Many people would agree that the most important of the five human senses is the sense of sight, to be able to see the world in all its glory.

If someone loses that sight to blindness, either wholly or partially, the loss can be devastating.

Giving blind and partially sighted people hope and a sense of purpose is the goal Ann Burns and her staff work hard to achieve year round.

Her warm smile, firm handshake and ready willingness to explain the mission of the John D.Young Memorial Lions Blind Center is evident as she guides visitors though the building, located at 100 Crestview Ave. in Absecon.

As a workshop and recreation center for the blind, the center was built in 2005 and is fully funded by donations from the Lions clubs in Galloway, Absecon, Absecon Visionary, Brigantine, Mainland, Ventnor-Margate and Ocean City.

The late Helen Keller called the Lions her “angels,” and their dedication to helping the blind and improving vision health is a worldwide on-going effort. Lions International has made it its goal to help vision impaired people everywhere.

Burns cheerfully shows people around the various rooms and explains the equipment that is found in each room. She speaks of the functions of equipment that may be used to translate text to voice, or to magnify text many hundreds of times to enable partially sighted people to read it.  

She points out the buttons and dials and explains their function. What makes this remarkable is that Burns is blind, and she is accompanied on the tour by her faithful seeing-eye dog.

“When people lose their sight it can be overwhelming for them,” Burns said. “Here, our goal is to give them hope and help them move forward again. It is a little known fact that 50 percent of people 55 years of age and older will experience vision problems during their lifetimes. We help people keep their dignity and maintain their independence.”

The center offers information, referrals for people needing help from other sources, peer support and advocacy for the blind and visually impaired.

Burns outlined some of the services at the center.

“On Thursdays, DeWitt and Associates conducts free computer classes in our computer lab teaching two programs,” Burns said. “Zoom Text is a program that is useful to those who have some sight. It magnifies text many times in size so that people can read it. The other program, called JAWS (Job Access with Speech), talks to a blind person as they use the keyboard, helping them to write and guiding them in making corrections. We also have the SARA (Stand Alone Reading Apparatus) machine that turns written text into speech.”

In addition to computer classes the center offers Braille mentoring and mobility training.

“We help people gain confidence so that they can have useful lives,” Burns said. “The center accepts all blind and visually impaired persons regardless of age. We include their families in their activities. No fee is ever charged for any of our services. No federal, state or county funds are used. All our funds are provided through the tireless fund-raising efforts of seven local Lions clubs.”

The John D. Young Memorial Lions Blind Center has started a food pantry for the blind and visually impaired.

There is a box in the foyer where people may donate non-perishable food items. The list of items includes soups, canned stews, canned chili, macaroni and cheese, boxed rice mixes, canned vegetables, canned fruits, tuna, cookies, crackers, coffee, sugar, creamer, drink mixes, powdered milk, peanut butter and jelly.

The center also has a lending library of audio books and other items for the blind and visually impaired.

People may also donate eyeglasses and other useful items suggested by the center. For more information about this non-profit organization, call 609-677-1199, or go online to lionsblindcenter.org