CBS4 Anchors Dance To Raise Money For Education Of Blind Children In Colorado

DENVER (CBS4)- CBS4's Dave Aguilera and Michelle Griego are putting their dancing shoes on and hitting the dance floor for a good cause. They've been rehearsing for weeks for Anchor Center for Blind Children's Dancing with the Anchors.

The money raised goes to the Anchor Center to help children and their parents navigate the world of visual impairment and blindness.

Earlier this month, farm animals were a special surprise for the preschoolers there. It was fun for them to pet the animals and it was also educational.

To feel an animal's real size is important in their development.

"It's not until we are able to experience with real-life things and compare that real-life size until our children understand the magnitude of how big some animals are, how loud they can be, how stinky they can be," said Caroline Vaszauskas, Early Childhood Special Educator and Preschool Coordinator.

That's just one lesson Anchor Center for Blind Children teaches. Since 1982, it has served families in the Denver area. About 150 kids attend from infancy to 5 years old.

"We really want to accommodate our kids, give them the pacing they need, help them increase that pacing so that they can keep up when they move on to public school," Vaszauskas said.

And each student needs something different.

"Vision is a spectrum. even blindness is a spectrum. It's hardly ever kind of lights out, like people are seeing all white and all black," said Vaszauskas. "Usually a lot of our kids still have some kind of light perception, color perception, and shadow perception so it's very much a spectrum."

Regardless of where the children are on the spectrum, Anchor Center shows them all possibilities and helps them reach major milestones needed to succeed.

"How to navigate your space, how to be confident in the world, how to advocate for yourself and we really try to generalize those skills in preschool," Vaszauskas said.

Dave Aguilera and Michelle Griego will compete in Dancing with the Anchors to raise money for the center on Saturday, April 23. You can help them win by voting. Each dollar equals one vote.

LINK: Vote For Michelle | Vote For Dave