Pre-episode Intro

James: Met a gentleman from Nigeria, and he got his first cane, and he said, "You know, a cane like this in my country's about a month's worth of rent or food for a family." And he said, "That's why blind people don't have canes. And this is my very first cane."

Chris: This is the Penny Forward podcast, a show about blind people building bright futures one penny at a time. I'm Chris Peterson.

Liz: I'm Liz Bottner.

MOe: I'm MOe Carpenter.
Chris: And today, we have James Boehm, Amanda Juetten, and Angus Kola from Kustom Canes, and the You Cane Give initiative on to talk about their organizations, and, how they fund a need that's super important, and that we probably don't think about here in the United States, which is the needs of the blind and visually impaired in the rest of the world, who may not have access to something as simple as a long white cane. James, Amanda, Angus, thank you for being here.

James: Thank you.

Angus: Glad to be here.

Amanda: Yes. Thanks for having us.

Chris: James, could you start out by telling us about your organization, how it started, uh, how it operates a little bit, and, and also, your connection to the blind community, or your blindness, if you happen to be blind?

James: Sure. Yes. Thank you. So, the You Cane Give initiative, and Kustom Cane are two in one. Uh, Kustom Cane was the original idea, which was kind of a business on the side. Before I went blind, 14 years ago, I had a automotive restyling business, and so, when I went blind suddenly, I navigated through that adjustment, to, uh, grief and loss, and, and, a new chapter in my life, and as I was doing that, uh, there weren't really many options for, I was used to customizing cars and trucks and vans and boats and, my options for a cane were white, or white with a red tip. And so, um, I pimped my first cane even before I learned how to use it, (Chuckle.) 'cause that's one thing I had always done since I was fifteen years old, and then, probably a year and a half after that, I went in, I went to a rehabilitation school to learn all my skills, to determine what I was gonna do next, and , and mobility and so forth, and that's where I met a lot of other blind individuals, and they all wanted their canes done as well. And so that's how that started, which then led to me going to college, and when I went to college, really tried to gear all the research I was doing and relate it in some way to disability. And blindness, since that was a new chapter in my life, and in that, really saw how, in these major areas of the world, around China, Asia, India, and then throughout the continent of Africa, there was such a lack of resources, uh, lack of trainers, lack of canes. And so, that's how You Cane Give began, um, and eventually, we just decided to merge both together, to where people could, whether they donated their canes or buy a, a brand new one, that it would all serve to support other people around the world who have never owned canes.

Liz: Who and what contributed to your success?

James: Well, I think when I first went blind, the supports of my family was huge, and those supports helped me to figure out, um, what it was that I needed, and uh, again, dealing with a lot of, uh, depression, a lot of grief and loss, a lot of other things that were going on in my life at that time. And so, you know, when people ask me, you know, "What helped you get to where you are at today?" the first thing that I tell folks is, "My mental health. My brain. I had to get my brain healthy again. Which then gave me then the ability to see what's next in life. What is it that I could do? What would be this next chapter?" Um, and so, that brings me to the second thing that helped me, which was in getting the training, but also getting connected with the community. Getting connected with other blind people, learning how they navigated their adjustment to disability. Meeting blind lawyers. Meeting, um, other successful blind people that experienced other major challenges, but yet, uh, were successful. So, I think those were the, the major things that helped me to get to where I'm at today.

MOe: I want to back up just a little bit, and, um, ask Amanda and Angus to share with us their blindness story, and, uh, how you're connected to the blind community.

Amanda: I lost my sight four and a half years ago due to retinitis pigmentosa. I'd been losing sight for about twelve years at that point, had been legally blind for nine of those twelve years, but I didn't have blindness skills. And so, when, I all of a sudden, lost the last of my sight, even though it had been waning for years, I wasn't prepared. Uh, every resource I reached out to told me Voc Rehab was the only way to get any kind of blindness skills training. So I ended up going through vocational rehabilitation, and through that, I met several blind people. Uh, it was Covid, it was 2020, so, the whole world was falling apart, and I didn't care because I couldn't see, and I had no skills to survive. (Chuckle.) So, I pushed and, and pushed, and pressured, uh, Voc Rehab until I finally said, "The little bit that you can offer here in Tennessee is not enough, I need to do, I need more." And I went to the Colorado Center for the Blind for their full training program, and graduated from there in 2022, returned home, and hit the ground running, went back to school, and have two semesters left to finish my bachelor’s degree, and just been cranking out the, the classes every semester, and working towards, uh, a training center for the blind here in Tennessee. Because we shouldn't have to go halfway across the country to find adequate training. So, that's, that's how I got where I am today, and that's kind of the, the path that I'm on. Jimmy and I crossed paths through the National Federation of the Blind, and uh, he got me involved in You Cane Give. My husband and I went on a trip to South Africa in 2023 and had an amazing time bringing white canes to a school for the blind, putting canes in the hands of kids who had never held a cane before, and didn't have any way to even acquire a cane for themselves, or think that it was something that they could have. So, being able to provide that, and, and give a little bit of basic O and M training just was a fantastic experience.

