Enabling the visually impaired - Westfair Communications

Mark at stock exchange — Mark Ackermann and a team of volunteers ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Photo provided by the New York Stock Exchange

As the Westchester County population ages ”“ statistics indicate the number of people 60 and older will increase 34 percent by 2030 ”“ Lighthouse International expects its services to explode.

Founded in 1905, the Manhattan-based vision-loss prevention, treatment and advocacy organization has just opened an office at 95 Church St. in White Plains after serving Westchester clients through community-based programs for 50 years.

“We”™ve been enormously blessed and have over $140 million in assets,” said Mark Ackermann, president and CEO of Lighthouse International. “Nonprofits (have to be) creative in how they work during challenging economic times. We”™ve reduced our operating budget by about $2 million and our anticipation is that we”™ll start a Westchester advisory board”¦ and lease out some floors in our building here.”

Ackermann estimated 65 percent of Lighthouse”™s workable capital stems from philanthropic giving; the remainder is a mix of medical reimbursements, state grants and contracts and funding from the New York State Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped.

The nonprofit needs to raise about $15 million to $20 million each year from philanthropic giving, he said.

Lighthouse International began in an Upper East Side brownstone near the turn of the 20^th century, the work of sisters Winifred and Edith Holt who opened their home to the blind.

As time progressed, the scope of the organization shifted.

In the 1950s, it began to serve individuals with a wide variety of vision problems instead of only those with complete vision loss.

Now, Ackermann said, “We provide a wide range of quality care in clinical areas, help people live and work safely in their home and office environments and use the newest technologies to train them for new work and positions.”

Beyond forging business opportunities for the visually impaired, a major target of the organization is remaining active in an advocacy sense.

Ackermann, along with a team of staff and volunteers, rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange in honor of World Sight Day and raised funds during a Double Up 4 Vision Tandem Bike Ride/Walk fundraiser Oct. 22.

The website is lighthouse.org.