When he started going blind 20 years ago at the age of 41, Fernando Amigon turned to Vision Loss Resources for guidance. The nonprofit offers a full suite of classes for the visually impaired, teaching everything from basic home cooking and cleaning to braille instruction and computer skills.

Amigon eventually found work with Contract Production Services, VLR’s sister company, a for-profit packing plant that employs workers to insert everyday retail items into the packaging customers see on store shelves.

The company, which maintains an 86,000-square-foot packing warehouse adjoining the VLR offices in Little Canada, has been his home away from home for much of the last two decades. So much so that tactile guidance strips on the floor lead from his work station to the bathroom and break room.

“I used to be able to see lamp light,” said Amigon in Spanish on Tuesday, as he inserted 3M respirators into their cardboard and plastic casings at a clipped pace. “For six years, it’s been nothing, nothing, nothing.”

Comprehensive institute for the blind

Instructor Jenny Stenner, left, talks with Lauren Holecko, who is deaf and blind, using tactile signing in a classroom at Vision Loss Resources in Little Canada on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

When Minneapolis-based Blind Inc. shut its doors last December after 38 years in operation, Vision Loss Resources became the Twin Cities metro’s only comprehensive institute for the blind. That’s led to an uptick in clients for VLR, which only recently relocated from Minneapolis but is already on the verge of outgrowing the suburban office and factory floor space it acquired off Interstate 694 and Interstate 35E in 2022.

Together with a sister nonprofit, DeafBlind Services Minnesota, VLR serves upwards of 200 vision-impaired clients per year in a training setting some might liken to a small community college, helping to ready both the newly blind and long-standing visually impaired for an ever-changing world.

“It’s almost like you’re getting an associate’s degree in independent living,” said Matt Kramer, who became president and chief executive officer a year ago of both nonprofits and the for-profit packing operation that helps sustain them. “How do you know what the stove is set at? How do you run a washer-dryer? These are real courses. We have real class periods.”

From typing class to braille

According to the American Foundation for the Blind, some 85,000 to 92,000 Minnesotans report vision difficulty, meaning they have trouble seeing even when wearing glasses, if they can see at all.

Matt Kramer, CEO and president of Vision Loss Resources (VLR) in Little Canada, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

In VLR’s technology class, the goal is to get visually-impaired students to type at 30 words per minute. Instructor Shawn Bangsund never touches a mouse or turns on his computer screen as he scrolls its icons, whose names are read aloud to him at a rapid pace by screen-reading software.

He slows the reader down for the sake of a reporter, but he’s accustomed to it describing what’s on the unlit screen before him at a speed that most would find unfathomable.

“For the average person, it’s just gibberish,” said Bangsund, with a laugh. “I never have to worry about the average person overhearing what I’m typing.”

In a small training room around the corner, braille instructor Melody Wartenbee guides two students in how to read books using a computer-assisted braille display. Wartenbee, who described herself as a prolific reader of nonfiction, quips that she’s “20/20 blind,” or completely blind since birth. Still, there are others with even more fundamental challenges, requiring the help of two additional instructors to teach a student who is both legally deaf and blind using hands-on communication.

Instructor Shawn Bangsund, who has been blind since birth, listens to a program that reads the contents of his computer to him, thus he doesn’t need his monitor to be on, while in his classroom at Vision Loss Resources in Little Canada on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

In yet another training room, Paul Hall took advice from instructor Lauren Chuba, a former VLR student who went on to become a public school teacher before returning to the nonprofit as an educator.

“I’m just trying to get back to the older version of me,” said Hall, who has been using VLR services, off and on, since 1992. A former motorcycle rider, he now navigates unfamiliar corners with the help of a cane. He can see shapes, but has no depth perception or peripheral vision, he said, and he relies on a smartphone camera reader to identify store items.

In addition to classes, VLR offers a support group to help the newly blind cope with what they’ve lost and understand the new community they may be gaining. Clients have arrived with blindness associated with traumatic brain injuries, stroke and even a gunshot wound to the eye.

“Vision loss is traumatic,” said Kramer, a former president and CEO of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce. “Generally speaking, it doesn’t come back.”

A top packing producer for the Midwest

Kramer noted that VLR’s contracts with the state, which are largely based on reimbursements for lessons taught, only go so far, especially when some 30% of students miss class, which he called a near-inevitability with a vulnerable population.

To make up funding, VLR relies on Contract Production Services, which maintains nearly 150,000 square feet of warehouse packing or staging space in Little Canada, St. Paul and Roseville.

“We’re easily one of the top producers for packing in the Midwest,” Kramer said.

Dozens of workers, most of them Central American immigrants, place retail items into consumer-facing packaging, which are then trucked to Target, Amazon and Walmart warehouses, among other distribution centers, for eventual sale across North America.

