SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- In his old life, Jim Johnson was a biker, did drywall and concrete work and had his sight. He never cooked.

Johnson, 59, of Citrus Heights, California, became permanently blind in 2020 after a long-term battle with open-angle glaucoma.

“Prior to being married, I popped everything in a microwave,” he said. “I ate it out of the can. No, I actually didn’t learn any cooking skills until coming here.”

“Here” is the training kitchen run by the Society for the Blind, a 70-year-old Sacramento non-profit, and Johnson is one of the 5,000 people who use its services annually in the Sacramento area. The organization teaches blind people how to read braille, use assistive technology, travel with the use of a cane and, perhaps most crucially, develop independent living skills such as how to cook a variety of dishes.

The training kitchen, at 1238 S St., has helped many. But after almost 15 years of operation, it could use lots of new equipment. The knives are old, mismatched and dull. The handle has broken off the microwave door. The gas stove hasn’t worked in some time.

So the Society for the Blind is seeking $5,075 through The Sacramento Bee’s Book of Dreams charity holiday effort to buy three knife sets, two microwaves, an electric cooktop, a washer and dryer and a slide-in gas range.

“Better equipment makes for better possibilities and these people here make impacts in people’s lives,” Johnson said. “They changed my life and are still continuing to impress me. And it just makes me want to continue coming here and learning. You’re never too old to learn.”

Shari Roeseler, executive director for the non-profit, estimated that 85% of the people who have used the cooking center are low income.

“They’re either retired or they’ve been unable to work because of their vision loss,” Roeseler said. “And so going out to eat or getting carryout… it’s not something they can afford to do.”

Reclaiming your life

Losing sight can result in a long journey before finding comfort in classes like the one. Johnson thought his life was over when he lost his vision.

He signed up for the center after hearing someone else talk about it but a year passed before he was comfortable to make the trek. Having had no mobility training and living by a busy street, Johnson feared leaving his home.

“A lot of folks come here and they feel like all the things that they love to do, they’re never going to get to do anymore,” Roeseler said. “And then slowly, as they take these classes, they get to reclaim those things.”

To help people get the most from the center, participants are paired with other blind people. Diane Starin, of Sacramento, is Johnson’s independent living instructor. She is 65 and lost her sight at 18 months of age.

“I’ve been here 18 years, so one of the things that the clients tell me impacts them almost the most is to see all the instructors are blind,” said Starin. “When they see people living successful independent lives, normal lives, then they get it quicker.”

The center’s goal isn’t to teach a person how to cook every recipe they will ever make in their lives. “What you’re learning is the technique … here they’re learning non-visual ways to do it,” she said.

One example: To follow a recipe that calls for a teaspoon of vanilla, participants are taught to pour the liquid into a bowl and then use a measuring spoon to scoop it out.

‘Overcome those fears’

With his newly learned skills, Johnson can now cook a number of items, such as lasagna with four types of cheese, hamburger meat and Alfredo sauce. He can also make Cornish hen, a task that requires him to use a dry rub of salt, onion, pepper and garlic and then cook the breast down to the right temperature. For his 15th wedding anniversary on Dec. 4, he plans to make his wife a chicken dinner.

“We’re all about having people return to independent lives,” Starin said. “Most people that are here intend to go back to work. And so living skills is something we all need to manage in the back of our careers, right?

“So at home, we need to be able to cook and keep our house clean and pay our bills and dress appropriately so we can go out and do that job. So it’s just an integral part of a whole life.”

Johnson’s is to become an accessibility technology instructor. He doesn’t sweat kitchen challenges such as using knives. His confidence is something that goes back to his days as a biker.

“Blindness is like riding motorcycles,” Johnson said. “Once you get on, there can’t be any fear because if you have fear, then you’re going to wreck. Same thing with learning these skills and blindness. You got to have the attitude that you’re here to overcome your fears. And once you overcome those fears, anything’s possible.”

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Book of Dreams

The request: The Society for the Blind is asking Book of Dreams readers for help to upgrade its training kitchen.

The cost: $5,075

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