Episode 7: Overcoming Obstacles at the Carroll Center for the Blind– with Greg Donnelly Jordan: Welcome to the Plan for Special Needs Trusts podcast presented by PLAN, the Planned Lifetime Assistance Network of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Our plan is your plan, and I'm your host, Jordan Rich. Today we welcome another partner of PLAN, our friends from the Carroll Center for the Blind, located in Newton, Massachusetts. With me is Greg Donnelly, the President and CEO. And we're going to be focusing on the Carroll Center and the amazing array of services it provides to children, teens, adults, seniors, businesses and professionals. The organization has a very proud history dating back to its founder and namesake, Father Caroll. From assistive technology services and the Caroll Kids Summer Program to employment, training and support, a variety of community programs, rehabilitation, help with independent living and, yes, adaptive recreation programs that are so exciting. Caroll Center has a well deserved national reputation for excellence. PLAN of Massachusetts in Rhode Island is proud to work closely with Greg Donnelly and everyone at the Carroll Center helping their clients when we can. So, Greg, I know how proud you are of the work done at the Carroll Center. Share with us a bit about the mission. Greg: Well, the Carroll Center is a very special place. It was founded in 1936, widely renowned for serving blinded veterans coming home from World War II. And then Father Thomas Carroll was able to get the government's support to allow the Carroll Center to grow into the first blind rehabilitation center residentially for blind civilians in the country. And it's evolved since then to serve all ages and all stages of vision loss. Jordan: You said it very nonchalantly because you're a modest guy, but it is an amazing history. I was reading it just on the website. Father Caroll himself was a pioneering gentleman and lived a life that was so impressive. Almost needs a movie made about him. Tell me more about him. Greg: So he was again, a special man, offering himself and services to those most in need, dedicated himself to learning all the ins and outs of serving the blind and vision impaired. He innovated with those learnings. He innovated a lot of services early on, including orientation and mobility, and with special programming such as manual arts and fencing. Jordan: I was just about to ask you about that. It's in the 40s, I think, when he did that and you see visually impaired people fencing, and I would not want to take any of them on. Greg: Right. I said the same thing when I joined the Carroll Center. How does this work? Why is this program here with fencing provides movement, balance, spatial understanding, and often the blind division impaired also need forms of exercise and get up and move and really engage with peers to do joint activities. And fencing is one of them. Jordan: Well, the history continues. We don't have time to go through it, but if people want to read about it, it's beautifully encapsulated on the website. But he passed away, and I think in 1971, leaving a huge chasm because he was such a powerful force. But since then, things have happened for the better, and people have come along like yourself. So talk about what the Carroll Center provides today. Greg: So we have a long history with outstanding vision professionals. Bob McGilvery is our low vision director. He's been at the Carroll Center for over 50 years, and our Chief Program Officer, Dina Rosenbaum, for over 35 years. So they have brought much history with them. And at the same time, we've changed the way that we provide services with new state of the art technologies ever evolving. We use those technologies both on campus in the classrooms, with our young students in the workplace, with individuals gaining their first job or regaining access to employment after losing their vision. So we evolve with our clients wherever they are, wherever they need to be served at all ages. Jordan: Right. It's a full person approach, which is why we're thrilled as I represent PLAN of Mass and Rhode Island. We're thrilled to welcome you here. And just briefly, let's talk about the association and the relationship you have with PLAN. Greg: Absolutely. Thank you, Jordan. We have a wonderful relationship with the PLAN. PLAN is an organization nonprofit, very well regarded, providing special needs trust for individuals with disabilities. We have very similar missions in and around independence. How do we help individuals become independent, whether it's financial independence through the PLAN and through these special needs trust, or whether it's building independence through learning essential skills that we offer at the Carroll Center. And we also both work to improve the quality of life of the individual as a whole, young and old. And this is very important to both organizations. So the partnership was a very easy one for us. Jordan: Well, we're very happy to have you here to talk about you as one of the partners. Now, Greg, we've all been experiencing something that we never thought we would in our lifetimes, but it came anyway. The pandemic you and your team were considered essential because of the closeness and the importance of the work you're doing. But the impact of the pandemic on your community. Tell us a bit about that. Greg: Yes. It was very difficult and quick. The impact on our community was large because our community, young and old, of individuals losing their sight or that are blind is very traumatic. Social isolation is often more disabling than vision loss itself. And in this pandemic, we saw a lot of that, and it was tough to stay as connected as we had previously. But we quickly did move to remote training, hybrid training, face to face. We lost one summer of serving children and teens residentially over the summer with our summer camp, but we quickly evolved. And this past summer we served over 60 children and teens residentially. Jordan: Yeah. And you were telling me, too, that you and