Blind Youths Smell Roses, Help Build a Great Parade

Greg Weins had one question: If this was the place where volunteers decorated floats for the Tournament of Roses Parade, where oh where were the television cameras?

It was two days before the parade and the Huntington Beach teen-ager was excited to be one of many volunteers who turned ordinary parade floats into extraordinary floral mobiles.

Weins, who is legally blind, was a part of the Orange County Braille Institute contingent of 20 who helped decorate the Kiwanis International float. John Parks, the youth coordinator, said it was “sort of apropos” for the blind and visually handicapped teen-agers and young adults to work on that particular float. Its theme: “Children of the World.”

But what excited Weins even more than the thrill of having a hand in shaping one of the world’s most famous parades was the possibility of making his television debut.

He said his mother assured him it was a good chance the cameras would find him and his friends appropriate television fare. “My mom and I were talking, and she said that it was an oddity for blind kids to help decorate parade floats.”

However, Weins, 13, didn’t think it was that unusual. “It’s cool for blind kids to do this. Not even many regular kids get to do this.” Although legally blind, Weins said he can see enough to lead people around.

That is not the case for Tina Hesser, 16, of Huntington Beach. She has been totally blind since infancy. But that didn’t stop her from helping out with the float preparations although, she too, had ulterior motives.

“Well, it is like this: I thought that it would be fun,” she said, then added, “And I would like to be on TV.”

This is the second year students from the institute have decorated Rose Bowl floats, Parks said, adding that it was his idea to get the them to help out.

“So many times, people exclude visually impaired or handicapped kids from normal activities like bike riding. I thought that it would be a neat thing for the kids to do,” he said. “People always think about helping the ‘poor little blind kids,’ but this is a way for them to offer help to others.

“For a short while the students are not just blind and visually handicapped young people at an activity or event, but instead they are all volunteers doing their share to make the Tournament of Roses a reality.”

The youths may not be able to see in the usual sense, said Braille Institute staff member Kim Coberly but, she said, they can “visualize” in their own way.

“A few will be able to see it on television, but for the ones that can’t, you have to be more descriptive when you describe it. They can ‘see,’ but not the way we can.”

Although they are “students” of the Braille Institute in Anaheim, the young people do not attend school there.

“We are not a school for the blind,” Parks said. “The kids are ‘mainstreamed,’ which means they attend regular schools. We have an after-school, weekend and evening program.”

The Braille Institute students were among about 500 people who gathered in and around the Rosemont Pavilion in Pasadena on Tuesday to work on the floats. Thousands of people waited in line and paid $1 each to watch the volunteers glue fresh roses on the floats. Their work will be seen by millions on television today.

Throughout the day, parade officials estimate that about 250 million people in 28 countries will admire the handiwork of Weins and the other float workers. The theme of this year’s parade is “A World of Wonders.”

Amid the scaffolds leading up to half-finished floats and people scurrying around with tray loads of flower petals, the youths from the Braille Institute were indistinguishable from the others. They sat on the ground plucking flowers from stems, and some were hoisted onto the scaffolds where they dabbed glue on the floats.

One Braille Institute student went the extra mile to do his share for the parade. “My friend and I went to a school and put on a performance to get people interested in helping,” Michael Churchill, 21, said. “We sang songs and put on a skit. About 50 (sighted) people came from the school. It is important for people to come out and take part in this. If they didn’t, all this would never take place.”

This was Churchill’s second year working on a float, and he said he plans on keep coming back. “It is fun . . . being with people and smelling the flowers. It’s a great thing to do.”