SCRANTON, Pa. — The Lackawanna Blind Association hosted their Annual Summer Picnic Thursday afternoon at McDade Park in Scranton.
Low vision and visually-impaired individuals and their families were invited to enjoy a delicious outdoor lunch. The weather turned out perfect.
Stormtracker 16 Meteorologist Jeremy Lewan was the guest speaker this year. Jeremy talked all about eclipses, and he brought thermoform tactile cards of depictions of eclipses over the centuries, so attendees were able to feel what total solar eclipses look like. The cards were accompanied by Braille explanations.
Jeremy was sent the tactile cards courtesy of NASA's Cherilynn Morrow and the NASA PUNCH (Polarimeter to UNnify the Corona and Heliosphere) Team.
The tactile cards merge art, culture, history, and science, and recreate eclipses from recent images, and even from cave drawings all the way back from the 11th century. They can also be useful for sighted individuals to understand the shapes of sun's outer atmosphere.
Steve Wzorek played music during lunch on keyboard, and Kailin Bouse conducted a sound therapy session with steel drums and chimes. The annual summer picnic has been held by the organization for more than 50 years in Lackawanna County.
