2019 Sunset in the Country Raises Over $525k for Anchor Center

Anchor Center for Blind Children’s largest annual fundraiser, Sunset in the Country, was held on September 21st, 2019. More than 500 supporters and friends of Anchor Center attended this unique event, held at J-5 Equestrian Center. What started over 23 years ago as a small picnic, known as “Day in the Country”, has evolved into a gala with a silent auction, live auction, dinner, special guest speaker, video about Anchor Center, live entertainment, and dancing. This year, Sunset in the Country raised more than $500,000 for Anchor Center!

We are so grateful to everyone who attended, donated and volunteered to make this year’s Sunset in the Country absolutely spectacular. Your support is so important in helping children with visual impairments and their families. We can’t possibly express that better than our parent speaker, Mark Davison, did at the event:

“We watched Lydia make leaps and bounds in her time at Anchor Center, and to this day we still spend time with her teachers, the staff, and other parents, who are now some of our very close friends. Yet, as novices in this realm, we discovered at Anchor Center a home that taught us how to be better parents, to recognize in Lydia, ways she communicated with the world we not aware of, and for Lydia –a chance to see the world in new ways.

The most memorable experience was visiting the light room with her teacher Jessica and the CVI Dr. They took me through a series of tests, that were always fun for Lydia, showing me with the sensory equipment what Danae had seen with her own eye’s. I watched our daughter track a bright object, more than a few times. They left Lydia and I alone in there for a while, the two of us snuggled up lying on the floor and then a board lit up with red, orange and yellow lights. Lydia watched, as she does nowadays from the periphery of her eyes. We watched the lights slowly changing from across the floor together, one color interacting with the next. Lydia let out one of her huge sun beam smiles and I knew then, this time on Lydia’s terms, we had both watch a sunset together, dad and daughter.

We as a family emerged from the Anchor Center with fistfuls of tools to play, communicate, and enjoy life together. Lydia is now in first grade and she likes playing baseball with the Miracle League. For my part I gained confidence in my role as her father and now lead monthly Roll N Stroll hikes for families whose children experience disabilities. On our hikes we talk things though sometimes, and sometimes we see folks from the Anchor Center on it, a tribute to their dedication and care for our kids. Mostly we just enjoy being in nature, all enjoying the benefits of spending time watching the dappled light and shade disperse though the swaying canopy in a gentle wind, much as Lydia does.”

Sunset in the Country 2019 Featured Video

View photos from Sunset in the Country 2019!

Interested in hosting a table at our next Sunset in the Country 2020? Contact Savannah Wippel at 303-377-9732 x156 or swippel@anchorcenter.org.