Amigon, who has spent a total of 13 years working for Contract Production Services off and on, is the company’s only visually-impaired employee, and a key reminder to workers and trainers alike of the mission they’re there to support.

While some other nonprofits offer classes for the blind in particular skillsets, VLR is the only remaining nonprofit in the Twin Cities that offers what Kramer described as a “comprehensive suite” of life skills training, he said. Before Blind Inc. closed its doors on Jan. 1, VLR saw some 20 to 25 clients per month, in settings where one-on-one instruction is often essential. That’s grown overnight to at least 30 clients, and as many as 40 clients in a single month. The combined annual budget for the two nonprofits is about $2 million.

Blind Inc.

Workers assemble and pack items for customers at the Vision Loss Resources’ Contract Production Services facility in Little Canada on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

In a public statement last December, Blind Inc. blamed its sudden closure, in part, on its inability to keep up with the “millions of dollars in renovations” needed at its headquarters, the historic Pillsbury mansion in Minneapolis, which “must be done in a manner that preserves its historic character.”

The nonprofit said it was working with the National Federation of the Blind to hopefully reopen.

“The Blind Inc. situation is supposed to be a temporary pause in services,” said Chris Danielsen, a spokesman for the federation, on Wednesday. “They didn’t know exactly when they planned to reopen. They’re trying to figure out a path forward.”

Not every student at VLR is visually impaired. In a teaching kitchen, Nyia Vang, a new administrative assistant to the director of the State Services for the Blind, wears vision-altering simulator goggles that allow her to experience the challenge of completing basic everyday tasks with a kind of tunnel vision.

On Tuesday, her second day of training, Vang successfully made a sandwich and a smoothie.

There were some unnerving moments along the way, “especially when I had to wear the blindfolds and walk upstairs,” said Vang, who will complete four weeks of training before returning to state offices, where she’ll help connect the visually impaired to similar types of instructional services.

Related Articles

Annual Stillwater plant sale set for May 18

Activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham to speak at Minneapolis Teach for America event

Peñaloga tapped to be Basic Needs’ new executive director

Emily Blomberg named president of Regions Hospital and the Regions Hospital Foundation

‘Is Minneapolis good?’ How a Russian transgender refugee found hope in Minnesota — and a friend at the airport

The sold-out crowd Saturday night at Minneapolis’ Target Center was ready and waiting for Nicki Minaj. In the 14 years since the Trinidadian rapper/singer first broke through, she’s become the best-selling female hip-hop star in the world while maintaining side gigs acting in films and succeeding as an entrepreneur.

Somewhat shockingly, the Pink Friday 2 World Tour is Minaj’s first U.S. tour in nearly a decade and Saturday served as Minaj’s debut headlining a Twin Cities arena. Those facts brought an extra charge to the audience, many of whom wore pink, Minaj’s favorite color. With all of that waiting, well, perhaps Minaj thought they could wait a little bit longer.

Despite an advertised start time of 8 p.m., Minaj didn’t take the stage until 10:10 p.m. in the noticeably stuffy basketball arena. If that sounds familiar, it’s also the way Madonna does it. One could make the argument that a musical act with the outsized success of Madonna, or Minaj, makes it worth it.

Well, Minaj delivered a top-notch show with more than 30 songs along with fog, fire, lights and a massive stage that served double duty as a screen flashing custom animations throughout. Even with all that razzle and dazzle, Minaj commanded the attention, and devotion, of the crowd — when she was actually on stage, that is.

For all the attention clearly paid to the concert’s visual presentation and its generous set list, somebody forgot about pacing. In order to facilitate Minaj’s many costume changes, a series of lengthy interludes brought the momentum to a screeching halt. During the first hour, every time it seemed like Minaj was really hitting her stride, one of four interludes interrupted, each seemingly longer than the one before.

After a mini set of songs that showcased her singing, Minaj ceded the stage to her “opening” act Monica. While the R&B vocalist’s time in the spotlight fell way back in the latter half of the ’90s, her voice has more than just held up and her short set had Gen Xers in the audience swooning. When she finished, the crowd had to endure yet another interlude.

Again, when she was on stage, Minaj shined. For much of the evening, she held the posture of royalty, standing in place and making grand gestures with her arms. A backup dancer held her hand and guided her down the two flights of steps whenever she decided it was time to find a new space to rule on the stage.

She didn’t dance as much as one might expect, but when she did, she delivered, like during “Cowgirl” when she swayed seductively flanked by four muscular male dancers in Stetsons. She laid down on the stage and performed “Pink Birthday” writhing and thrusting to the beat and never missing a line. Indeed, Minaj impressed with her fluid, dynamic rapping and her uncanny ability to keep each word distinct, even during the fastest bits.

Minaj noticeably loosened up after the Monica mini-concert when she tore through a run of her biggest hits, including “Super Freaky Girl,” “Anaconda,” “Super Bass” and “Starships.” The latter earned the strongest reaction of the night from the crowd, who walked out glowing, likely to forgive and/or forget about the slow moments.

