Orphans of God to Benefit The Vision Resource Center
by DR. SHANESSA FENNER
"When you're different, sometimes you don't see the millions of people who
accept you for what you are. All you notice
is the person who doesn't."
— Jodi Picoult, Change of Heart
Bullying happens every seven minutes
on the playground and every 25 minutes in
the classroom, so just imagine how often a
visually-impaired student is bullied.
The Vision Resource Center is
presenting Orphans of God: The Musical
on Friday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m., at Snyder
Memorial Baptist Church Theatre.
"I originally wrote the play for a
Mother's Day program with the message
that everyone is the same in God's eyes
and the play dealt with bullying in the
school system because it was something
that I noticed with the girls," said Cory
Worrell, writer and director of Orphans
of God: The Musical. "We thought this
would be an amazing way for our visually impaired youth to share their
many talents and bring awareness during Blindness Awareness Month in
October."
The play features the many talents of 14 visually impaired youth including
Michael Macias (keyboard), Hannah Pritchard (Heart of Christmas Show),
Lauren Adams (guitar soloist), Brooke Johnson (The Orphan) and the
remainder of the Vision Resource Center's youth cast.
"They have worked very hard since August to make this play possible,"
said Worrell. "I have students from different schools participating as extras
in the play."
Worrell added that the finale is going to be spectacular.
"When we went to camp I realized the students had so many talents," said
Worrell. "They can sing, dance, draw
and act and I wanted to create an avenue
where they could showcase their talents."
The Vision Resource Center's youth
program consists of 41 visually-impaired
students and a new program will begin in
2014 for youth between the ages of 3 to 7
and a group for young adults between the
ages of 19 to 25.
"We really want to start early because
they are getting younger," said Worrell.
"These are the two major programs we
are working on now."
Worrell added that they will launch
their self-defense and theater programs
in the spring.
Blindness Awareness Month is
designed to heighten awareness and
support for the National Federation of
the Blind.
"Blindness can happen to you or anyone in your family," said Terri
Thomas, executive director of the Vision Resource Center. "Visually
impaired students are bullied more than other students."
Thomas added that she wants people to come and be inspired by the play.
"I am blessed to be part of such an amazing group of kids," said Worrell.
"They continue to inspire me everyday."
Admission is free. For more information or group
reservations call 483Dr. SHANESSA FENNER, Principal William
2719 or visit www.
T. Brown Elementary School. Contributing
visionresourcecentercc.org.
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