Organization Name: Lighthouse Vision Loss Center
Date Survey was Submitted: October 1, 2025 at 3:22 pm
Contact Name: Kelly French
Contact Phone: 9413137375
Contact Email: kellyf@lighthousevlc.org
Were the funds spent with a year of grant receipt?  Yes
If no, please explain why not below:
How was the money used?
Lighthouse Vision Loss Center received this grant award from The Lake Club Women’s Giving Circle in early May 2025, just a month after the program became operational. By the end of June, we reached program capacity (10 children) and we were very excited! The plan for the grant from the start, was to purchase supplies to get the program up and running. Over the summer,the children’s program staff worked with the children and their families to develop a fuller blueprint of what the program would entail once the 2025-26 school year begins. While 1:1 sessions with children and instructors took place all summer, the development of group activities took a little more time. For this reason, not many supplies were purchased initially. At the same time, our program for teens and young adults, between the ages of 14 and 21, wrapped up a 12-week iPad training class. In this class, teens not only learned how to access and use assistive technology tools that would aid them in the public school setting, but also apps that provide other forms of assistance to the visually impaired. Due to the overwhelming success of this program, Lighthouse determined that adapting this training for younger clients would be very beneficial. The funds from the Lake Club Women’s Giving Circle will be used along with funds from another local funder to purchase 10 iPads and accessories (protective covers, keyboards, etc.) to be used by the program. The current model iPads, along with the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil, and a protective case run $725 each. The total cost for this project will be just shy of $7,500. The ability to pair multiple grant awards together makes this project possible, which will be a great impact for the clients.
Each child will be assigned an iPad while in the program. The iPad will be loaded with the apps and tools needed for their group classes at Lighthouse. If they leave the program, the iPad will be assigned to the next child enrolled. A child can stay in the program until they reach age 14 and need to transfer to the older youth program.
Was there an unexpected benefit or a special outcome from this grant that you would like to share? Yes
If yes, please explain:
While the iPads have not been purchased and distributed to the children’s program age group yet, we had several surprises come out of the youth program that did the pilot program.
1 – The kids bonded using the iPads. If one didn’t understand how to do something, but another one did, quite often one client would help another while instructors were assisting someone else. This bonding has created friendships that lasted throughout the summer and now into the school year.
2 – Despite their limited vision, some of the clients used free time to explore and “play” with the iPads and have made very impressive videos and graphic design pieces using the iPads.
3 – While many had iPads at home, due to their vision loss, they did not have a full grasp of the device’s capabilities. While they may have used a tool that takes text and reads it outloud for them, they may not have known about many of the other apps designed for the visually impaired. One of the youth clients described it as finally taking the training wheels off the bike and seeing how fast you could go.
How many people were impacted by this grant?
In the first year, 10 children will be impacted by this grant.
Please indicate the number of women, children, and/or families residing in Sarasota and/or Manatee County who were directly impacted by this grant.
All 10 are Manatee and Sarasota County children.
Do you have any suggestions to improve our grant process.
No suggestions – the process for us was quite simple. We were contacted about the opportunity, sent a link to complete the application, and then received notice and the award.
Did you find the grant process succinct and easy to submit? Yes
Comments:
If all grants and reports would as succinct and easy as this one, grant writers would be happier people!
Would a representative from your organization be willing to speak to our group about the impact of your grant? Â Yes
Additional information:
Not only would we welcome the opportunity to speak with your group, we’d love to invite your group to come to one of our In-Sight-Full Luncheon events that include a tour of our facilities and demonstrations on how some of our classes work. To schedule this, please contact Kelly French at 941-313-7375. Thank you for this opportunity!
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