Fundraiser for blind serves dinner in the dark

Bonnie Van Hoven had been looking forward to it all day long. A nice dinner at the Wenatchee Golf & Country Club with more than 100 other people - with one little twist: experiencing the whole thing blind.

It was a fundraiser for Samara's Foundation for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a nonprofit organization founded by Jodi Duncan of East Wenatchee in 1995 in memory of her daughter, Samara Kathleen Kennedy, who was blind.

Last year, the dinner raised $4,000 to help the city of Wenatchee buy audio crosswalk signals at Fifth and Miller streets. The goal of this year's $45-per-plate dinner was $6,000 for more audio crosswalk signals for the blind.

Like all guests, Bonnie and Rod Van Hoven, of Wenatchee, donned black, fleece blindfolds shortly after they entered the country club. Bonnie said it was an adventure.

A guide escorted them to their table, warning them of obstacles on the way. He held Bonnie's arm. Rod followed, his hand on Bonnie's shoulder. The guide placed Bonnie's hand on a chair for her at a table where two other couples sat blindfolded.

"I know where my fork is, so don't try to take my food or I'll use my fork on you," said Loretta Wilson, kidding her husband, Jeff, as Bonnie sat down next to her.

The third couple was Pat and Wes Bentz of Wenatchee. Even though they couldn't see each other, the couples soon discovered they knew each other. They listened while Ken Anderson, who is blind, gave tips on how to eat. "Use your knife like a snow shovel to move food to your fork," he said.

A train of six people, led by a guide, passed single file, each one with a hand on the shoulder in front of them; they were heading to the bar for drinks.

When the appetizer came, Bonnie felt the edges of her plate and then lifted it and sniffed. She couldn't figure out what was there. Rod picked his up, took a bite and announced it was an egg roll. When the salad came, Rod stabbed around on his plate with his fork. He had a few "wasted trips" of fork to mouth with no salad. Then he used his knife to help load his fork.

"It's a slower way to eat," he said, "and it takes a lot more concentration."

"I'm having a fun time because I know it's a temporary thing," Bonnie said. "It's kind of interesting, but if I had to do this all my life, I wouldn't like it."

"I think it's lasagna," a man at another table said after touching the main course when it arrived.

Chelan County Commissioner Buell Hawkins, serving as master of ceremonies, said the evening was "a brief snippet" of what it's like to be blind.

Rick Barnard, blind since a stroke in his optical nerve in 2002, said, "When you lose your sight, your hearing picks up and your taste buds pick up and you start a new life. My motto is, 'It's not what you did do, it's what you can do now.'"

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Information from: The Wenatchee World, http://www.wenworld.com