By Stephen Appezzato
COLTS NECK – Members of the Colts Neck Lion Club have their sights set on bringing a remarkable experience to blind and visually impaired residents at county parks.
The Lions’ Braille Trails project will soon be underway, offering access to Monmouth County’s beautiful hiking trails for the visually impaired. Construction of the first Braille trail, located at the Manasquan Reservoir, will begin later this fall. In 2020 the Colts Neck Lions Club unveiled the Lions Sensory Den at Dorbrook Recreation Area – a play area designed for children with visual impairments. Following that success, club president and 10-year member Justin Lotano brainstormed more ways to help visually impaired residents experience Monmouth County’s outdoor features. After learning about braille trails online, he realized the project would be a great addition to local parks.
Braille Trails is “all about accessibility and safety” and “allowing people who can’t see or who partially can’t see to be able to walk in nature,” said Lotano.
These trails will have guide posts and ropes along each path, accompanied by braille signs and QR code links that describe the surrounding atmosphere and environment to blind hikers. “We have such great trails and such great parks in Monmouth County and this is really going to allow blind and visually impaired people to enjoy them,” Lotano explained.
Over the past year the Colts Neck Lions Club has coordinated with the Monmouth County Park System to plan and design the project. Braille Trails is in the funding and design stage, with trail work beginning soon. Lotano anticipates the first trail at the Manasquan Reservoir will be completed by the spring.
The second trail will be built at Deep Cut Gardens in Middletown. The Lions aim to construct five Braille trails in Monmouth County over the next five years.
Sarah Thoma, executive director of the New Jersey Blind Citizens Association (NJBCA), thanked the Lions Club and the county park system for their “wonderful” and “valuable contribution” to blind and visually impaired residents in the county, which will enable these residents “to live happy, independent lives.” The NJBCA, based in Leonardo, has offered important services to blind residents for 113 years.
“One of the main focuses of Lions is helping people that are blind or visually impaired,” said Lotano. In past years the club also purchased special eye screening cameras to offer comprehensive eye evaluations to children in local schools. These screenings can catch visual impairments sometimes overlooked by outdated or traditional eye exams.
The club also tackles other issues in the community, such as supporting children’s cancer organizations and purchasing ser- vice dogs for local military veterans.
Formed in 1969, the Colts Neck Lions Club is a branch of Lions Club International, the largest service and philanthropic organization in the world. The global organization assists many but has made service to the blind and visually impaired a major effort since Helen Keller addressed the club at its international convention in 1925 and challenged them to become “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness,” according to its website.
To support the project, the Colts Neck Lions Club will host its annual pancake breakfast at the Colts Neck Community Church Dec. 2. For just $5, guests can eat unlimited pancakes. Proceeds will go directly to funding the Braille Trails project.
The article originally appeared in the October 26 – November 1, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
