Montana Association of the Blind, a statewide, nonprofit, self-help consumer organization, has relocated its Summer Orientation Program and Summer School for the Blind to Carroll College.

The school was previously held at Montana State University in Bozeman for the past 60 years.

The four-week school provides visually impaired students with the skills necessary to function independently.

Daily classes include sewing, cooking, using computer programs, orientation and mobility and woodworking, among others.

“We are thrilled to be at Carroll College this year. Not only to educate our students so they can live a more independent life when they head back into their own communities, but also to educate this community about blindness,” said Kay Peterson, the program’s director.

The program is in need of a number of items to support their classes including floor lamps, goose lamps, leather belt kits, small craft kits, three or four 24-inch televisions, sewing machines and supplies such as buttons, yarn, thread, batting, scissors and such adaptive devices as seam guides, and needle hand-threaders, talking thermostats and scales, 20/20 pens, erasable pens, wide line markers, low vision NOIR Sun Shield kitc Blue Light Magnifier kit, hand made blindfolds, Wheatley Tactile graphic kit, cooking and baking pans, silverware for eight, place settings for eight, digital voice recorder, talking wristwatches and spot and line pen.

The school will hold its open house on July 1 from 2 to 4 p.m. in Trinity Hall at the campus. The public is invited to attend and learn more about the program.

For more information about program and donation collections, contact Samantha Kemp, director of Campus Events and Conference Services for Carroll College, at 447-4407 or skemp@carroll.edu.

Donations will be collected through Wednesday, June 6.