White Cane Day is Coming!

Hey friends, have you heard of White Cane Day? It's a national holiday celebrated on October 15th every year! It's a day that celebrates the achievements of people with vision impairments and promotes safety and independence. President Obama made a declaration about it last year. Why am I telling you about it? Because I challenge you to celebrate it this year!! White Cane Day is a great day to rock some blind pride out in the community. You are pretty psyched right now, aren't you? I am blogging now because you still have time to organize a sweet little soiree for your community or school. Are you stumped on how to get started? Have no fear! First, save the date--October 15th! Second, check out if there's already a White Cane Day bash going on your city. Third, hit the internet and check out some resources. Here's a good one: http://www.whitecaneday.org/. Last, get organizing! 

Here's some fun ideas: plan a community party! It can be as easy as having a table in front of grocery store and handing out flyers. We are throwing a fun community event at Old Navy in West Hartford here in Connecticut. We are even having a fashion show starring our students! Talk to your local Lions Clubs as they are usually big supporter of White Cane Day. In addition, think about coloring sheets (Google images: guide dog has some good ones!), food!! (candy canes as "rigid canes") or just hit up high school driver's ed classes and have your student/child talk about white cane safety. 

Lots of businesses have a community day where you can also share information. Eastern Mountain Sports has a day in October (well they do in Connecticut...) where I will be at my own little booth handing out flyers about white cane safety. Call your local businesses and see what you can do. It's amazing how just asking businesses to support  you can turn into something amazing! A big thank you to Old Navy in West Hartford for stepping up to let us have our White Cane Day bash there. 

It truly doesn't matter if your White Cane Day is a big or small. It could just be free treats during lunch periods at your school. The point is to just get out there! Let's show the community how awesome the blind community is!

Here's the word art I made for our t-shirt and posters for 2013 White Cane Day. Our theme is I Heart White Cane. You can make one too! I went to taxgedo.com and created this in 5 minutes. You can save it as a jpeg. Happy White Cane Day 2013!!