PITTSTON — Participating in a scavenger hunt for fun can be very challenging as you race around a house, or a building or even a city to find the items on your list. Now, put yourself in the same scenario as someone visually impaired or totally blind. The challenges could be intimidating.
Northeast Sight Services president/CEO Sara Peperno, Amy Marie Feldman, director of development, and Vision Resource Manager Kristen Boyle have been conducting Camp Sight, a summer day camp for blind and visually impaired youth from Hazleton to Greater Pittston over the past two weeks.
The Wyoming-based agency took campers to the City of Pittston where a scavenger hunt was conducted at different locations near Main Street. The purpose of the hunt is to allow the children to learn important orientation and mobility skills, utilizing navigation applications and teamwork, as well as becoming familiar with the local community.
“We have campers doing different activities throughout the two weeks,” Peperno said.
“They (campers) were at the Leigh Valley Zoo, Camp Kresge, a trolley ride, coal mining tour and a sensory walk set up for visual impairment and other disabilities,” Feldman said.
“Our children’s program called InSight Kids Club of NEPA is where we get kids together on a monthly basis throughout the year and we have a couple of priorities involved,” Peperno added. “We teach independent living skills.”
Peperno said the objective of the club is to instruct the children on daily living by teaching them everyday skills such as cooking.
“We also do this (Kids Club) for social reasons,” she added. “The incidents in vision loss is very, very low in children so the odds are they would never meet another child who has vision loss. This way, we bring them together and some really great bonds have been created.”
The campers and staff assembled at the Greater Pittston Chamber of Commerce where Michelle Mikitish, executive vice president, and Brandi Bartush, administrator/events coordinator, greeted them.
Various gift package items and donated backpacks from Boden were offered to the campers. After having pre-scavenger hunt snacks, the campers split up into three teams led by camp staff.
Locations participating in the hunt were Greater Pittston YMCA, Care and Concern Free Health Clinic, Joyce Insurance, Pittston Fire Dept., Pittston Farmers Market, Pittston Memorial Library and Art e Fekts Gallery.
“For Pittston, we called the Chamber and they said they would call different organizations in town to help with the camp,” Peperno said.
“There’s never been anywhere we contacted, unless it’s a scheduling conflict, that has turned us down to have the kids come in and do something,” Feldman said. “They’re really a good group of kids.”
Campers took a lunch break at City Hall where Mayor Michael Lombardo and Main Street Coordinator Mary Kroptavich hosted a pizza party after Lombardo taught the campers what it’s like to participate in a city council meeting.
Kristen Boyle, 25, Northeast Sight Services’ Vision Resource manager, legally blind herself, believes the camp is a great opportunity for visually impaired children to gain new experiences and form new friendships.
“I wasn’t able to go to programs like this when I was their age so I like seeing the aspect of them getting to know each other and getting to know other kids because a lot of times they are the only ones in their whole school that are visually impaired,” Boyle said. “This is a great opportunity for them to make friends who don’t treat them any differently because of their vision.”
Boyle, who has a B.S. in Psychology and an M.S. in Experimental Psychology, along with an M.S. in Vision Rehabilitation Therapy from Salus University, is able to use her education and knowledge to help others.
“I help people adapt their daily lives to be independent with vision loss.” she said.
Byron Dissinger, 13 of Shavertown, took part in the two-week camp, his fourth camp in total.
“It was definitely something I looked forward to,” Dissinger said of this year’s scavenger hunt. “When I saw it on the calendar for this year, I was really looking forward to this day plus I didn’t win last year but I did win the first part of the day. The camp is a nice break from everyday life.”
