Helping children grow

Tuesday, Santa Claus paid a visit, as did a group who donated toys, to the Blind Children’s Learning Center. It was a homecoming Tuesday for 10-year-old Kendall Bradley. She took a seat in her old classroom and listened as current students sung Christmas tunes and shook their tambourines at the Blind Children’s Learning Center.

Kendall, a Costa Mesa resident who was born prematurely and without vision, began attending the Tustin-based center as an infant. She graduated from the preschool program and still gets private tutoring at the center two days a week.

“It’s really good to be back,” said Kendall, swinging her arms to the sound of the holiday music.

Kendall is a model student, said youth services coordinator Sharon Mitchael. The reason: She has “become mainstreamed and attends her neighborhood school.”

At Killybrooke Elementary School in Costa Mesa, Kendall said her favorite subject is science.

“It’s watching kids like Kendall become independent that’s so rewarding,” Mitchael said.

For 45 years, the nonprofit Blind Children’s Learning Center has helped visually impaired and blind youth like Kendall become more independent.

Mitchael is in charge of the youth-services program, which is intended for students ages 12 to 21. The center also offers an infant program, and a preschool and kindergarten program.

Older students receive one-on-one training from accredited teachers. They learn to improve motor skills, mobility and Braille reading.

A group of about 15 Newport Beach Athletic Club members visited the center Tuesday to drop off a $11,800 check to the youth service program and to bring toys for the young children.

The athletic club members pooled their resources to raise the money, said longtime member Wally Rados. The group raised about $10,000 last year.

Kendall’s father, Brent Bradley, a regular at Newport Beach Athletic Club, introduced his friends to the center’s mission a few years ago.

“We saw how much it meant to Kendall,” Rados said. “This is a wonderful cause.”

Adults watched Tuesday as the children picked from a range of toys. Santa Claus paid the group a visit as well.

“She’s been excited, she’s been talking about it all day long,” Brent Bradley said. “This is where she started, and she feels at home here.”

20051221irtt3oncKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)Kendall Bradley, 10, gets a hug from family friend Rolf Schwalbe as her father, Brent, looks on at the Blind Children’s Learning Center in Santa Ana on Tuesday.