Diller Blind Home Receives $25,000 Donation

AVALON — A one-week vacation to the Helen L. Diller Vacation Home For Blind Children costs about $1,500 per child, and allows visually impaired children, many for the first time, to visit the beach. For these children, a visit like this is often a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that is not financially feasible, however due to donations and grants to the home, the campers are invited to stay for free.
Recently, the Diller Home was named a beneficiary of such a donation, by the Barbara Brodsky Foundation in the amount of $25,000.
What uniquely inspired the donation was a recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer titled, “Avalon Home for Blind is Beach Haven.” Staff writer Sean Carlin spent a day with a group of campers at the Diller Home, and detailed the unique opportunities awarded to campers.
In some instances, a trip to the Diller Home will be the first time a child is able to feel the sand, and swim in the ocean. For many it will be the first time away from home, and a chance to make lifelong friends and memories. It is donations such as the one made from the Barbara Brodsky Foundation, that make this opportunity available as grants and donations are the Diller Home’s only sources of income.
“This generous donation has enabled us to purchase a much needed new van for transporting the campers as well as a new freezer,” says Doug Heun, President of the Diller Home’s Board of Directors. “We are truly appreciative towards the Barbara Brodsky Foundation, and are already looking forward to another great season in 2014.”
Since 1972, The Helen L. Diller Vacation Home for Blind Children, located at 127 26th Street in Avalon, has been providing a seashore escape for visually impaired children, with supervision from experienced and certified counselors and administrators. Since many of these children come from families with limited financial means, the vacation experience is provided to them at no charge. The camp operates for eight weeks during the summer months, from mid-June to mid-August, with approximately 20 children (ages 7-15) attending weekly. Support of The Home is provided by volunteerism, Tim Kerr Charities, the Avalon Lions Club and the NJ State Lions Club, private donations and foundation grants. The Home is a registered 501(c)3 charitable organization under the name “Challenged Children’s Charities Corporation.”
For more information about the Helen L. Diller Vacation Home for Blind Children, please visit www.dillerblindhome.org