Lions World Services for the Blind

Lions World Services for the Blind is the largest, most comprehensive rehabilitation center for blind adults in the world.

The organization founded in 1947 by Roy Kumpe as the Arkansas Enterprise for the Blind has served more than 8,200 people from all 50 states and 56 other countries. Several training programs offered at the Lions center are

available nowhere else in the world.

Lions World Services’ 65 employees and 130 volunteers train an average of 233 visually impaired people each year to function independently and to live full and productive lives.

Ramona Sangalli, who heads the nonprofit organization, literally grew up under Kumpe – both of her parents were blind and were clients of the center.

The Little Rock agency has long been a trendsetter in the rehabilitation of the blind. It is now exploring Internet-based training programs.

The organization is a state project of Lions Clubs International of Arkansas and Texas and also gets help from other surrounding states, but only about 10 percent of its $2.6 million budget comes from the Lions. Sixty percent comes from training fees for services, Sangalli said.

Facing increasing competition for available dollars, Lions World Services is seeking to expand its support base by approaching Lions in other states and by increasing public education about its services.

In addition to offering outpatient low-vision services and training for independent living, the agency provides services to all businesses to help them become accessible to the blind and visually impaired.

Sangalli said that in spite of all that’s been done, about 70 percent of blind people remain unemployed or underemployed. She said the agency is working to develop new and unique training programs and to make those services more accessible.

Four new programs have been established at Lions World Services in the past three years, and advisory councils have been formed to make sure the curriculum is relevant to each industry.