LAFAYETTE PARISH — A local food truck event will help provide life-changing training for adults who are blind and deaf-blind in Acadiana.
Affiliated Blind of Louisiana (ABL) is hosting a Food Truck Fundraiser on Wednesday, August 27, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 409 W. St. Mary Blvd. in Lafayette.
Proceeds will benefit the ABL Training Center, which supports adult students through specialized classes that build independence. ABL is a non-profit organization, and raising funds and maintaining grants and community support is critical for them to continue their mission. A map for those wanting to attend can be found at the bottom of this article.
Brianna Prejean, the Program Director, tells KATC not only are these life changing services for these adults, but it is at no cost to their students. She sits down with KATC to talk about not only the fundraiser, but to bring awareness to what ABL is, what they do, and how the community can make an impact.
The ABL Training Center serves around 23 students at this time, ages 18+ , with four primary courses.
These include:
Orientation and mobility
Home and personal management
Technology
and Braille.
Many students commit to about nine months of training, learning skills that help them live and work more independently as they navigate the world so differently than those around them.
One of ABL’s unique efforts includes having two of their primary educators being individuals who are deaf-blind, such as Maria Annis and Jackie Broussard, who are using their personal experience to relate to and teach these adults how to navigate something others not in their same condition cannot relate to. ABL is modeled in part after Helen Keller National Center training in New York, but serves Acadiana’s community close to home. In fact, the Helen Keller National Center in New York is the closest comparable example of what ABL does for these members of our community.
Food will be provided by The Smoking Pit, and community members are encouraged to stop by during the lunch hours.
