2020 – “…A project called Food is Love underway it MAB Community Services is helping that to happen. Among other programs. MAB operates 20 group homes for people with different abilities. The crisis has been very hard on their staff and residents they’ve been unable to really go out probably since the week of St. Patrick’s Day, Liz Murray manages a MAB home in West Roxbury. She said her staff has really stepped up. “They’ve been super thorough about cleaning about wearing masks, but wearing their gloves washing their hands, the Board of Directors of MAB is now honoring that work in memory of Maxo Joseph, a staff member of 19 years. Who died of Coronavirus last month. “What he loved to do was to take care of the people on his house…he was also a fabulous cook, and always won the food competition at the annual picnic he was just all about the soul and the food and the happiness that food brings…”