The Blind Center is gearing up to launch one of its most progressive campaigns yet.
The Fight for Sight Campaign is a program designed to give blind or low-vision residents in Beaufort County and all over eastern North Carolina a chance for progress and change.

“We’re really on the cusp of an opportunity to do something that’s not available anywhere else. We’re trying to fill a gap that is much needed,” Liz Liles, executive director of The Blind Center, said.

The campaign will provide a full research lab with assisted technology for the blind and low vision. Liles explained that the only opportunity for a full-service center in eastern North Carolina is the Governor Morehead School in Raleigh. While she says it’s a fantastic school, children are required to stay on campus in Raleigh. For families who aren’t quite ready to have their child live miles away, their options for adequate help remain limited.

“If they decide not to go that route, and let their child go through the public school system, that child would receive only about two hours of braille instruction a week. They wouldn’t get the full range of services that they would at Governor Morehead School,” Liles said.

The Fight for Sight Campaign will officially launch in September, and Liles said they hope to offer a full range of services, including a braille instructor. Also included will be technology designed to assist in reading, working and cooking. She said she wants it to be a place where Beaufort County students and others can come and have all the resources needed to be successful without having to go off-site.

“Students can come here to our center and have everything they need right at their touch,” Liles said.

While this campaign is certainly not an overnight endeavor, Liles said The Blind Center is on a mission to transform its organization into a complete learning center.

“We want to be an educational site. That is our goal in the next five years. We are working towards becoming a learning center where a child can get services and then go home at night with their family,” Liles said.

The Blind Center is not only for children and students, though. Liles said she hopes this campaign offers a wider range of opportunities for all Beaufort County residents.

“We want to expand our services to make it accessible to anyone and everyone, whether you are 5, whether you are 25, whether you are 95,” Liles said in a Facebook video.