For Seniors : Irv Wershow Is an Unsung Hero for Blind Youngsters

Irv Wershow is not a star. He doesn’t even want to shine. When he talks about himself, it’s in relation to others. It’s always “we.” He is steady, reliable, loyal, uncomplicated and compassionate. Even the people whose lives he has enriched for 40 years wouldn’t recognize him.

Wershow, 80, and his friends founded the Guiders, an organization that drives blind children to recreational activities and raises funds for the Foundation for the Junior Blind.

The Guiders began with Wershow doing a favor for a friend.

“We were a group of 12 couples and we decided to do something for charity. One of our friends introduced us to Norm Kaplan, the founder of the Foundation for the Junior Blind, who asked if we could drive blind children to recreational activities. None of us had a blind child, but we wanted to do something. And that’s how it all started,” Wershow recalled.

They began selling raffle tickets for a dollar each to raise money. Their first big fund-raising project was raffling tickets for the premiere of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and every year for 40 years they have turned over money to the foundation. Those dollars add up to $1.5 million.

The Guiders has become Wershow’s second family. “The only time we parted was when people passed. Now I’m the only man left, with three of the original women. And the Guiders still keeps us together,” he said.

But for Wershow, who still visits the foundation center every week, it’s the satisfaction he gets by being active and seeing the difference in children’s lives. “Everybody should come and see it for themselves. Blind children playing baseball, bowling. It makes me feel great that there’s something like this to contribute to,” he added.

Julie Siegel’s daughter, Laura, 12, has cataracts. When Laura was 9, Julie took her to Camp Bloomfield. Located on 40 acres in the mountains above Malibu, the foundation’s camp serves blind, visually impaired, and multiply disabled blind children and their families. Guider dollars helped build it.

“When you have a child with a special problem, you don’t walk away as easily. I remember taking Laura to Camp Bloomfield for the first time. It was scary at first to let go of a child you’ve been protecting, but it was the most caring and loving environment, and she had the most positive experience of her life,” she said.

Laura attends public school near her West Los Angeles home. After school, she goes to one of the six recreational programs the foundation offers.

In regular school, Laura said, she feels as if she’s trying to keep up, but at the foundation she feels as if she’s one of the best. This summer she’ll go back to Camp Bloomfield for a week.

There wasn’t any summer camp for Wershow when he was a child. The son of Russian immigrants, he grew up in New York during the Depression. Hard work and a spare life were the rule. When he married his wife, Mimi, in 1938, they came to California for a honeymoon and never went back.

He practiced the meat-cutting trade he learned from his father and eventually opened the Palm Terrace, a catering hall in Fairfax. He worked seven days a week, plus nights. The Guiders had their meetings there.

Wershow and his friends had no idea that the Guiders would be their legacy. Although Mimi died a few years ago, Irv carries on. Every time he mentions her name, he says: “May she rest in peace.

“Everything I did in my life she had a hand in,” he said.

He’s part of that generation that is predictable and consistent. The generation that believed in the Golden Rule and practiced it. When the other members of the Guiders presented him with a birthday cake, he shared half of it with his friends and brought the rest to the foundation to share with the children.

Programs for Blind Children

The Foundation for the Junior Blind is a nonprofit agency established in 1953 to meet the recreational needs of blind children. Last year it served more than 4,000 children. Its Infant-Family Program provides home-based early intervention for children up to age 3. The foundation runs a state-certified special education school, a children’s residential center and a vocational independence program for adults. The foundation has a seven-acre campus at 5300 Angeles Vista Blvd., Los Angeles. Information: (213) 295-4555.