Angus: So, my blindness happened all at once in 2006. I was a fully sighted person, so, my vision loss was due to a traumatic incident that happened to me. I was out in service, and, providing civil assistance in the Middle East, and uh, and I lost my vision all at once during an attack. When I went back to South Africa, it was, it was very, very tough for me. I wasn't given the type of resources to be able to get rehabilitation, and I found that to be very, very difficult in South Africa. I actually found myself homeless at one time because my perception in South Africa was that every time, I looked at people who were visually impaired and blind, they always seemed to be those who would be on the side of the road, begging for money, would need somebody to help them, provide them with assistance, that was completely what my perceptions were. And it's only until very kind people from overseas came to South Africa and sat down with me, spoke to me, told me about the resources that I can get involved in, and how I can get rehabilitated, and how I can get my life back. So, there were very kind people that came over and showed me what a white cane was. They introduced me to things like what a screen reader is, and how you can use that to be able to better your life, and how to get your independence back. And I was very fortunate enough that, you know, with the kindness of a lot of people that donated money, resources and time, and even some family help, I was able to, you know, get a little bit of training in South Africa, but it wasn't enough. Not enough resources. So, I was sponsored to go to the United Kingdom to be able to get further training. And then, from there, I reached out to people that were good friends of mine through the Veterans Association, and from them, I was sponsored to be able to come to the United States and be able to work. And then from there, that's how I got involved with the visually impaired community, to be able to try to, you know, get the rehabilitation and the work that I need, um, to be able to sustain my life here, 'cause I live now in United States, in Raleigh, and I feel very blessed to being here, 'cause it's been a very long journey, but in the back of my mind, I was, I was still thinking about all the people, um ... back at home. In South Africa that were not so lucky to be able to have a lot of the opportunities that, that I have. You know, it just so happened that, you know, my brother, you know, and he's losing his vision now, and uh, he tried to get connected up with an association, to be able to help him to get work and resources, and uh, he was telling me about all of the needs and the struggles within the organization. And I'm like, "Well I can get canes," 'cause they don't have canes, they have children that, you know, whose families don't know how to raise them, how to take care of them, they don't know anything about, you know, the resources that is necessary to be able to empower and give independence to a blind child. I'm like, "Oh my goodness! What, what am I gonna do? I'm, I'm only one person. I don't know ... How is it that I can make a difference here?" And it's like, "Well see if you can reach out to the United States, because, you know, it's, it's really, it's really a problem. It's, it's, it's an issue." And I'm like "Okay. I'll try to do one thing that I know how to do, and that's basically to do research." And that's how I found You Cane Give, and I got connected with amazing people like Jimmy, and Amanda and Wendy and, all these amazing people that make so much of a difference. You know, just like the angels that came to Africa that saved me.

James: Mm.

Angus: And I'm like, "Oh my goodness! I'm, I'm meeting people now, and now I have the opportunity to, to give back. And to be a part of a, a wonderful, and great project like what Jimmy and them have, and get involved in it so that I can now give back, and I can help my people as best as I can, with other people that care, and that are like minded such as myself, who really want to make a difference for those who don't have those types of resources that, that we have here. And that we, you know, some people, and sometimes we do take those for granted. So, I see it from both spectrums, and both ends, and that's what really drives me and gives me my passion. And this is why I'm so grateful for organizations like You Cane Give.

Chris: Jimmy, uh, that's a great segway into the origin story of You Cane Give. So, you talked a little bit about Kustom Cane, and, and how that evolved out of your, your company when you were sighted. How did you find out about the need for canes around the world, and, and how did You Cane Give get started? How did you assemble this great team?

James: I was seeing how there was just such a need in these other countries. In other parts of the world. Just saw that there was a need, that people overseas didn't have canes. And when I was involved, and still involved, with the National Federation of the Blind, and I was at, at a convention, a national convention, and met a gentleman from Nigeria, kind of a similar story to Angus. He somehow, um, got assistance to go to England, and he got his first cane, and he said, "You know, a cane like this in my country's about a month's worth of rent or food for a family." And he said, "That's why blind people don't have canes. And this is my very first cane." And so, we were there, as Kustom Cane, at this national convention, and as we would place orders for people, and we would talk to people, we've been doing this a few years now, people had extra canes in their closet, in their attic, or, you know, they wanted a pink cane. And then they wanted a black cane, for a formal cane. Or they wanted a sports, they had all these canes that they had designed, or, they didn't like this cane anymore 'cause it was two inches short, and so, these canes are going to waste while people around the world would do anything to have one. And so, right then and there, especially after I heard that story from, from that gentleman from Nigeria, I just started asking people, "Hey, can I have your old cane? What are you gonna do with your old cane?" And so, by the end of the convention, we had given everyone an incentive, we gave them fifteen dollars off their order, if they would give us their cane. So, we got twelve canes by the end of that convention. I think the last couple days we did this.