your staff and colleagues were vaccinated in the earliest round because you're helping people one to one, and social distancing is not convenient in this case? Greg: That's correct. That is correct. Many of us have already gotten our booster shot, so we're well into the vaccination. It's just the amount of individuals being served from children, teens and adults. The adult program runs September through June, and the children and Teens program all summer long and weekend activities. But we've had unbelievable safety and health history throughout this pandemic. Keeping everyone safe. Jordan: The Carroll Center, which is located in Newton, Mass. which is just outside of Boston, is actually internationally renowned. And it's been a model for other similar centers around the world and around the country. How do people, young or old or in between, how do they get to take advantage of the services? Is there an application process? How does that work? Greg: There is an application process, which is an easy one, but typically they are referred through the government, wherever they're coming from, the States, state referral agencies, Massachusetts, that would be the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. And many doctors offices will register their patients once they go legally blind. It's in Lawrence, Massachusetts, that they register their patients, and unfortunately, that's when some of them lose their license. But they need the supports that are in place in. Massachusetts is a very progressive state in serving individuals with disabilities. And the Carroll Center serves individuals that are blind and vision impaired. But these individuals often come with additional disabilities, whether it's MS, diabetes, cerebral palsy, physical, cognitive, intellectual, hearing loss. So we can really see a large number of disabilities above and beyond blindness. Jordan: I'm glad you mentioned the loss of the license because that suggests people are living a lot longer, thank goodness. And it also means with macular degeneration and all the other issues, there are people who are sighted most of their lives and start to lose their sight. We sometimes forget about those people. They're newly vision impaired. Right. And they're an important population. Greg: That is correct. And the large majority of our clients at the Carroll Center for the Blind are newly blind or transitioning to blindness. I would say less than 10% of individuals we serve routinely are blind since birth, but we certainly do serve those individuals as well. Jordan: Technology is playing a part in all of our lives, and I know it because I have friends who employ it, but I know that it's involved very much in the work you're doing. Can you give us an example of how technology has advanced? Greg: Sure. Even with orientation and mobility, when you think of an individual learning to use the white cane to travel and navigate safely, well, now smartphones have GPS devices in them and on them, and there's different accessibility features on our smartphones and then the assistive technologies on computers where these individuals can really take advantage of those technologies to improve safety, to improve access to learning and education, and that accessibility is very important. Jordan: I remember meeting Ray Kurzweil, interviewing him about 25 years ago, and he was just developing scanners and ways to read, putting the print on a screen, and then magically appearing in audio format. And we all thought science fiction, but that's the kind of stuff that's helping people today. Greg: Absolutely. 20% of the Carroll Centers employees are blind or vision impaired. They're incredible, top notch employees, certainly far superior using technology than myself and many of my other team members that do have the luxury of sight. Jordan: I know the feeling. Greg: So it is important for us to get the word out, though, that individuals that are blind to vision and period have full capabilities, if not more, to be successful in the workplace, to transition off to College or the next grade. Jordan: It's an absolutely important message to be said over and over again that people can overcome whatever obstacles are in their place. And I know personally, as a radio guy, having met on the air a slew of lined or visually impaired people, they use radio as a connector, and they are some of the sharpest, most interesting orbane people I know. Greg: Yes, they love to engage and talk and learn from one another. The peer learning that happens at the Carroll Center, whether residentially or day programming or the camps, is a tremendously impactful part of our services. Access to new friendships and networks that we all often take for granted sometimes is so critically important. Jordan: That brings up an important point, and I'll have you address it. The need for two things, funding and volunteers. Why don't we start with volunteers? Because I know that people can step up and help out. Greg: Absolutely. So volunteers are very special to our organization. They have been for a very long time. Our volunteers can come to our center and participate and assist with programming. They can assist with readings of mailings that come in for some individuals that are blind division appeared at the center. They can assist with summer camps and programming. So really, we're seven days a week, 24/7 organization that offers a very large scope of volunteer opportunities. And we have a beautiful 3.7 acre campus in Newton, and we just had some recent volunteers in helping beautify our campus even more. Jordan: Well, the need is great. And I know that your job as CEO and President is multifaceted, but one of the things you're concerned with is making sure there's enough money to run these things efficiently. So how goes the funding drive, and what are some of the ways you're trying to build up resources? Greg: Typically, that's a great question. Typically, each year we have to raise a minimum of $1.2 million to break even. And that's the gap between federal and state funding to