OKLAHOMA CITY – On October 27th, NewView Oklahoma held a grand opening of their new garden, which promotes wellness for those with low vision and blindness. Despite the chilly weather, the event was filled with warmth and enthusiasm for NewView’s mission.
NewView Oklahoma is a nonprofit empowering those who are blind or have low vision and maximizing opportunities for independence. The organization provides employment opportunities, low-vision rehabilitation, and community outreach programs. NewView Oklahoma is the main employer of blind and low-vision people in Oklahoma and also provides a comprehensive low-vision clinic.
This project is a part of a $495,000 grant from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) intended to fund a holistic wellness initiative aimed at NewView’s clients and employees.
NewView Oklahoma collaborated with community leaders and artists to convert their manufacturing plant’s smoking area in Downtown Oklahoma City into a stunning community garden. The garden provides a secure space for employees, clients, and community members experiencing low vision to spend time outside and exercise.
‘Helping me out‘
Mark Ivy started losing his vision at age 18 due to a genetic condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa. NewView has been providing services to him ever since. Currently, Ivy is a full-time employee of NewView while also being a client.
“With every stage through life, it feels like there’s something else they’re helping me out with,” Ivy said. “When you go blind, you’ve got to start learning how to use a cane, and I had to learn how to change my daughter’s diaper.”
He said this new space is a game-changer for some opportunities that just aren’t as accessible for people who have low vision and blindness.
“It just allows us to be outside,” Ivy said. “It’s all set up strategically where we can walk and talk. We can just go to the garden, and it’s actually accessible for us to pick from or even learn how to garden.”
Smoking no more
The addition of a community garden in place of a former smoking area aims to address health concerns for individuals with vision loss. Research shows that smoking can increase the risk of comorbidities, such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, which affect those with visual impairments more significantly. A culture of overall wellness, including healthy eating and exercise, can combat these comorbidities, and the garden serves as a step towards achieving this goal.
Gus Pekara is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and sits on the board for NewView. He was one of many Chamber members in attendance at the grand opening and was one of three speakers.
“This was a smoking area. This was something that was just the opposite of promoting health,” Pekara said. “And now it’s something that promotes health and healthy living with the garden and flowers, with the art from local artists. It is just amazing.”
ADA accessible garden
The garden features an inclusive walking path shaped like Oklahoma, which is a tenth of a mile long. It provides a safe space for exercise and is especially important for those with blindness or low vision. According to Ashley Howard, the Vice President of Marketing for NewView, it can be difficult for these individuals to find such spaces.
“For a lot of folks who are blind, mobility becomes a challenge because of safety,” Howard said.
This path is entirely ADA-accessible and has guides for individuals who use canes. It also features sculptures from local artists Joe Slack and Rick and Tracy Bewley, which are made of tactile materials like glass and metal and provides an accessible and sensory experience for all visitors.
Education tool
Although the unveiling of a beautiful garden is reason enough to celebrate, the community impacts are much deeper than just that. The garden also serves as an educational tool for employees and clients who learn about the seasonality of different crops, like the recent plantings of tomatoes and peppers.
The crops are given to NewView employees and clients, promoting healthy eating and combating food insecurity, which particularly affects the low-vision and blind community, especially because there is an overlap between people who are low-vision and those who rely on government assistance or struggle to stay in the workforce. Plans are also underway to create an onsite food pantry, using items from the garden.
Exercise equipment planned
The progress doesn’t stop there. NewView officials plan to add accessible outdoor exercise equipment to the outdoor space and expand sporting opportunities, thanks to the TSET grant.
“If you think about how intimidating going to the gym can be anyway, and then you add not having any vision and not knowing how to use the machines along with transportation challenges, it really becomes a huge obstacle,” Howard said. That’s an obstacle that we’re working to remove.”
Not having accessible equipment for exercise and sports can be one of many roadblocks for those with low vision and blindness regarding health and wellness.
“There is nothing worse than a blind guy trying to work out at a gym,” Mark Ivy said. “And here, we’ll have an opportunity for us to work out outside. There are just a lot of activities that we’re not used to having available to us.”
The Fall Festival served as the perfect opening for the new space. Attendees enjoyed various activities, such as Tai Chi with a certified occupational therapist, pumpkin painting, and music from DJ Brown Gravy. Guests were also given the chance to take home arugula and lettuce seeds from OKC Beautiful, and Swadley’s Barbecue provided lunch.
NewView clients, employees, Chamber members, and other attendees gathered together, sipping on complimentary hot chocolate and playing rounds of cornhole.
Ribbon-cutting
The official ribbon cutting for the new garden took place around noon with speakers from the OKC Chamber of Commerce, TSET, and NewView Oklahoma, all expressing their excitement for the new project.
“This space out here is creating transformative opportunities for our employees and clients living with vision loss,” Lauren Branch, NewView’s President and CEO said during the ribbon cutting. “It provides an accessible space to achieve health and wellness through outdoor exercise and activities, healthy eating through the cultivation of fruits and vegetables, a peaceful space for arts programming and place to price opportunity to be in community with one another, which is a key component to mental health and wellness.”
Branch and several other NewView representatives thanked the TSET team as well as other community partners for making the garden possible.
“Everyone deserves the opportunity to have good health, Thomas Larson, the Director of Public Information and Outreach at TSET, said in his remarks. “Everyone deserves access to nutritious food. Everyone deserves a smoke-free environment. Everyone deserves the opportunity for safe and convenient physical activity.”
The opening of the garden space furthers NewView’s mission to improve overall wellness and accessibility for those who are low-vision or blind, but also the mission of TSET to create healthier, smoke-free spaces for Oklahomans to live and work.
Zoe Elrod covers events and happenings around Oklahoma City for Free Press bringing her skill as a reporter and photographer. Zoe has spent her career covering local musicians, artists, politicians, and everyday folks.