Liz: What sort of financial considerations did you have to juggle in getting either business off the ground?

James: Well, when I went blind suddenly, I started from Ground Zero, and uh, and then, of course, going to college, so, yeah. Didn't have much money, (laugh.) So, um, but, again, to generous donations, uh, people donating their old canes, that helped kind of get things going, and, and then just starting to, um, spread the, the word, getting the website up, and, you know, word of mouth was what really helped to, to propel things, and, and get us to be able to, to do what, what we're doing. So much of the canes that we've donated, we're at about twenty-six hundred canes and going in these ... Seven years? Most of those have been canes that other people have donated. Getting connected with other people that know of other people in other parts of the country. Getting connected with various, uh, Christian organizations, when they go on mission trips. We may not be able to attend in person, but to be able to, you know, "Can you take a few canes with you? If you take five canes, that's five people whose lives you will change." That is how we have been able to get to thirty-six countries. And the other part that we've been able to incorporate, happened around Covid, was the, the solar player devices, the rechargeable, a lot of these places we went to, or distributed canes to, they, again, with resources. Imagine having to go to a power station, to charge, to bring all your devices, you know, pay a few bucks, and charge all your devices for a week. You know, that's, that's what people are having to do. Just like we brush our teeth. They're having to charge their devices. And so, with these solar powered players, people would have access to the, the word of God, the bible, in their in their native tongue, again, something they would probably have never had access to. And so, we thought that that was an important part of getting a message that will empower them. Give them strength. Help them learn how to navigate their world and their journey. But also, what would it look like if we added a mobility training guide to that? So not just giving people a cane, but also giving them an accessible device in which they can teach themselves how to use their cane?

MOe: How do you go about finding your partners that help pass out the canes?

James: A lot of it has been folks like Amanda and Angus who have reached out to us and, and say, "We want to help. We see that there's a need, and we want to help." And so, we've welcomed lots of individuals, uh, with different backgrounds to, to join us, and become part of the movement, with, through Kustom Cane, and then, uh, just going to various conventions, and going to various events. You know, we've, we've met other organizations, and we're partnered with like the Lighthouse for the Blind, the World Blind Union, the African Union of the Blind, I think one of our biggest areas in which we have donated canes came from just applying to the Holeman Prize for the Lighthouse. When, the year that started a few years ago, we applied for that, we were just getting off the ground around that time as well, and we made it to the final round. Uh, we didn't win, but we were like, I think, in the top ten, um, but one of the initial things we had to do was do a video. Like a one-minute video. Which was very hard for me to get it all in one minute, as you can probably tell. But someone from the Philippines saw that video, and reached out to us. And uh, his name's Rolando. And, he said, "There's such a need." He said, "I will travel throughout the islands around here, and I will find who needs canes." I said "Well, yeah. That would be great. You know, let us," so I'm expecting like five, ten, maybe fifteen people, and he E-mails the next Monday, a list of like thirty-five people, their names, what village they are in, how tall they are, and "Wow. Okay. So, let's do this." And so, we, you know, were able to get those canes, and I think we have shipped probably about four or five boxes of canes to Rolando, who has helped uh, then go back out and distribute those, uh, to people throughout his, his country, which has been, been awesome.

Chris: Amanda, you went on a trip, so, could you describe that for us? Tell us what that was like.

Amanda: Absolutely. So, we went to Cape Town South Africa, to the Aclone School for the Blind. It's a preschool through twelfth grade in Cape Town south Africa, and they have one O and M instructor. Uh, for three hundred students. And she has to prioritize, uh, who gets canes, and who gets training, and how much training they get. So, I brought a friend in, who was an O and M instructor, uh, Marc Companion, he's on our board now, and said, "Hey, you want to go to South Africa?" So he jumped on the trip, and we gave out a hundred and five canes, and left a hundred and forty-four canes. So over two hundred and forty canes, almost two hundred and fifty canes, we took to South Africa, and it was just, it was an amazing experience. And on the last day we were there, they wanted to bring out a, a classroom of students who we were gonna be giving the solar players to, uh, so that they would have the bible and they would have the "Care and Feeding of the White Cane." It's a publication by the National Federation of the Blind that tells you how to use your cane. And the O and M instructor had picked this class to be the recipients of the players that we had brought. And so, we were standing outside waiting for this class to come, and the most beautiful sound in the world, of twenty-five kids coming down the sidewalk with twenty-five canes. So, that tapping, to me, said to me that, that "Because you came here, and you gave your time, and, and your money, to this school, to these kids, that sound is gonna be heard all over Cape Town, all over South Africa, and for some of those kids, all over the world.

