Mission Statement:
To enable adults who are blind or visually impaired to lead independent lives
through individual and family support and intensive training in adaptive
living skills, technology, and orientation and mobility.
Looking
to the Future:
The Foundation
has made a strategic decision to concentrate its services
in the area of those 50 years or older, many of whom have
lived most of their lives sighted and now, because of Macular
Degeneration, Diabetic Retinopathy, Glaucoma and other causes,
will live a decade or more with significant vision loss.
The data from the National Eye Institute
indicates that this segment of the population is the fastest
growing area in need of services and in our state and nationally,
the most underserved.
Our Focus is now teaching rehabilitation
skills to enable these older adults to maintain their independence
and function fully where they wish to be- at home, with families,
in the workplace, pursuing leisure activities and participating
in the public life of their communities. We currently offer
a full line of courses to reinforce this mission. To see a
listing of these courses, please visit the Current
Programs Page.
History:
The original
Diamond Spring Lodge was a country retreat when Morris County
was "the country". The Lodge, once owned by the
Waldorf Astoria, served many guests who came by train to Denville
and then were picked up and brought to the facility first
by horse and carriage and then by motor car.
In 1954 when it was acquired by the New
Jersey Foundation for the Blind, the servants' housing on
Diamond Spring Road was all that was left of the old Lodge.
The Foundation was founded by several blind men and women
in Newark and, for several years, had been primarily a social
organization. Casting around for a project, the group discovered
that while there was a vacation retreat for blind men and
a camp for blind children, there was no facility for blind
women to have a summer vacation.
After researching various locations, the
Foundation settled on the Lodge and the initial contribution
which enabled the group to purchase the property was made
by a blind woman. A group of women researched what would be
needed to make the facility accessible for those with visual
impairments and in 1955, renovations were underway. The original
building had a small swimming pool behind the spring house,
a magnificent dining room with a large fireplace and eight
guest rooms. The local Lions Clubs, acting on their promise
to Helen Keller to become "Knights of the Blind",
renovated the swimming pool which was filled from the spring
and often had fish as well as bathers.
Although the blind woman who had made the initial gift to
purchase the property made an additional gift to help pay
for the renovations, there was little extra money so much
of the actual renovation work was done by blind volunteers
and members of the local community, many of whom contributed
supplies and materials at little or no cost. Denville became
the Foundation's home town. In the summer of 1955, eight women
came for two week sessions in the month of August. The first
staff included a director, a housekeeper and a cook augmented
by local volunteers. The Foundation served only women in its
summer program until 1995. In addition to the summer program,
there were weekend social events several times a year.
In the 1960's, expansion was undertaken
and the plans for a new facility were drawn up. First, the
workshop adjacent to the current main building was constructed.
It was known affectionately as "The Cow Palace"
after the convention center in San Francisco. At first it
was a social and meeting area and later became a workshop
employing blind women. The new main building was then begun.
Because the Spring was prone to flood and because the facility
is surrounded by wetlands, the new building was contructed
on eighteen foot pilings. WIth the new construction, there
was accomodations for 64 guests as well as staff. The summer
program was now in operation from June through August, accomodating
guests in five two week sessions. An additional acquisition
of property on the far side of the Spring brought the size
of the Foundation properties to 26 acres. New construction
included the training center which housed the classrooms,
teaching kitchen, the library, an arts and crafts studio and
a room designed to be a bowling alley.
In the 1990's the Board agreed to open
the building year round for rehabilitation training and began
offering a program in activities of daily living, communication
skills, computer access using Jaws and Zoomtext, sewing, cooking,
and Braille. Classes are offered year round.
In recent years, the apartment which
was orignally built as a residence for the first director
who was himself blind has been renovated as a teaching apartment
where activities of daily living are taught in an environment
which more closely resembles a person's home. An Olympic size
swimming pool, fully accessible, replaced the spring fed pool
at the roadside and a small greenhouse has been added.
Today the Foundation is in operation year
round, building on the traditions of recreation and rehabilitation
for those with vision loss. The goal remains to foster independence
by providing the skills needed by Blind and Visually Impaired
adults to participate fully in families and communities.
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