Holiday Message from Lavelle Fund 2024

Dear Lavelle Fund Grantees, Colleagues and Friends:

Yup. Another year come and gone. And what a year! There were highs and lows, amazing accomplishments, much deserved recognitions, challenges to meet, and yes, some heartbreak as well.

Last year we said goodbye to some long-serving colleagues moving on to well-earned retirements. This year, it would be appropriate to welcome those who took a brave leap to replace them and join us in this interesting field of ours. We almost want to ask: “What were you thinking?” (Just kidding.) We say welcome and so glad you’ve come on board!

There were lots of acknowledgements and kudos to go around this year; too many to list here (because you’re all so fabulous), but a big shout out to those agencies and individuals who were formally recognized for their contributions to the field, both nationally and internationally, and those whose good works were featured on news segments. We love it when the world gets to see the impactful work that you’re doing in the vision loss field.

Thank you to all of you who stopped by for a visit this year from far-flung places. We love the in-person meetings and were happy to see our many visitors from India, Australia, Latin America, and Africa. Whether you were in NY for UNGA week or other business, we appreciate that we were on your “let’s stop in and see our friends” list.

And thank you to those who graciously hosted us on your home turf. We enjoyed the learning and the participating. We took a High Line walk with the Perkins ELP’ers from all over the world, an InTandem bike ride around Central Park, and a trampoline flight at an amazing summer camp for blind and visually impaired youth in Brooklyn. We learned how to collate Braille materials, run a saddle stitching machine, and make adaptive equipment out of cardboard. And if that weren’t enough, we had the opportunity to spend time with the students at the Lavelle School, and get upfront and personal with blind adventurist and Mt. Everest conqueror, Erik Weihenmayer.

This was a milestone year for the Lavelle Fund, as we celebrated our 25th anniversary. But we also had our share of sadness, mourning the passing of our long-time and much-beloved board member (and past Chair) Dan Callahan.

As we put 2024 behind us, we look forward to working with you to make the world easier to navigate for people with vision loss. You inspire us with your resourcefulness and passion for the work. We know that you are the ones that do the heavy lifting, but we stand ready to provide the lever.

Thank you for providing education support, rehabilitation services, comprehensive vision care, eyeglasses, surgeries and surgical training, professional training, adaptive technology, and adaptive sports, vocational training, internships and transition services, mental health services, low vision support services, music education, O&M innovation, guide dogs and much much more.

Thank you for showing up every day with a sense of purpose, a sense of mission and a sense of humor. Thank you to those who realize that sometimes same-old same-old is the way to go, but thank you also to those innovators who realize that there may be better ways of doing things, as we prep for the future.

Whether you have been in this field for many years, or are brand new…..whatever this next year holds for us, let’s face it together, collaboratively, and with extraordinary wisdom – pure and peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, impartial and sincere. Let our shared sense of purpose guide us to do extraordinary things together in 2025.

Wishing you all a blessed Christmas, a wonderful holiday season and a safe, happy and healthy new year.

December 2024