Carroll Center’s Walk for Independence prevails over squall

Staff, residents, and supporters of the Carroll Center for the Blind were upbeat for the 14th annual Walk for Independence on the Charles River campus of UMass Amherst, despite forceful wind and rain on May 30. There was no rain date, and no need for one. They walked the Walk.

Through the squall, participants completed their loop around the campus and then gathered under the same large white tent that had held the Mayor’s Community Breakfast in sunshine only days before. The tent, about 40 by 100 feet, was packed with Walkers.

Ava Campbell, who led the organizing for this year’s event, was excited by the turnout and the energy under the tent.

“It’s not about the walk loop itself as much,” Campbell said. “Not everyone came here to do a one-mile loop. They came here to connect and be together. And my goal was, as long as I had smiling faces under the tent and they were warm enough and dry enough and having a good time, that’s all I wanted for today.”

She got her wish. “Everyone’s connecting, they’re hanging out,” she said. “The energy and the excitement, for it being so early and so cold — I actually couldn’t be happier with it.”

Among the groups walking in support of the Carroll Center was Newton Cub Scout Pack 210, which has a particular connection to the organization: the Carroll Center lets the pack meet there each month.

“They generously donate meeting space to us, where we have our meetings every month, and so we’re here walking to support them,” said Julie Winsett, who attended with scout Emma Heerson and about a dozen other pack members. The pack has been participating in the Walk for Independence for about five years. “It’s a lot of fun,” Winsett said. “And despite the weather.”

Brian Valentim, a resident assistant at the Carroll Center, led a team of 32 people in the Walk. He said, “[The Carroll Center for the Blind] has given me knowledge, tools, and confidence — what I needed to live more independently. They not only helped me adjust. They helped me thrive.”

For Carroll Center President and CEO Greg Donnelly, the turnout on a stormy morning said something important about the organization’s community.

“People coming out on a day like this just shows that weather doesn’t impact our mission,” Donnelly said. “In sun, clouds, rain, community comes together, advancing our mission under this tent. Blindness brings lots of isolation, so an event like today is so important, just to get together, share in what we do, and strengthen the support from here on, because there are so many more people in need of our services.”

The Walk for Independence serves both as a fundraiser and as an occasion for the kind of human connection that forms the basis of the Carroll Center’s work. As Fig City News reported earlier this month, clients who come to the Carroll Center often arrive reluctant and isolated, and leave newly empowered, not just by the skills they’ve gained, but by the community they have found.

Saturday’s tent of laughter and conversation, amid a New England squall, highlighted the impact of that work.

To date, the fundraiser has raised over $326,000 — all of which will go directly to support “life-changing programs that empower children, adults, and seniors who are blind or visually impaired to build skills, gain confidence, and live more independently,” according to the Carroll Center.