Massachusetts Association
for the Blind and Visually Impaired
We began working with the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) through our involvement with the Boston Marathon, a long-time client. For more than 25 years, MABVI has fielded Team With A Vision (TWAV), an international team of visually impaired (VI) and sighted athletes who compete in the Boston Marathon to raise funds and awareness for their cause.
MABVI is the oldest VI social service organization in the country. In addition to fundraising, TWAV gives them a more public face, recruiting local—and occasionally national—celebrities to serve as guides for VI runners. Notable personalities, like Peter Sagal of NPR fame, participated as guides, garnering national attention for the team.
We promoted stories on standout guides and runners, many recognized internationally in visually impaired and disabled categories, making them available for online stories and video profiles, as well as pre-race and race-day interviews. We backed these media efforts with online profiles, testimonials, and media coordination for visually impaired training events. Fundraising has experienced significant growth, and MABVI’s visibility has been raised significantly throughout the state.
We also created a website in collaboration with MABVI and nationally recognized visually impaired athlete and advocate Richard Hunter. The site, United in Stride, is a nationwide resource for uniting visually impaired runners with sighted guides for training and competition. Their growth has proven the need for this tremendous resource.
Our work is helping MABVI reach more people (both sighted and visually impaired) and improve more lives. Helping this tremendous organization is a perfect expression of everything we stand for.