Monday Morning Quarterback Club / Crippled Children’s Foundation
The Monday Morning Quarterback Club of Birmingham, AL was organized in 1939. Under the direction of Zipp Newman, then Sports Editor of The Birmingham News the club was established for the express purpose of fellowship among football lovers. But it wasn’t long before the club began looking beyond football.
At the time of the club’s inception, polio was the number one medical concern in the U.S. The disease was rampant, striking thousands, most of whom were children. With a humanitarian desire, the club members promoted and sponsored an annual high school football game in order to raise money for a magnificent hospital to help care for afflicted children. The club, with others, subsequently raised over $3 million to build the Crippled Children’s Clinic and Hospital. In late 1969, the clinic building became a part of the Medical Center at UAB, and the Crippled Children’s Foundation was formed.
The mission of the Crippled Children’s Foundation is to provide funds to fulfill medical needs to children, which otherwise would not be met. They aim to make a difference in medical care and medical opportunities for children and young adults. Since 1969, the club has remained active in this fund-raising capacity. They continue to enjoy the fellowship, but serve many worthwhile purposes for others who have such great needs. This year they are celebrating their 78th Season.
Cumulatively over the past 11 years, Sight Savers America has been the recipient of funding from the club totaling over one million dollars! These funds have served over 10,000 children across the state of Alabama providing individual case management, vision screenings, eye exams, eyeglasses, aphakic contact lenses, rural eye clinics, low vision assistive devices, medications, vision therapy, ocular prosthetics, surgeries and other treatments for eye conditions. For the difference they have made in lives of Alabama’s Children, the Monday Morning Quarterback Club/Crippled Children’s Foundation is the Sight Savers America 2016 Hero For Sight!
Artist: Amy Monthei
Amy was born in Des Moines, Iowa, with congenital cataracts. Her lenses were removed when she was a few months old and she now has low vision. Her parents, who are also artists with low vision, saw great promise in Amy’s creative endeavors and encouraged her with great enthusiasm. “Blindness is an inconvenience, not a tragedy” – this lesson was imparted to Amy by her parents. They taught her to believe when an individual is disabled in one area, they are not necessarily left at a considerable disadvantage; that having a disability should never be perceived as being inadequate.
Amy worked for many years in various fine art galleries. In her early thirties she was diagnosed with early onset open angle Glaucoma and as a result faces challenges every day. Currently, she creates artwork in her home-based studio in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is inspired by the light and colors of nature found within the beauty of the Hawaiian Islands. She regularly shows and sells work in many galleries and creates commissioned work for clients throughout the U.S.
Amy is working on a series of tactile Braille paintings that have highly textured surfaces and multiple layers of color. These works intrigue the sighted viewer and create a piece of art that is accessible to a visually impaired or blind individual and can be enjoyed from a completely different viewpoint. The 2016 Hero For Sight Commissioned art piece is titled “Sensory Reflections: Share the Vision-grade 2 Braille”.
Amy was born in Des Moines, Iowa, with congenital cataracts. Her lenses were removed when she was a few months old and she now has low vision. Her parents, who are also artists with low vision, saw great promise in Amy’s creative endeavors and encouraged her with great enthusiasm. “Blindness is an inconvenience, not a tragedy” – this lesson was imparted to Amy by her parents. They taught her to believe when an individual is disabled in one area, they are not necessarily left at a considerable disadvantage; that having a disability should never be perceived as being inadequate.
Amy worked for many years in various fine art galleries. In her early thirties she was diagnosed with early onset open angle Glaucoma and as a result faces challenges every day. Currently, she creates artwork in her home-based studio in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is inspired by the light and colors of nature found within the beauty of the Hawaiian Islands. She regularly shows and sells work in many galleries and creates commissioned work for clients throughout the U.S.
Amy is working on a series of tactile Braille paintings that have highly textured surfaces and multiple layers of color. These works intrigue the sighted viewer and create a piece of art that is accessible to a visually impaired or blind individual and can be enjoyed from a completely different viewpoint. The 2016 Hero For Sight Commissioned art piece is titled “Sensory Reflections: Share the Vision-grade 2 Braille”.
https://www.facebook.com/Monthei-Fine-Art-304153346350403/?pnref=lhc