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ASHLEY — For 30-year-old Michael Stanek , the chance to see is “overwhelmingly generous.”
A fundraiser for Michael, who has been legally blind from birth, will be held from 1 to 8 p.m. Sunday at the Ashley Fireman’s Park on Ashley Street.
“To think people would do something like that,” Michael said of the event organizers, expressing his gratefulness.
Organizers look to raise $15,000 to allow Michael the chance to buy eSight — a high-tech eyewear device that enhances whatever the user is looking at to maximize the effectiveness of the person’s remaining eyesight — from an Ottawa, Canada-based corporation.
Even though the eSight glasses are bulkier than typical eyeglasses, these, Michael said, are more along the lines of digital cameras.
“They are made to enhance your vision digitally,” he said.
According to Michael’s mother, Cindy, her son was able to try the glasses during a conference at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.
“Did you know Legos have ‘Lego’ marked on each piece?” Cindy recalled her son asking her.
Mike Stanek Sr. noted that, after his son asked that, he and his wife looked at Legos to assure themselves of what their son saw.
When Michael was born, the doctors at Wills Eye Institute in Philadelphia told his parents to “take him home and love him like a normal child” because there wasn’t much more doctors could do.
“My parents were pretty good making sure I got to do things,” Michael said, noting it is much easier as a child to cope with obstacles. “It’s more challenging as an adult.”
Michael can’t drive and uses an Uber to get to work at a health care consortium. During school, Michael sat in the front row and “still couldn’t read the board.”
Cindy and Mike Sr. have attempted for two years to raise funds for the glasses. They have containers on counters at several local businesses, including Pizzabella on Main Street in Ashley and Vino’s Deli on Blackman Street in Wilkes-Barre.
Admittedly, Mike Sr. said people know him now when he picks up money from the cans.
“Donna (a fundraiser organizer) just showed up here,” Cindy said. After a conversation, where the Staneks were hesitant to participate in a fundraiser, organizer Donna Schappert told them “don’t worry about it.”
Cindy said there are already over 40 baskets for the fundraiser with the main prize a Cape May donated vacation.
“The big thing is how are we going to thank people?” Mike Sr. asked.
