Greater Boston Guild for the Blind Closes

When Susan Coren began losing her vision six years ago, she said the thought of living in darkness left her feeling "so down." She worried about how she would get around, what she could do for herself, and whether she would be able to continue her way of life. Then she discovered the Greater Boston Guild for the Blind in West Roxbury, the only adult day healthcare center in the area whose sole mission is to serve the blind and the visually impaired.

It was there that Coren, a 74-year-old mother of 10 from Dorchester, relearned how to cook, sew, even do the laundry - tasks she thought she would never again master. Now Coren and others are grieving the demise of the center, a social lifeline for the blind for nearly a century. "I've had some wonderful days at this place," Coren said of the West Roxbury center. "It helped to bring me out of my downness."

The Jewish Guild for the Blind of New York, which has run the center for the past five years, said it can no longer afford to keep the West Roxbury facility open. The center will officially close in June, but no longer sees clients. Its 15 staff members will be laid off, and the approximately 60 remaining clients are being referred to different adult day healthcare centers across the region, including some as far away as Wrentham and Lexington.

Peter Williamson, the guild's director of public relations, points to rising costs and declining fund-raising as reasons for the closing. The guild has five centers in New York, one in Palm Beach, Fla., and one in Boston, which is the only one being closed. The New York organization, which received significant financial support from donors in Palm Beach, made news earlier this year after charities and nonprofits there began canceling fund-raising events in the aftermath of the Bernard Madoff scandal. Rich donors at the Palm Beach Country Club who donated to the guild were hit hard by the scheme. But Williamson said the closing of the Boston center "has nothing to do with Bernie Madoff." "This has a lot to do with the declining economy," he said. "That's why we made the decision."

The guild officials said clients, some in groups, will be sent to eight to 10 places throughout the region. The guild said it is offering to train employees at the centers on how to work with the blind and visually impaired. The guild said it will also arrange for a range of services to continue for clients, including home care, meals on wheels, and vision services.

But staff, clients, and volunteers are taking the closing hard. "I feel sad for the people there," said David Kingsbury, a volunteer there who is blind. "It's really their social lifeline." Jessy Edouard, the center's director for the past six months, said clients and staff have grown really close over the years. The center, which works with people who were blind at birth to those who have lost their eyesight more recently, provides medical, vision, and rehabilitation services. More than that, it's a second home for blind people throughout the area - one that can't be replicated, supporters say. "We have one client who has been here for 50 years," Edouard said. "He's comfortable here. This is the only place that fits his needs as a blind person."

-Adapted from “A social lifeline is severed; West Roxbury center for the blind closing its doors” By Meghan Irons, The Boston Globe, April 30, 2009, http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/04/30/a_social_lifeline_is_severed/ retrieved 4/30/09.

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