University of Tampa President Ronald L. Vaughn will receive a Visionary
Award from the Foundation Fighting Blindness at its Tampa/St. Petersburg
Dining in the Dark event on April 27 at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort
& Golf Club in St. Petersburg.
The Foundation Fighting
Blindness is a national nonprofit that drives blindness research. Dining
in the Dark is a distinctive sensory awareness experience in which
guests participate in an unforgettable dining adventure, in complete
darkness. For approximately 30 minutes, attendees will wear special
light-blocking blindfolds and enjoy their entrée using only their senses
of smell, sound, taste and touch, to get a glimpse into the lives of
the blind.
The late Edie Loebenberg, co-founder of the Florida
Holocaust Museum, will also be honored. Legendary sports personality and
Tampa Bay Rays Senior Advisor Dick Crippen will host as emcee.
The event will benefit the Foundation Fighting Blindness (
www.FightBlindness.org),
whose urgent mission is to drive the research that will lead to
preventions, treatments and cures for the more than 10 million Americans
affected with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), macular degeneration, Usher
syndrome and the entire spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases.
According
to the Foundation, Vaughn is being honored due to his “visionary
accomplishments within the Tampa Bay community.” Vaughn has been
president of UT since 1995.
For more information, contact Keytia Ortiz at (954) 308-5555 or
KOrtiz@FightBlindness.org.