MOe: I know we're running short on time. Can you tell us how to get a hold of you?

James: Absolutely. So, you can either go to
kustomcane.com
that's KUSTOM with a K, Cane with a C, it's singular, or you can go to
youcanegive.org
and on that website, you will see all these videos, and these stories that we've talked about, our YouTube channel up on that website, you can read up on our blog and updates, it's there where you can make your, buy your own canes, or you can make, uh, monetary donations on there. There's also information on how you can reach out to us by E-mail or by phone, there is a request form on there, if you want to request assistance, if you're hearing this podcast, if you're someone who's like Amanda or Angus that wants to get involved in some way. Or you, you have expertise in fund raising, or you've got connections in parts of the world that you know needs help, we have a volunteer form, where you can fill out, and become part of the movement.

Chris: And before we wrap things up, any advice you have for other blind people, either in the US, or around the world?

Angus: I will say for those around the world who are in need of resources, I think it's always great to try to find a local agency, find out from your local government, to see if there are any organizations and agencies that are out there that can help. You know, for people here, like in America, and, you know, in other countries that are listening to this that, you know, that have resources, is to be aware of, even though, you know, we, we do have, you know, things of our own that we're trying to battle here, we also need to remember others that, you know, maybe not as fortunate as us, and have the same resources to say, "Okay, well, you know, I can also make a difference in another blind individual's life." And what they can do then is just donate, uh, an unused cane, or technology that you're not using, or something that can make, you know, a change in the lives of somebody who would give anything, you know, would literally almost do anything, just to be able to have that resource available to them. That they don't have.

Amanda: Um, I'll say, don't give up. Don't give up because you're not sure how to do it. Don't give up because someone else has placed low expectations on you. There are blind people who have climbed Mount Everest. I don't have any desire to climb Mount Everest, but I have my own personal mountains to climb in my life, and without, if I'd have just given up, which I could, I could have. I could have sat down in my chair in my living room and let that be the rest of my life. But I chose not to give up.

James: Mm.

Amanda: So, don't give up.

James: This isn't the end of your life. This isn't the end of the story. This is just the beginning. This is the start of a new chapter. And if we can be part of that story, part of that chapter, um, what a blessing and honor it is to do that. And, it's so heartwarming when we hear examples of people like Angus, and, and other folks whose lives have been changed, and the, the impact that they're making in their part of the world now. And it all started with a white cane.

Chris: Well, what a blessing and honor it has been to have the three of you on the show today! Thank you for being here.

James: Thanks.

Amanda: Thank you for having us.

Chris: And I just want to share some statistics with you listeners, because, uh, I think this even amplifies the message, and, and the impact, that Jimmy and Amanda and Angus are, and the entire team at You Cane Give are making. In the blind community, about a third of us are working. Of those that are working, roughly a third of those, are making less than twenty-five thousand dollars a year. And only about eight percent of those who are working are making more than seventy-five thousand dollars a year. That means that we are a very, very under resourced community. That clearly, if you're listening to this story and other people we've featured on the podcast, has a ton of talent and skill to deliver to the world. And just think of what kind of impact people like Jimmy and Amanda and Angus would be able to make, if they had the resources to do it the right way, not on a shoestring. And just think about the impact that Penny Forward would be able to make, because we're trying to improve the financial health of the blind community in the United States and around the world, also on a shoestring. So, we hope that you will consider making a donation to You Cane Give, and also that you will consider supporting Penny Forward, by making a donation to us as well. The Penny Forward podcast is produced by Chris Peterson and Liz Bottner, with help from MOe Carpenter, audio editing and postproduction is provided by Brynn Lee, and text transcription is provided by Anne Verduin. The music is composed and performed by Andre Louis, and it's not really a coincidence that all of those people are blind. Penny Forward is a nonprofit organization founded and led by blind people. Through education, mentoring, and mutual support, we help each other navigate the complicated landscape of personal finance. We offer self-paced, online financial education courses, weekly and monthly group workshops, and one on one financial counseling to improve the financial health of the blind community. And, again, I hope that you will consider supporting us. Learn how by visiting our website at
www.pennyforward.com
Now, for all of us in the Penny Forward community, I'm Chris Peterson.

Liz: I'm Liz Bottner.

MOe: I'm MOe Carpenter.

Chris: Thanks for listening and have a fantastic week.