Sierra Services for the Blind Newsletter

February 2026

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"I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to reach my destination."

~ Jimmy Dean

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Annual Membership Drive Begins

Each year in February we begin to speak of the membership.  There are three things to know.  One, it is a voting membership which is extremely rare.  The board cannot change the By-laws or the direction of the agency without a vote of our membership.  We have a meeting in May similar to a stockholders meeting where the Board of Directors and Executive Director make presentations related to what happened in the last year, and hopes they have for the new fiscal year starting July 1^st.  It is also a time when we assess changes that come to the community as we move from one generation to another, and from a settled Gold Country community to one that reflects the changes brought by new residents.

Second, it has been a major fundraising event since the organization was formed in 1981.  This year we have had to raise the cost of the annual membership to $25.  We held it to $10 for over 44 years, but it no longer covers the cost of operating the program.  A life membership of $100 remains the same and simply means you don’t have to renew your membership each year.  Memberships must be active before the date of the annual meeting of the membership and has been set at April 5^th.  Nevada County is the oldest community in the State.  We have the largest percentage over age 80, which is an age that has blindness and visual impairment at a rate of 1 in3.  While the membership generates some funding, it is the additional donations many if not most people give us at this time.  Annual members don’t have to renew but commonly send a donation at this time to show their continued support.  With today’s financial pressures these donations are critical.

The policy that you do not have to be a member to receive our services has also not changed.  We will provide education, transportation, and emotional support to those individuals and their families who have lost vision.

The third aspect is to look at the changes in our community and adjust both our service to clients to the changes in their needs, and to the financial changes in the direction of our community.  Thirty years ago, there were estimated to be 35 non-profits in Nevada County, and most were of the type that either serve a specific community issue like blindness, or cultural like theater and music or historical societies and food programs.  Today there are over 600 non-profits, and the new ones are mostly lifestyle or political in nature and much of the focus and funding is centered outside the community.

We serve the blind and visually impaired of our community.  We continue to provide the education, counseling and medical transportation needs of a primarily senior client base and allow them to remain active and participating members of the community.  Our measure of success is in the client who let the loss of vision isolate them from family and friends and neighbors.  Without access to the community, we become less vibrant as a community.  When they discover they can go to the restaurant, shop locally, attend local events, remain members of a church or service organization, they remain a factor in the social and economic health of the community.

We are proud of our record in this community.  We have long memories of the thousands of individuals we have helped remain active members of their families and our common community.  It is through the membership that we answer to the client and the community that we deserve their support.  In a national survey we were once found to be the only full-service agency for the blind in the nation serving in a rural community.  The annual meeting of the membership is just one way we have to say to the client and community, thank you.

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"Well done is better than well said."

~ Ben Franklin

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Stem Cell Research, a Step Forward

Dr. Sun Young Lee from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California has been working on a new twist for stem cells.  They are developing a stem cell implant for patients with dry macular degeneration that in early trials not only stops the loss of vision, it also seems to correct the vision that has already been lost.  Simply, it is showing promise as a cure.  The study noted that in 27% of the patients the implant takes over the damaged cells.

Approximately 20 million Americans live with either dry or wet age-related macular degeneration.  The process puts a lab grown healthy stem cell patch on the macula which replaces damaged cells.  This process is designed for dry macular degeneration, but if successful it can delay or eliminate the progression of dry to wet degeneration which causes vision loss far faster than the more common dry degeneration.  The second phase of the study is being implemented and patients aged 55-90 are eligible. 

Doctor Michele Slivinski said, “Stem cell-derived retinal implants may offer one of the greatest possibilities for helping patients with dry age-related macular degeneration and one day may offer a cure.”

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"It is not the size of the dog in the fight,

It is the size of the fight in the dog."

~ Mark Twain

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Changes come with Population Change

As our community changes with a new generation and new residents, we must also change to accommodate their needs.  Once upon a time, clients were mostly born in Nevada County.  We then got the Greatest Generation, followed by an infux of new people who moved here to retire.  Now we are becoming a ‘bedroom and home office’ community.  Each generation has different needs and desires, and we have to change with it.

One thing we noticed is that more of our clients are living with or being cared for by family members.  Many have other health issues besides loss of vision.  This means that what the client needs to learn is less personal independence related to cooking and maintaining a home, and more to individual issues.  Groups are still a chance for clients to meet others who have the same problems, and learning from peers is easier because they speak from experience.  At the same time, we are forming a new peer group for the families and caregivers as they too must adjust to the loss of their loved one’s vision.  The Intake process for us used to take fifteen to twenty minutes, now we meet more with family members present and it takes one to two hours and is the first round of counseling for both the client and the family member.  An example is when they learn about phantom vision and realize they are not losing their minds.  Often there is a great show of relief when they have been hiding it from each other and learn it is not dementia.  The family can now discuss it openly.  If you are a caregiver to one of our clients, and you would like to meet with others to discuss your frustration and learn new ways to deal with your loved one, call Sarah at the office, 530-265-2121.  Most of us have been there too.