Related Articles

Concert review: Three decades on and Tim McGraw’s still got it

Concert review: Kane Brown blows up country conventions at Target Center

Prince’s sister Tyka Nelson to retire from performing live with show at the Dakota

New SPCO season will feature musician-curated concerts and Netflix-style memberships

Ludacris and T-Pain added to Minnesota State Fair Grandstand lineup

North Oaks product Frankie Capan III is in position to secure his first Korn Ferry Tour victory Sunday in Texas.

Capan birdied his final three holes in the third round Saturday at Texas Rangers Golf Club in Arlington to move into solo second place and pull within two shots of Tim Widing at the Veritex Bank Championship.

Capan shot a 4-under-par 67 on Saturday, two days after he set the course record with a 13-under 58 to open the tournament.

A victory Sunday would move the 24-year-old into the top five of the season-long points list. The top 30 at season’s end earn PGA Tour cards. If Capan — who entered the week in 30th on the list — were to maintain his current placement of solo second, he’d be projected to move up to 12th.

There are currently no Minnesota natives on golf’s top professional tour.

Capan is simply excited to have the opportunity to contend for a title.

“Winning is fun, man. Winning is always fun,” Capan told reporters Saturday. “No matter what tour or what level you’re on. No matter what we’re playing. If you and I went out and played pickleball or football or any other sport, I want to beat you. So I think just having the opportunity to win and putting myself in a good spot to do that is exciting, and I’m really looking forward to (Sunday).”

Adrian Heath struggled on an annual basis against Sporting Kansas City over his seven-year tenure at Minnesota United.

Heath’s replacement, head coach Eric Ramsay, ended a winless skid in his first game against the Loons’ closest rival with a 2-1 win on Saturday night at Allianz Field.

MNUFC (5-2-2, 17 points) ended a five-game skid against Kansas City since October 2021. The Loons had won one of 10 since July 2020.

Kansas City (2-3-5, 11 points) had allowed three goals apiece in four of its previous five games and gave up two in the first half-hour Saturday.

In the second minute, Robin Lod’s flick-on header off a corner kick was tapped in on the back post by Michael Boxall. After not scoring on a corner in the first seven games, the Loons have now recorded one in each of the past two games.

After the final whistle, Boxall fist-pumped and fans roared after their second home win this season.

Tani Oluwaseyi doubled the lead with a tap-in at the back post in the 26th minute. Oluwaseyi might have been offside, but it held up through a video review.

Sporting Kansas City cut the lead in half in the 38th minute when Daniel Salloi’s pull-back pass was finished by Allan Pullido.

Ramsay tinkered with the starting lineup and formation to great success in a 3-0 win at Charlotte last Sunday. His latest wrinkle was starting both strikers Teemu Pukki and Oluwaseyi, who primarily had substituted for each other in the opening eight games.

Ramsay addressed the chance to play both after Tuesday’s practice.

“It’s something that is sort of lurking away in the background. They are two very good players, both who have very different strengths,” Ramsay said. “… But it’s sort of working out how we would look behind that, whether that is in certain phases of particular games or whether it’s from the start of games. That is something we’ve got to consider.”

The striker partnership lasted only one half as Ramsay subbed out Pukki after 45 minutes. Pukki did not register a shot in his shift. Oluwaseyi came out in the 66th minute.

Briefly

Lod’s assist moved him into a tie for the MLS lead with six this season. Cristian Espinoza of the San Jose Earthquakes and Dante Vanzeir of the New York Red Bulls came into Saturday with six assists apiece. … Central midfielder Hassani Dotson (hamstring) missed his first game of the season. … Micky Tapias returned from a four-game absence for a hamstring injury. MNUFC2 goalkeeper Alec Smir was signed to a short-term loan for Saturday’s game. He was called up with backup keeper Clint Irwin suffering a “slight” injury. Smir can now be called up for only one more MLS match. … Mexican club Necaxa, which the Loons will play in the Leagues Cup on July 30, are in ninth place (7-3-6) in Liga MX Clausura going into their final regular-season match Sunday. Necaxa finished in last place, 18th, in the Apertura to start the season. … Carlos Harvey, who scored a hat trick for MNUFC2 last weekend, made his MLS debut in the 80th minute. … Victor Eriksson and Moses Nyeman weren’t on the bench Saturday; they traveled with MNUFC2 for their match in Kansas on Sunday.

Related Articles

Minnesota United vs. Sporting Kansas City: Keys to the match, projected starting XI and a prediction

Loons’ Robin Lod in company of MLS stars, but still passes on spotlight

Eric Ramsay pulls right strings in Loons’ 3-0 win at Charlotte

Minnesota United at Charlotte FC: Keys to the match, projected starting XI and a prediction

Loons fullback Zarek Valentin fulfilling childhood dream as a broadcaster