Blind since birth, she’s teaching visually impaired people how to use technology

Adjusting to life during the pandemic has presented many changes for all of us. Now imagine the challenges for Mirna Garcia, 32, who has been blind since birth.

The North Miami resident, who recently earned her bachelor’s degree from Florida International University, works as a technology instructor at Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Garcia’s job is to teach blind teens and adults how to use their computers and smartphones. She also teaches Braille to visually challenged adults, many who are senior citizens.

These days, in addition to the challenges she normally faces in her teaching position, Garcia must teach using Zoom and FaceTime to comply with social distancing requirements.

Her tremendous success with students is a credit to her talents and ability to overcome adversity.

“Mirna is one of our very best instructors and we’re very proud of what she has accomplished,” said Miami Lighthouse president & CEO Virginia Jacko.

Reflecting on her own situation, Garcia said, “the most important thing is don’t ever give up.”

“Keep fighting and believing in yourself, and you’ll find others who will believe in you. That’s when you will succeed.”

Garcia said her mother was very worried about her future, particularly when she was a child and had to have her eyes surgically removed.

“I only wish my mother could have known back then that I would graduate from college and get a job teaching. Now she knows that I will be okay.”

More about this dedicated organization that helps so many in our community is at www.miamilighthouse.org

Happy Birthday to a lion

“It is with great pride, pun intended, that the Miami Lakes Lions Club honors Lion Margaret Duncan on her 101st birthday and we wish her many, many more,” writes club secretary Sharon Franklin.

The huge accomplishment calls for an even greater celebration, as Margaret is a three-time breast cancer survivor having had her first occurrence in 1992 when she was 72.

“She is one strong woman,” Franklin said. “Lion Margaret stills dresses up and attends most regular and board meetings on a regular basis. She might be the oldest active Lion in Florida and her Club feels privileged to have her!”

Margaret was born July 20, 1919, in West Virginia. Her brother and sister are both deceased.

Margaret and her sweetheart married in 1945 after he returned from serving as a medic in the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. They had three children—two daughters and a son. The youngest daughter, Linda, was born on the same day as her mother, July 20.

The happy couple moved to Miami in 1958 and moved again in 1986 to Sebring in Central Florida. Margaret worked at Publix there until she was 84. Her husband of 54 years died in 2000. After she retired in 2003, Margaret moved back to Miami.

She now lives with her daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Richard Graham, who are both Lions. Margaret joined the Miami Lakes Lions Club in 2007 because she and her late husband had been involved with club functions in Sebring.

Club members call her Miss Margaret or “Mom.” She has served as a club director since 2015, and is active in several committees including the tab chair for the committee that collected aluminum tabs for the Ronald McDonald House.

She has also been the sunshine chair since 2012. That committee is her favorite because she loves to write letters and, with other club members, she sends out birthday, anniversary, and get-well cards.

Lion Margaret was honored as Lion of the Year in 2018. She enjoys visits from her six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, and loves to play Bingo, and raise violets and Christmas cactus plants. She’s also known for her superb macaroni salad.

“Must be from all the years working at Publix!” Franklin said.

Grove Neighbors Need Help

Food insecurity for those who are unemployed or underemployed is on the rise. The Rotary Club of Coconut Grove has started a fundraiser to help support the Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry.

Twelve $100 gift certificates from local restaurants and businesses will be raffled along with other prizes. Entries can be purchased at https://go.rallyup.com/rotary-raffle and the drawing will be Oct. 1.

“Our club is holding a raffle that supports local restaurants and businesses hurt hard by the crisis, while raising funds for the Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry. The community is helping their neighbors while entering to win a $1,200 Grand Prize of gift cards,” said Rick Klein, president of the Rotary Club of Coconut Grove.

Email RotaryClubofCoconutGrove@gmail.com or visit www.rotaryclubofcoconutgrove.com

Zoom with celebrated novelist

Mamta Chaudhry, whose debut novel “Haunting Paris” has earned accolades throughout the national book community, will speak at the next Zoom meeting of the South Florida Writers Association, 10:30 a.m., Oct. 3. Everyone is invited to join in the free event.

“We’re very proud to invite one of Miami’s finest authors to present to our members,” said Beverly Melasi-Haag, SFWA president. “Mamta Chaudhry will focus on her new novel with a focus on how perseverance plays an important role in the writing process.”

The novel is “a timeless story of love and loss which takes a mysterious turn when a bereaved pianist discovers a letter among her late lover’s possessions, launching her into a decades-old search for a child who vanished in the turbulence of wartime Paris.” Visit www.southfloridawriters.org

Virtual concerts at North Beach Bandshell

The North Beach Bandshell in Miami Beach has scheduled some top performers for a full virtual season of concert-quality programming.

“We are finding a silver lining in the closures, in that we now have the opportunity to present South Florida’s unique culture to a global audience,” said Benton Galgay, Rhythm Foundation’s deputy director.

“Our opportunity to collaborate has no borders. The North Beach Bandshell has submitted a COVID mitigation plan that has been approved by Miami Dade County, and we look forward to welcoming the public back into the venue when we are allowed to do so.”

Virtual events include the free Inffinito Brazilian Film Festival, 7 p.m., Sept. 27; and the free Salsa Fest, 8 p.m., Oct. 3. And, for the first time in 35 years, the three-day Miami Carnival will be produced as a virtual experience Oct. 8-11. More about these and other events is at https://www.northbeachbandshell.com/

If you have news for this column, write to ChristinaMMayo@gmail.com