We are also forming a “Friends of Sierra Services”.  It is a group of clients and volunteers formed to help the staff with events, fundraising and simple tasks that take staff away from client services.  They are also a source of ideas and advice for the staff as we adjust to the changes in the community.  Cooking dinner for 90 to 100 takes a lot of doing.  With their help this year’s holiday dinner for the clients was the first time we had the help we needed.  With a staff of two full and two part-time people we are providing counseling, medical transportation and services to almost 200 people and running a non-profit agency.  It is no wonder our volunteer drivers and staff drove clients 18,467 miles last year for medical transportation.

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Finding Funding in New Places

As our community and society change to an age of Artificial Intelligence more people are working at home for a company far away, and you can buy anything on the internet and never have to go shopping in local stores.  This changes how you fund a non-profit organization.

We are seeing benefits from such things as Giving Tuesday, and the new twists and turns of the tax codes; we have also been more aggressive in stating our financial issues.  This year, thanks to larger gifts from companies and corporations with giving programs, and more from the client and a broader Giving Tuesday public the season raised almost 20% of our budget.  We serve a fluid population.  If we say we have 185 clients, that is a number that will last just a few days.  Because of some moving out of town to be closer to family, or new folks moving, we get new clients every week.  Over a year, that almost 200 number of individuals is far greater.  And we do it with two full and two part-time employees on a budget of $209,000.  The cost of simply running a business, like gas for transportation, insurance and other fixed expenses have gone up due to inflation now dominate the budget.

We must live on an income not derived from a product we sell, and we must adjust expenses with what we can raise through other means.  A government grant of a few thousand dollars has an audit that costs more than $5,000.  We are 100% self-funded.  Our greatest donations have come from estates which are occasional.  A few grants from individual businesses that have a formal giving program, organization such as service clubs, and individual donations from the public are where we must find funding.  With fixed income items like any business, the only place we have to cut if we must would be to reduce staff, or cut services to the client.  We will not cut client services, and staff is now the lowest it has been in over 25 years.

As more money leaves the county due to the changes in purchasing habits of families and individuals more attuned to national organizations and causes, we like all other local community related non-profits have to work a little harder to maintain our local culture and the health and vitality of our clients.  To do so we have to find funding in new places and educate the public about what we do.  We have long been known for the content of our character and our ability to survive, and faith is a constant characteristic.  But occasionally we just have to say “Help”.  And then say, “Thank you” when a season of giving through unusual sources produces 20% of the budget.

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"Kindness is a language which

the deaf can hear and the blind can see."

~ Mark Twain

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Obvious to kids

The more complicated life becomes sometimes we forget to see the obvious.  Kids have uncluttered lives and these simple questions and answers make them laugh if you keep it simple.

What breaks when you say its name?      Silence.

What has one eye but can not see?     A needle.

What has many rings but no fingers?     A telephone.

What is always in front of you but never seen?     The future

What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?     A promise.

What can you never say “yes” to.     Are you asleep?

What goes up but never goes down?     Your age.

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Success is an Individual Goal

We are often asked what we think success is.  Unlike many agencies it is not how many came into the program, it is how well they came out of the program.  Each client has issues unique to their lives.  And their lives are often measured in not how well they did what was easy to them, but how they handled the hard things.

To Sierra Services success is the client who once isolated themselves and let the loss of vision take their tomorrows from them, but has now become an active member of the community.  Our quarterly lunch program is about just that, getting out with others.  It can be out with family or old friends, or going to church again, but it is active.  Though some vision loss is a symptom of another problem like diabetes, the diseases that cause a loss of vision do not cause any other physical problems unless you allow it to.  If you sit long enough, soon walking is a problem.  If you don’t make that meal, you will soon have many problems from the lack of nutrition.  A study years ago stated if doctors were honest starvation and a lack of activity would be the root cause of death for half of the elderly.

Peer counseling is far more than simply getting out.  It is a path to the psychological will to be among others who will take the journey with you.  And at the same time, you have the opportunity to be a part of their growth and the acceptance of the new limitations of vision loss.  Not being alone is a two-way street.  The one with you is also not alone.  Especially if that one you have taken a hand from is family.  How you take control of a disability is the model to the generations who follow you.  Your strength becomes their inspiration when they face the trials of their life.  So, take the hand that is offered.  And offer yours in return.

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Friendship is formed when one says,

“What, you too.  I thought I was the only one.”

C.S. Lewis

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We are looking for volunteer drivers! Interested? Please talk with Melissa,

(530) 265-2121