Club Vibes Logo

APRIL/MAY,  2016
MARCH CALENDAR
24- Goal Ball Demo game, Bearden High School. 5:00pm; details below

APRIL CALENDAR
2- Indoor Rock Climbing, 10:00-12:00pm
3- Delta Jamma 4:00-7:00pm at UT Fraternity Park; details below
12- Board Meeting 6:00pm
17- Tandem biking, Cherokee Blvd, 2:15pm; RSVP Sue
17-Flower sale begins
30-Belk Charity Sale 6:00-10:00am

MAY CALENDAR
2- Flower Delivery
7-Indoor Rock Climbing, 10:00-12:00
8-Mother's Day
15-Open Streets Knoxville, details below





Freedom to Fly Blog
WHAT IS NEW THIS MONTH ON OUR BLOG PAGE?

WHY DO YOU USE A DOG RATHER THAN A CANE?
If you read my last post " Why Do You Use a Cane Rather Than a Dog?"
you may be wondering why, with all of the responsibilities and inconvenience associated with working with a dog, anyone would do it. It ultimately comes down to a personal preference, and these are some of the reasons that people give for using a guide dog.  read more

MASTERING AIR TRAVEL AS A BLIND PERSON: THE FLIGHT
The easiest, or perhaps the least stressful, part of flying as a blind person is the flight itself. There are only a few things to keep in mind to make it a little less difficult than it might otherwise be.  read more

NEWS
McDONALD'S IS ONE OF OUR NEW GOLD SPONSORS
We appreciate the support of John and Sondra Faris,  owners of some of our local McDonald's restaurants, for becoming a gold sponsor of Club VIBES. Their  financial  gift will allow
many of our legally blind members to enjoy our trip to 
Washington DC and to train locally while riding in our tandem  bicycling program. 
We love McDonald's! 
Thank You, John and Sondra.
 



SUE AND ARLENE ATTEND AFB CONFERENCE
Sue and Arlene attended workshops on the most pressing and relevant topics in the field of blindness at the American Foundation for the Blind Leadership Conference held March 3-5 in Washington DC.  This provided many opportunities to learn about the latest in technology, education, and legislation from the best and brightest minds in the field. The workshops included such topics as "Mobile GPS Apps and Devices", "Mentoring Blind Students", "Declaring War on Student Dependency", and "Transition From School to Work".  In addition to workshops, there were some amazing new tech devices to try and the opportunity to chat with others involved in the field of blindness, sharing with them about Club VIBES, and learning about what they are doing throughout the US.

An extra benefit, due to the location of the conference in Washington DC, was the chance for us to test out for accessibility and relevance a few ideas that we would like to include in our Explore DC trip scheduled for this coming fall break. We have some great ideas!

A highlight of the trip was a chance to have dinner with one of Knox County's blind graduates, Blake Bivens, who lives in DC where he is an investigator with the FBI. Blake will be meeting with us when we visit with Explore DC to share his techniques for finding employment and his experiences in moving from Knoxville to a large city like Washington DC where he did not know anyone.


DELTA JAMMA
Be sure to mark your calendar for Sunday April 3, so that you will not miss the best event of this spring--DELTA JAMMA. This is sponsored by the Delta Gamma Sorority as a fundraiser for Club VIBES. See the details below.


Come One, Come All, 
It's Taco Time!


Please plan to support Delta Gamma 
as they support Club VIBES!  
 
Below is information about a fun event designed to be a fundraiser for Club VIBES so we are hoping for a good turnout!
 
Tickets may be purchased at the event or friends and members of Club VIBES can contact Sue Buckley to purchase tickets before the event. We need some volunteer pilots for the tandem riding so be sure to RSVP Sue if you can help out!
 
 
DELTA "JAMMA"
Sunday April 3rd 2016
From 4 pm - 7 pm
1848 Fraternity Park Drive
 
 
$5 tickets are available for Salsarita's tacos, rice, and beans. Tents will be set up on the day of the event at Fraternity Row's "Fiji Island" (big middle grassy area) for food, music, corn hole, etc. 
 
Entertainment will be provided by a local UT student Singer, Sam Shrock. Club VIBES will bring tandem bicycles for riding around Fraternity Row. A raffle will be held during the event that will include prizes such as gift cards and gift baskets. 
 
T-shirts are available for purchase by clicking the link below but hurry and order because the deadline is March 23rd.  Choose "Group Pass Out" as your delivery choice and you can pick up your shirt at the event!
 

VISIONARY RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS
Congratulations to Caroline Knight for the recognition her documentary, "Visionary", is receiving. On March 14th Caroline traveled to New York to receive the Long Documentary Award from the College Media Association Film Festival. 
Caroline with award on the streets of NY
"Visionary" has also been entered in the Nashville Film Festival which will present awards April 22.

"Visionary" is a video documentary telling the story about how Sue Buckley founded and leads Club VIBES, a local organization that assists blind and low vision youth and young adults live independent lives. To watch "Visionary", click here . We are very proud of Caroline and thank her for the wonderful work she did in creating this film.  Read More


CLUB VIBES WELCOMES MIKE AND EILEEN
VIBES members, along with board members, enjoyed the evening of March 10th at the Buckley's home where we met Mike and Eileen who were visiting from Glen's Mills New York en-route to the SOMA Conference in Chattanooga. Eileen is an O&M instructor as well as an occupational therapist and met John when he was invited to speak at the Adirondack Accessibility Conference last year.  Eileen was interested in learning about Club VIBES and came for a first hand look. We had fun sharing information and stories about our experiences with Club VIBES.

