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September 23, 2005

The Night the Lights Went Out In Minneapolis

I'm back in Minneapolis this week visiting my parents. On Wednesday night we had a series of severe storms that tore through the metro area. It knocked out the power at my parents' house for almost 24 hours. And the cable still hasn't been restored which means we have no phone or Internet...

So Wednesday night when all the lights were out and we got tired of listening to the storm coverage on the radio what is there to do? After all, there wasn't any TV or Internet and reading by candlelight was a bit difficult (my parents aren't big candle people and we only had one in the house). Well, you probably guessed it...I spent my time listening to audio books. :)

The only real reason why I'm posting this is that going without electricity for a night gave me a newfound appreciation for what blind and visually impaired people go through. There are so many things that we do in daily life that require sight. And often we take our vision for granted until that time when we don't have it. We've done some work to help out the the blind before and looking to do even more in the future. One thing that we're trying to set up is a way for visitors to this site to donate their used audiobooks and have them find their way to charities like the Blind Children's Learning Center.

In addition to children there are approximately 5.5 million elderly people who are blind or visually impaired (according to the American Foundation for the Blind). As our society ages this number will grow larger. Audio books represent a great opportunity for these individuals to continue on with their love of learning even if they are unable to read comfortably anymore.

Helping blind and visually impaired people is just one of the reasons we're so passionate about what we do. We hope to be able to make it even easier for these people to get access to material that will enrich their lives.

Have a great weekend and be sure to take a minute this weekend to be thankful for the gift of sight. It's definitely something that most of us take for granted in our lives.

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