News
Guild for the Blind moving to new office in February
CHICAGO, January 31, 2011 -- After more than 30 years in its current location, the Guild for the Blind's office is moving to a new expanded downtown location. . The office will move to 65 East Wacker Place, Suite 1010 in late February. The move enables the Guild to offer a wider variety of services for people with vision loss. The move takes the Guild for the Blind one block north and half a block west from the current Michigan Avenue location.
The new Guild for the Blind suite will have an independent living service area to teach daily living skills, including kitchen skills such as slicing, dicing and appliance use.
Additionally, the new space will house an expanded computer training center, with 12 workstations equipped with state of the art computers and the latest Microsoft products and adaptive technology such as screen magnification and screen reading software. A separate open computer lab is available for students use.
A larger Consumer Product Center will feature a wide selection of video magnification equipment, products for daily living, large print items and talking products.
The expanded facility also enables the Guild's Counseling Center to host numerous support groups and employment workshops.
The Guild for the Blind will offer several free workshops in the spring at the new location. A kitchen skills class will be offered, as well as the latest course in the Savvy Socializing series, "Expanding Your Social Circle." The Computer Training Center will also feature a class teaching users how to navigate MS PowerPoint with speech software. Gardening with vision loss will also be presented at the new location.
The Guild will be closed Friday, February 25 and will reopen in the new Wacker Place location Monday, February 28. The Consumer Product Center will close Monday, February 21 and reopen in the new location Thursday, March 3. A formal welcome and member's open house will take place Wednesday, March 30 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm.
The current phone number for the Guild for the Blind will remain the same at 312-236-8569. Anyone with questions about how the move will affect services, or anyone needing specific directions to the new location is encouraged to call 312-236-8569 or visit the Guild's website at www.guildfortheblind.org.
About the Guild for the Blind
The Guild for the Blind, located in Chicago, Illinois, serves the entire Chicago metropolitan area, including the surrounding suburbs. Founded in 1947 by William F. Lynch, the Guild provides free services to people with vision loss. Each year, the Guild serves more than 1,000 people with direct services and in excess of 4,000 people through resource and referral services. The Guild works in partnership with more than 50 local organizations in communities throughout Chicagoland to bring services directly to the people who need them. For more information visit http://www.guildfortheblind.org
