Dinner in the Dark to offer a unique fundraising experience

Throughout her lifetime, Helen Keller became a powerful advocate and inspiration for those with vision and hearing limitations, so much so that her name and her mission still live on in the missions of many organizations today.

This includes the Lions Club International and with what would have been Keller’s 146th birthday less than two weeks away, the local Lions are readying to celebrate her legacy with a fundraiser that is promising to be full of food and laughter – Dinner in the Dark.

“Helen Keller was the reason that the Lions took on sight for their vision, so to speak. She did a speech in 1925 that said she wanted them to become her ‘Knights of the Blind’ and from that point on, that was what the Lions were going to do – anything with sight,” Pahrump Valley Lion Marcia Newyear told the Pahrump Valley Times. “The idea behind this is, it’s hard to really know what people with vision limitations go through until you’ve experienced something like that yourself. And when you don’t have your sight, what you taste is so different.”

This will be the first Dinner in the Dark for the Pahrump Valley Lions and it’s a bit of a last-minute affair, with Newyear noting that another nonprofit in town had originally planned to hold an event in honor of Keller but ultimately decided not to, leading to the Lions picking up the concept.

“We’re going to start with salad and everyone will have their blindfolds on. Then they will take them off and we’ll have a presentation regarding Helen Keller. After that, the masks go back on and dinner will be served – we’ll have a beef and a chicken for the main dish. And we’ll be having some dessert tastings with unexpected flavor combinations, too. It should be a lot of fun, I think.” Newyear detailed.

The Lions provided an overview of Dinner in the Dark, as well, explaining that it is, “…not only a culinary journey but also an intimate exploration of the senses, enhancing the dining experience by removing visual distractions and focusing on taste, smell and touch. It’s clumsy, hilarious and somehow weirdly intimate. No phones, no photos… just your senses working overtime.”

According to the information, the concept of dining without sight originated in the 1990s when a blind pastor named Jorge Spielmann invited friends to his home to dine amid total darkness. “His goal? To give them a glimpse – or rather, non-glimpse – into what it’s like to navigate the world without vision and to show how much more intense taste, smell and touch can be when you take sight out of the equation.”

Spielmann went on to open a restaurant in Switzerland called “Blind Man’s Bluff”, which inspired the launch of other similar restaurants throughout Europe, the U.S. and eventually, around the world. It’s become a popular fundraising concept, too, and the Lions are excited to bring it to the valley.

As to what the nonprofit could use in the run-up to the event, Newyear said volunteers and donations are both welcome.

“We’re looking for volunteers to help us out because we have to have someone at each table who can make sure the plates are all set out correctly. The plates will be set up like a clock and the volunteer will tell diners, the meat is at 10 o’clock, the vegetables are at 2 o’clock, etcetera,” Newyear said.

Donations, both monetary and in the form of prizes for the raffles and other activities, would also be greatly appreciated.

Dinner in the Dark is slated for 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 27 at the Pahrump Nugget Events Center.

Tickets are $75 per person or $600 to sponsor a table.

For more information or to purchase tickets call Newyear at 661-406-8925.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com