Blind Center of Nevada to open new building, expand services

They sway. Tilt their heads skyward. And see nothing.

Yet they sing as if visualizing the spirit conjured by the words. As if gazing at what they’d imagine a big, bountiful ball of love would look like:

“If we all sing one song / One song of love / One song of peace / One song to make all our troubles cease / One hymn, one theme, one hope, one dream / Imagine what tomorrow would bring.”

One voice in that “One Song” particularly resonates — boldly and warmly — in a stirring solo. “Here is where I found out I can sing,” says William Stoakley, 53, his dark glasses shielding the eyes that haven’t seen for nine years, as he takes a rehearsal break from the glee group dubbed Blind Allegiance at the Blind Center of Nevada. “What keeps me coming back is the love here.”

Love is about to get more room to stretch its legs. “We need a place that provides a path to greatness for people who can’t see,” says Todd Imholte, the center’s chief marketing and development officer, about the new Vision of Greatness Center. Sprawling out at 35,000 square feet, it’s scheduled to open in late January next to the current building housing the 62-year-old organization at 1001 N. Bruce St. Though its anticipated unveiling is cause for joy, what lurks behind the need for it isn’t.

“Seventy percent of our members are people who were sighted at one point and then lost their sight,” says center President Cory Nelson of the 278 people, ages 18 to 94, who regularly use the current facility — which will remain operational — at no cost, and meet the requirement of being legally or totally blind. More than 80 percent of them live below the poverty level and flock there for lunch, their main meal of the day, plus daily activities.

“Sadly, all the statistics prove that blindness is growing,” Nelson says. “The low-end number in the valley is 20,000 and the high-end is 40,000. Diabetes and other illnesses are becoming more prevalent.”

Those others include glaucoma, which stole the sight from the gregarious Stoakley, a nine-year member. “I’m looking forward to that so much,” says Stoakley of the future digs, where he hopes to “birth” a members’ R&B group to wow listeners with melodic seductions a la Al Green, Luther Vandross and Jeffrey Osborne on a new stage. Also rocking that platform will be the members-only alternative pop band, The Broken Spectacles, and Blind Allegiance. “They put a lot into (the building), especially the music department,” Stoakley says, “and it’s going to be even 10 times better.”

And with it comes expansion of the mission for the organization, the state’s only day center serving blind or visually impaired adults since its founding in 1955 as a two-room facility on Bruce Street. (Children are aided by the Nevada Blind Children’s Foundation.)

With sunlight streaming through windows that ring the second level — a cheerful environment that’s not only seen but felt — the new center has been eight months in construction at a cost of about $8 million. Funding came from a combination of contributors: $3 million apiece from the Engelstad Family Foundation and an array of anonymous donors, and $2 million from the Las Vegas Economic and Urban Development Department.

“One of our members is building a model of the building without a roof so our members can walk through the building with their hands,” Nelson says about how they will negotiate the new center’s more spacious dimensions, which will include a bridge connecting to the older building. “They learn pretty fast. Within a week a lot of them will have that building down.”

Rest assured it will be even faster than that for glee club member Brenda Graham, 67. “The new building will draw more people and have more things to offer,” says Graham, a three-year member and former nurse with a wide, gentle smile and eyes that radiate kindness, even though their sight was lost to retina detachment seven years ago.

“I am a very independent, self-motivated person. I need challenges. The Blind Center gives me that. I want to challenge myself not just as a blind person, but as an individual to know that at 67, I still have a lot more to offer someone else.”

Carefully, she feels her way along a wall to a shelf imprinted with her name, reaches for a lovely piece of ceramic art — her own creation, made in one of the center’s many classes — and cradles it.

Those eyes that can’t see sparkle with pride.

Blind Center cookin’ up new programs

Soup’s on! And a lot more than that.

“Many of our members were in the culinary business before they lost their sight and they are eager to get this program going,” says Blind Center of Nevada President Cory Nelson says about the shiny centerpiece of the organization’s new Vision of Greatness Center: a culinary arts program.

“They will learn all sorts of skills,” he says of the plan to instruct blind members on how to prepare gourmet meals in a big, brand new kitchen. “How do you cut celery when you can’t see and not hurt yourself? How do you measure flour when you can’t see the measuring cup? And we’d love to get some of the famous chefs we have in Las Vegas to come in as guest chefs.”

Beyond the epicurean initiative, the center will feature a large meeting hall that can be rented out. And with a 12,000-square-foot warehouse with docks, the Blind Center can expand its electronic recycling department, which generates revenue toward its $2.5 million annual operating budget by processing around 2 million pounds of electronic equipment yearly. (Entities that use it include Cox Communications, NV Energy, Caesars Entertainment Corp. and state and federal offices).

More vital to its clientele will be the expansion of members’ lounges and all manner of rooms for both new and existing programs (in tandem with the current building). Those include music with rehearsal space, a gymnasium, a crafts room (weaving, leatherworks), a ceramics room, a computer lab with technology designed for the blind, and areas to invite blind children and teens for progras they are developing (including homework assistance, with a tutor). Also offered are classes in mobility training and Braille.

Contact Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@reviewjournal.com. Follow @sborn1 on Twitter.