Donation helps local family purchase new embosser

Pictured above from left to right: Lions Club 27-D1 District Governor John Elverkrog and Janesville Lions President Dennis Steed present a new Index Basic-D V5 braille embosser to Laurie Heesen, mother & home school instructor, and her two blind sons, 5-year-old Matthew and 11-year-old Josiah, in their Janesville home.

The Janesville Lions Club recently helped make the Christmas season brighter for a local family with two blind sons.

The local club, part of Lions International, helped provide funding to purchase a Braille embosser machine for the family of Steve Heesen of Janesville. The Heesens, led by wife Laurie, provide home schooling for two of their five children. Josiah, 11, and 5-year-old Matthew are blind because of a genetic disease passed on from their blind father.

The Heesens approached the Janesville Lions Club with a request to help purchase a new Index Basic-D V5 embosser. These machines are very expensive, with this model priced at more than $3,500. Through the generosity of Wisconsin Lions District 27-D1 and the Janesville club, the Heesens replaced their burned-out, bulky old embosser with the more advanced machine capable of converting standard instructional text and graphics into hard-copy Braille.

“This is what Lionism is all about,” said Janesville Lions Club President Dennis Steed. “The Lions Club was founded on helping those with vision problems and the blind. This project was a great example of how we can help out community members through the local club, and provide essential equipment to assist in the education of Josiah and Matthew.”

About the Index Basic-D V5 embosser

The Index Basic-D V5 embosser at work
The Index Basic-D V5 embosser at work

Basic-D V5 is a small, powerful, portable Braille printer. Its extraordinary performances and competitive price has made Basic-D the most sought after Braille printer in the world. It uses fan-folded paper which is the most commonly used paper style for Braille embossers. Basic-D is stable and capable of continuous embosser. More information can be found here.

About the Janesville Lions Club

The Janesville Lions Club was chartered in 1922 and has donated thousands of dollars and thousands of volunteer hours toward projects that improve life in our community,our state and the world.

Site by: Why The Fuss? Technical Solutions