Louis Braille School

Have you ever spent a Saturday afternoon making homemade ice cream by turning a crank while a barbershop quartet serenades you and people all around you have been happily bidding on auction items that include a ride on a fire truck, a lesson from a makeup artist who has worked with some of the best known names in Hollywood, artisan bread from one of Seattle’s finest bakeries, gourmet natural sodas, premium garden compost, and brailling services?

There’s more.

You’ll be able to pet puppies in training for Guide Dogs for the Blind. And—ferry traffic between Edmonds and Kingston will pass by the picture windows of the South County Senior Center, where the Louis Braille School’s 2009 Annual Benefit Auction takes place along the waterfront.

When you join us on Saturday, March 21st, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm, you can participate in both a silent and live auction. Enjoy a fragrant slice of Pagliacci’s pizza with the waters of Puget Sound just yards away. The day will be memorable, the items up for auction will be varied and useful, and your participation will serve to support the Louis Braille School’s heartfelt and productive approach to educating blind and partially sighted children:

The purpose of education for our children is the same
as it is for all children. It is to learn to live and love,
to lead full and joyful lives, and ultimately to use
one’s education and talents in the service of others.

For an example of a Louis Braille School experience, read our recent blog article, “Watching Things Grow.”

–The 2009 Louis Braille School Benefit Auction–
Saturday, March 21, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. Live auction follows the silent auction.

220 Railroad Avenue – on the waterfront

Plenty of Parking Available at two large lots within easy walking distance:

Edmonds Bay Building, 51 West Dayton Street

Harbor Square, 120 West Dayton Street

Descriptions and images of auction items will be placed on the website as the auction date nears.

Auction Preview

Dairy Products Delivered to Your Door
Once a week for a month, Mark
Hanberg, the “Moo Man,” will deliver fresh dairy products from Smith Brothers Farms to your door. Select from milk, whipping cream and half & half, eggs and butter, Yami yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, and cottage chesse, and Tillamook cheeses. Also available are fruit juices, coffee products, soy milk, and cookie dough. Mark will leave the items in an insulated porch box which he will supply, so you need not be home when he arrives. Delivery area: East to Highway 99; West to Puget Sound; North to 196th; South to Holman Road/105th in Seattle.
Donor: Mark Hanberg
Value: $54

“I have a profound belief in plants as being very therapeutic and very magical for kids,” Ginny Burger says.

Ginny came by the Louis Braille School last month to teach the students about planting bulbs.

A former high school biology teacher and now a master gardener, Ginny likes to plant bulbs and start gardens with elementary school children as a way of introducing them to a hands-on science lesson that embraces one of their all-time favorite playthings: dirt.

“I was touched by how fine it was that the kids get messy and dirty,” she says.

She brought protective table coverings in her car to keep classroom tabletops clean, but the teachers waved them off. “The teachers were so patient and encouraging,” she says.

“Their approach to the students was, ‘If you’re able to do this, do it for yourself.’ It was interesting to me to see the teachers work so hard to empower the students to do everything they could for themselves.”

Ginny had never worked with blind students before. The children at the Louis Braille School provided her with a new perspective on bulb planting.

“It’s a very tactile activity,” she says as she remembers one child’s experience. “He could feel the bulbs, feel the root even though it was dry, feel the start of the shoot, feel the soil.”

The students worked with tulip, daffodil, and crocus bulbs. They planted a fast-growing red amaryllis bulb with a sturdy stalk that is easy to feel.

Teachers’ assistant Miss Jennifer says, “It’s fun checking on the plants everyday. The kids get excited when there’s a little growth.”

Ginny also brought along paperwhite narcissus bulbs. “When the paperwhite narcissus bulbs bloom, they’re very fragrant,” Ginny explains, “so the kids will be able to smell as well as feel them.”

Students placed potting soil in pots—their favorite part of the job—and learned the proper depth bulbs should be planted beneath the surface of the soil.

They inserted toothpicks into other bulbs and suspended them over clear plastic cups. Then the cups were filled with enough water to reach the bottoms of the bulbs.

“The reason I like that,” Ginny says, “is that people can see [or feel] the roots growing, instead of them being hidden, which is a great learning experience.”

The children found a worm while working with the soil, and that started a conversation with Ginny.

“One of the tendencies of this generation is that if they find something in the soil that moves, they should kill it,” Ginny notes. “So we had a little talk about what worms do for the soil and why we should put the worm we found back into the pot.”

She laughs before adding, “That became a well-loved worm.”

The master gardener continued to marvel and learned a few things herself as the project concluded. If she thought it remarkable that the children were allowed to work with soil without any worry given to it falling on or over the table, she was also impressed by the same attitude as it carried over to wash-up time in the bathroom.

“I was struck by the way the teachers didn’t mind having to wipe down the bathroom walls because they were muddy,” says the former high school teacher and counselor. “It was a very calm atmosphere, which was intriguing to me.”

Teacher Miss Beckie summed it up: “Our table was full of dirt, the floor was full of dirt—but everyone had fun.”

Ginny also credits the students for not losing interest in the project. “Their attention was held for a whole hour,” she remembers.

Weeks after the planting project, the children not only are checking the growth of their plants, but shout and exclaim excitedly about how much they liked playing and learning with dirt.

It’s something they would probably do every day if given the chance.

They will have a least one more opportunity this year to feel their fingers in the soil. Ginny has invited them to visit her backyard wildlife habitat this spring.

It could turn out to be a story of dirt lovers in paradise.

What a great way to learn.