Belinda Shults opened her Canal Pointe doors Nov. 12 to more than two dozen friends of Charles Morgan and supporters of the World Services for the Blind. The small reception preceded Thursday's Vision Awards luncheon for the nonprofit; Morgan was the honoree.
Foundation board chairman Dave DeGraff of Hot Springs Village made a few remarks that led to the introduction of World Services for the Blind's new president, Sharon Giovinazzo, who comes by way of North Carolina where she was vice president at the Raleigh Lions Clinic for the Blind.
"You can say that people come into our building lacking sight in the physical sense but they see with a vision, and that's a vision of a brighter future."
And the future "is indeed bright," she said, for the nonprofit that this time last year was preparing to announce it would close its doors ahead of the Christmas holiday and not have the budget to reopen them.
By February, World Services for the Blind had received "significant contributions," said interim Chief Executive Officer Bruce Davis, and had sold a downtown property worth millions that had been on the market for years.
World Services for the Blind is a charity with clients in 50 states and even more countries that offers college preparatory instruction and vocational courses, vision rehabilitation and sensory-assisting technology and job-placement assistance.
Morgan, who as CEO did for Acxiom something like what Ray Kroc did for McDonald's, joked that, despite the name of the award and his humble acceptance of it, "I really don't see so well, especially at night," and he didn't even drive himself to the house that night -- his wife, Susie, did.
-- Photos and story by Bobby Ampezzan
High Profile on 11/22/2015