Daytona's Conklin Davis Center receives $500K in state funds to help continue serving the visually impaired

Sen. Tom Wright presented the check to the Conklin Davis Center on Tuesday, Aug. 11.

  • Daytona Beach
  • Share

For Chris Jannssen, the Conklin Davis Center for the Visually Impaired has been his salvation.

That's how he described it to a room full of staff members, fellow residents and community leaders during a legislative appropriation check signing ceremony on Tuesday, Aug. 11. The Conklin Davis Center for the Visually Impaired was celebrating a $500,000 legislative appropriation. 

Funds that will help the center continue to help people like Jannssen, who lost his sight a year and a half ago.

"Before that, I was an artist," he said. "... Then suddenly everything was gone, and then I just felt like I died, and I was in between worlds or something because everybody else could hear me or see me, but I couldn't see anybody else."

The Conklin Davis Center has given him hope, he said. It's also helped him regain technology skills so he can communicate.

"We have so many stories like that, that make it worth everything that we do here, and why this donation from the state is so helpful," Board Chair Nancy Epps said.

Sen. Tom Wright presented the check to Epps and Conklin Davis Center President and CEO Ronee David. He commended the center on its Vision Beyond Limits program, which provides vocational training, assistive technology instruction, orientation and mobility training, daily living skills and employment preparation. 

"I was proud to advocate for this particular program because it combines compassion, accountability and proven commitment to helping people overcome barriers," Wright said. "It has been one of my greatest honors in my service as a Florida senator — and I'm in my last year now — to support programs that expand opportunity and help Floridians achieve greater independence."

Also present at the ceremony was Daytona Beach City Commissioner Ken Strickland, who thanked Wright for the state's contribution.

"This is a very worthwhile facility, and we have a lot of people that don't understand the services that are provided with this facility and other facilities that we have here in our city, and this will help tremendously going forward with keeping this this center alive and well for those who need it," Strickland said.

The Conklin Davis Center seeks to continue to grow. With only 16 dorms, the center has a waiting list of people in need of their programs, Epps said. 

David shared a few initiatives the center is working toward, including the addition of a student marketing group to help local businesses.

Thanks to grant funding and support from the City of Daytona Beach, the center will be adding a sensory garden. A team of artists, whose work is on display in the center, will be painting murals. 

"We're going to make it a beautiful area for guests and for our clients," David said.

The Conklin Davis Center is also working to create an art program for its clients.

 

×

Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning local news.