NABA Day--by Mayoral Proclamation: NABA Celebrates 100th Anniversary

This year, the Northeastern Association of the Blind at Albany is celebrating its diamond anniversary. The non-profit organization has offered services and programs to the blind and vision-impaired in the Capital District for the last 100 years.

Today, Mayor Jerry Jennings celebrated the organization's anniversary with a proclamation, designating the day as NABA Day. The mayor and media crews were on hand to help celebrate the association's accomplishments. The festivities included a speech by the mayor, and punch and cake provided by Crisan Bakery.

Executive Director Chris Burke read congratulatory letters from President George W. Bush, NYS Governor David Paterson, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Jennings also offered his thanks and congratulations, saying Albany is fortunate to have NABA, and to celebrate the "camraderie and friendships" built there over the last 100 years. To show his appreciation, Burke presented the mayor with a safety vest sewn at NABA's manufacturing center. The vest was emblazoned with the word "Mayor."

Afterwards, a tour was taken through the center and the Harry M. Judge Vision Rehabilitation Center, which opened in 2006 to help clients with diminishing vision. Clients with visual impairments are provided with a variety of tools, including magnifying televisions, check registers, talking watches, and canes.

Begun as a program that offered craft workshops and dances, NABA has expanded to a full-scale service organization with a variety of programs and employment. The center provides employment for 95, 45 of whom are legally blind. Many work at the center's industrial sewing facility. There, these men and women manufacture and ship 70,000 safety vests a year, said Brooke Newell, Director of Development for NABA. The industrial sewing operation gives these men and women independence and satisfaction that comes with a job and earning a regular paycheck, she said. NABA currently manufactures uniforms for MTA, and NYS, and hopes to expand operations this year, she said.

The anniversary celebrations also included a gala event and silent auction at the Albany Institute of History and Art on December 4. The show featured the work of the Blind Artist's Society, a collective of 25 artists coping with vision loss. The exhibit was the group's first official show. The event was attended by about 180 guests, and judged very successful, said Newell.

NABA began on December 7, 1908, when 10 blind men and women got together to offer social and workshop activities. The organization was housed at 105 Lancaster Street. To raise money to support the organization and offer employment for the blind, the members began to manufacture goods, a practice that continues today. In 1923, the organization moved to State Street, and then in 1958, moved to their present location at 301 Washington Avenue, across the street from the YMCA.

Today, NABA offers programs that cater to every age group. They provide free vision screening for toddlers, summer training programs for grade school age-children, internship programs for teens, employment training and transition programs to help high school students move into adulthood, vocational counseling for adults, and training for seniors to help them learn to use canes, magnifying glasses and special software.