OPEN STREETS KNOXVILLE RETURNS!

Open Streets Knoxville was a huge success last October, and it returns to Central Street on Sunday, May 15th. Due to popular request, the hours have been extended
Bike Walk Knoxville
and will be from 1:00-6:00pm. The route will also go further north to include one of the hippest spots on Central St.-the area with Mid Mod Collective, Wild Love Bakehouse, and Smoky Mountain Vintage Lumber. Club VIBES hopes to bring some tandems and give rides to the public so that they can experience riding as a stocker.  Plan to come and enjoy the community spirit as well as the offerings of food trucks and vendors.  click here to go to the Open Streets Knoxville website.

Pilots will be needed to give tandem rides to the community.  Please RSVP to Sue before April 17. 


MEMBERS CORNER
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Be sure to save these dates--you will not want to miss these events! 
March 24- Goal Ball, 5:00pm, Bearden High School; see below
April 2- Indoor Rock Climbing
April 3-Delta Jamma
April 17-Tandem Biking
October 8-15 (exact dates in this week not yet determined)


COME AND PLAY GOAL BALL
Club VIBES member, Ty Killian, has organized a demonstration goal ball game this Thursday at 5:00 PM at Bearden High School. Goal Ball is a game created for blind players using teams of 3 players and a ball with bells inside. The object is to get the ball into your opponents goal and defend your goal from their balls. It can be a very intense and active game. Some of the players in this demo game will be ladies from Delta Gamma who are going to experience the game blindfolded.Hopefully there will be more goal ball games in the future. All VIBES members are welcome to come and learn the game.


EXPLORE DC
Plans are underway for a Club VIBES trip to Washington DC in October 8-11 during the area schools' fall break.  We will be taking our tandems and explore by both bicycle and the Metro rail system to visit museums, memorials, and other sites.  A highlight of the trip will be to meet with Blake Bivens, a blind graduate of Knox County Schools who lives in Washington DC and works for the FBI. He will show us how he navigates the metro system, travels as a pedestrian, and tell us his experiences about moving to a new city far from home.

We hope you will all make plans to join in on this trip.


INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS FROM HADLEY INSTITUTE
At the AFB conference we learned about a collection of videos produced by the Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired whose aim is to promote independent living via instructional videos. There is a large assortment called iFocus Instructional Videos that address using the accessibility features of iDevices. Titles include such topics as "Beginning Gestures in VoiceOver, "Using Zoom Features", "Setting the Alarm", Using DropBox", and many more.  They range in length from 10 minutes to over an hour.   To watch these videos, click here

Another group of Hadley videos are called Low Vision Focus @ Hadley. These address areas such as bathroom organization, managing clothing, and using IOS devices as a low vision user.  These are available at click here 

FUNDRAISING
Example of our flowers
SPRING FLOWER SALE
It is almost time for our  spring flower sale.  We will be taking orders April 17 with deliveries May 2nd, in time for Mother's Day. We will offer several selections of hanging baskets and ferns.  Proceeds go to support Club VIBES programs such as our Explore DC trip planned for this fall. Please help us sell these beautiful baskets to your friends. 
Delivery is Monday, May 2nd,  just in time for Mother's Day
 
BELK CHARITY SALE
We will be selling tickets for $5.00 each to attend the Belk Charity Sale, to be held April 30 at Belk stores at West Town Mall, Turkey Creek, and Maryville. With your ticket, you will be admitted to the special sale which runs from 6-10am.You will receive $5.00 off of your first purchase and you will have access to the special sale with discounts of 20%-70% off of regular prices offered only to ticket holders. Purchase tickets from VIBES board members, or from a VIBES representative at the door of Belk's the day of the sale. Tickets are good at any Belk store in Tennessee. 

WINE TASTING
If you had a great time at our wine tasting last year, you are in luck; we are repeating this popular event. It will be held May 16 at Pero's On the Hill in Rocky Hill. This is co-sponsored by Northshore Wine and Spirits and Pero's. For $20.00, or $30.00 per couple, you will try generous samples of 5-6 wines accompanied by pizza. We will also have a silent auction. Save the date and watch for more details in April.


TECH NEWS
  MOBILE GPS APPS AND DEVICES
We learned about several mobile GPS devices at the AFB conference that make independent traveling easier for blind and low vision pedestrians. This month the app Blind Square will be featured. This seemed to be the favorite for many blind users at the conference .  Blind Square helps you navigate by voice to a destination, tells you where you are and what is around you. It currently operates on iPhone and iPad with an android version planned soon. It is available from iTunes app store for $29.00. The Blind Square web site can give you detailed information about all of the features of this app.  click here


THANK YOU TO OUR PROGRAM PARTNERS FOR 2016

PLATINUM
GOLD
SILVER
DRAGONFLY
 
Sherbakoff Nalls Group

ANONYMOUS



Arnold Cohen,
Attorney at Law

Dr. Bruce Gilliland