Ontario

CNIB Lake Joe has become a family vacation destination for the Knip family: Sarah, Josh and their children Caleb, Keagan, Avery, Hudson, and Nora.

Three of their children live with sight loss. After learning about the camp from an Early Childhood Intervention Specialist in 2015, the family now visits every summer.

Jaclyn Pope is determined to not let COVID-19 railroad her education and professional ambitions as she expands her online business, Sewing in the Dark. When a sewing course at Durham College was cancelled due to the pandemic, Jaclyn, 39, viewed it as an opportunity to reconsider her educational plans.

“I started to think about other things that I could learn that would ultimately help my business and help me achieve my goals,” says Jaclyn. “I realized one of the ways I can promote my business is to have a website, but I didn't want to pay someone to create a website for me. Because I like to have control, I decided to learn how to build my own.”

“I knew CNIB Scholarships existed, but I never really thought of myself as someone who could get a scholarship because, frankly, my grades are not stellar,” says Tait. “But the scholarship application said they were looking for someone who likes to do things outside the box. It wasn't just about academics and grades, so I took a chance and applied.”

Susan Creasy and her family have been part of the Lake Joe journey since the beginning. Her grandfather and great aunt, Wilfred C. James and Elsinore C. Burns, were both members of the Lake Joseph Planning Committee in the early stages of development in the 1960s.

Lion Barb Ennis grew up in Toronto close to CNIB's head office, and every day she saw people with white canes and guide dogs travelling to and from CNIB. And every summer, her family went to their cottage in Muskoka where her mom, a relief nurse at CNIB Lake Joe, would take her along.

Everyone has their own reason for volunteering. I volunteer to repay, in some small way, the enormous debt of gratitude I feel for CNIB: for the services it has provided to my brother David and for the life-changing experiences I have shared with him at CNIB Lake Joe.

Lion Bruce Roulston from Hagersville, Ontario, was a farmer for practically his entire life until he lost his vision to Retinitis Pigmentosa.

“I was 53 when I got off the farm because it was too dangerous for me to work. I realized I needed support and that’s when CNIB became a big part of my life,” says Bruce. 

When Alicia Chenier arrived at CNIB Lake Joe as a 12-year-old, she didn’t have to “hide being blind."

“I used to pretend I wasn’t blind because I was bullied for it. School was tough,” says Alicia. 

For Nancy Simonot, volunteering with CNIB Lake Joe is a family affair. Her journey with CNIB began when her son, Matthew, had a transformational experience as a volunteer counsellor.

Do you remember what you were doing 23 years ago? Were you sitting in a packed movie theatre breathlessly watching Titanic? Humming along to Elton John’s Candle in the Wind? Enjoying the warm winter compliments of El Nino? For Jim Tokos, 1997 was the beginning of a prolific volunteer career at CNIB Lake Joe.