provide the services at the level that we do. And so, as I said before, our services go well beyond our campus in Newton. We can go anywhere in the state, into schools, into the workplace, the community senior centers, so we really eliminate any barriers of access because our clients can come to us and we can go to them. And sometimes that's costly. Jordan: Again, I come back to the history, Greg, reading about it in the early days, just a few people, Father Caroll and others just deciding to try to help. And how it just grew and grew and continues to grow despite challenges, whether it be budget, whether it be pandemic. You sold your own. Greg: Yes, we do. In the growing need, you hit it right on the head. There's a growing need. Individuals are living longer. So with age, vision loss continues to happen. But we see vision loss happen in other areas beyond medical eye disease as well, car accidents, a heart attack or stroke where someone loses oxygen to the optic nerve. We've had young clients hit by a stray bullet walking to school. And 1 minute you're just a vibrant young kid ready to graduate, and the next minute you're blind due to unfortunate circumstances like that. So we do often take our eyesight for granted. It's so fragile. And our center serves all individuals coming in in a fragile state when they lose their blind side so quickly. Jordan: One fun thing I'd say fun because looking at it from the outside in is the golf. Let's talk about the golf. Greg: Absolutely. And we had a former board member who was a blind golfer. His name was Bill McMahon. And we tried to adapt all activities, whether it's golf or whether it's baseball with Beatball and soccer. Blind individuals and individuals with vision loss not only have the full capabilities of work and academics, also recreation. Blind sailing is a big component of the Carroll Center. Jordan: That's another one. They've been steady for decades. Some of these programs. Greg: Yes. And that recreational activity also gives time to have fun, smile, sense the wind, and use all senses that you have capable of using and trying something new. It builds confidence. It builds pathways to other areas of your life, whether you meet someone sailing, that is a business owner that could use special help and assistance. So having those recreational opportunities also opens up doors and empowers the individual to be able to conquer the world Jordan: and is part of your mission to expand and be creative because people come to you and say, hey, I've noticed you haven't done anything regarding Billiards. I'm just throwing it out. Sure. Is that something that must be the fun part of the job to try to tackle a new challenge like that? Greg: Yes. We are always stretching ourselves. Stretch goals we talk about often at the Carroll Center. And to be innovative with programming is one of the things that we're known for. So we just started, for an example, a user testing job skills training program that's around accessibility. So websites need to be accessible to individuals with disabilities. If someone's going to a Red Sox game, they need to be able to go online and buy a ticket just like anyone else can. And so we work with companies, businesses, organizations across all business sectors, Whether it's major league sports or health care or e-commerce and retail, banking. All of those businesses have digital environments, whether it's mobile products or websites, supermarkets where people can shop online during the pandemic. This was very important, of course, and we provide those services from a user end. And now we're training our clients to either start their own careers as user testers in their own entrepreneurial way, in their own business, or work for a tech company and web developers that do this work for other organizations. That I mentioned Jordan: That is quite awesome, and I congratulate you and all of your colleagues for taking that extra step in stretching. And before we wrap up again, the folks at plan of Massachusetts and Rhode Island are very excited about working with organizations like yours, because obviously that's where the needs are and that's where the people are. But it's been a great arrangement. Greg: It's been a great partnership. I'm so grateful for the work that we've done together to get the word out of our services. And PLAN of mass and Rhode Island services is so critically important. And when you can partner to make a difference in an individual's life, a family's life, all of the family is involved in this journey. It's a special thing when two nonprofit organizations can come together and have even a greater impact. Jordan: Well said. Father Carol would be very proud, I think, of all that's gone on with what you just said and everything we've talked about today. So the best way for people to find out more is simply carroll.org. Carol.org, Greg: That is correct. Jordan: All right. And tell everybody exactly where your campus is. Greg: So we are located at 770 Center Street in Newton, Massachusetts, and it's a beautiful campus that's surrounded right next to Mount Alberni high school, across the street from Newton country day high school, right up the street from Boston College law school. So a lot of people drive by our campus and see our sign and often wonder what happens up there. Jordan: Greg can't thank you enough for taking time. I know you're very busy and we really appreciate it and wish everybody at the Carroll Center good luck going forward. Greg: Thank you so much and be well. Jordan: We want to thank you for listening to the Plan for Special Needs Trusts podcast presented by PLAn, the Planned Lifetime Assistance Network of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. PLAN is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit company where the goal for every one of its clients is always to preserve assets, protect benefits and live well. For more, visit www.planofma-ri.org. We invite you to subscribe, download, rate and review this podcast and thank you for sharing it with others. Our plan is your plan.