As the holiday season approaches, we at The Lighthouse of Houston are excited to invite our community to participate in Giving Tuesday 2024 – a day dedicated to spreading hope, compassion, and support.
What is Giving Tuesday?
Giving Tuesday is an annual movement that takes place on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. It’s a day that inspires people to come together and support the causes that matter most to them. For The Lighthouse of Houston, this is an opportunity to shine a light on our mission of empowering individuals who are blind or low vision.
This year, we focused on sharing the story of one of our clients, Brittany Shavers.
Brittany shares her experience with blindness cause by retina detachment due to type 1 diabetes.
“I went outside my apartment to go sit on the stairwell and it happened again,” Brittany said. “It was like someone threw a white sheet over my eyes. I got nervous and waited for it to clear. I walked back to my apartment and I went to just go lay down and close my eyes. I only closed them for maybe about two to three minutes and when I opened my eyes I couldn’t see, and that was the last time.”
Brittany also shares her journey as a blind parent raising children with vision loss.
“I have been with my husband for close to 10 years, and our wedding anniversary is coming up on October 24th. We will be married four years. We have four children; two are sighted and two are visually impaired due to hereditary glaucoma which is called congenital glaucoma. I love all four of my kids. Jordan he has more sight than Journey and my husband, so he doesn’t necessarily use his cane or he doesn’t have one. He is very independent like now he’s on the track team at his school. Journey, she’s a cheerleader.”
Brittany is just one of over 14,000 clients we serve every year. She shared with us how participating in The Lighthouse of Houston’s programs and events has helped empower her and teach Journey to be more independent.
“It was really empowering, The Lighthouse, for myself and for Journey. Journey came for summer camp two years ago. When she came to The Lighthouse, I was so amazed about their independence and how they were teaching her. This was way before she got her mobility cane. This was a swimming morning and we were running late, and the kids and the staff here were, of course, all in the pool. She was like, “I got it, put your hand on my shoulder. She took my cane, because she didn’t have one. She led me all the way to the pool and I was just crying. It was just so amazing to know that she doesn’t have a lot of sight, but what they taught her as far as independence and what she has taken from coming here. She loved it along with the different Parent’s Night Out, Easter Egg Hunt, and other activities they have her for.”
This Giving Tuesday, consider donating to help us support more families like Brittany’s.
