Peterborough-raised actress Calle Walton will be grand marshal at Future In Sight’s annual Walk For Sight event May 20 in Concord. 

This will be the 20th Walk For Sight, which includes a one-mile loop through downtown Concord starting and ending on the Capitol lawn. Walton and others will give speeches, and there will be activities, raffles, prizes, a DJ and a puppy-kissing booth with puppies who will become guide dogs. The event raises funds for Future In Sight, a New Hampshire nonprofit that has been providing services to people with sight loss since 1912. 

Walton played Chloe Reilly in the CW series “In the Dark,” which ended in 2022. She was born sighted and became blind in high school, which is when she connected with Future In Sight. 

“They were so great,” Walton said. “Everyone I had contact with was so friendly and helpful.”

The nonprofit provides training to help people after sight loss and connects then with services and programs. Walton said when her braille typewriter broke, Future In Sight connected her with people who were able to fix it. 

Future in Sight also told Walton about LEAP, a camp in Vermont for adolescents with visual impairments.

“That’s where I met the first blind people I had ever met,” she said, adding that the services she has received have helped her become a successful and confident blind person.

Walton said she was surprised to be honored as grand marshal, and is happy to help support the cause. 

“I’m still at that point where I’m so amazed with how my life has progressed so far,” she said.

She is in school studying to become a teacher for the visually impaired, but has an acting agent and is still auditioning for roles.

Walton returned to Peterborough for a week after taking her finals this year. 

“Because I was born and raised here, I lived here sighted and non-sighted,” she said. “I can go downtown and find my way around. I have such a visual memory of the town.” 

Future In Sight President and CEO Randy Pierce lost most of his sight at 22 before losing all of it 11 years later, and said he came to Future In Sight feeling hopeless and angry.

“Not everyone handles losing significant sight the same way," he said.

Pierce said the organization provides counseling opportunities and connection with a community of people on a similar journey.

“That makes a world of difference,” he said. 

Pierce said there are 28,000 people with vision loss in New Hampshire and Future In Sight is currently serving 11,000. He wants to reach the other 17,000, and said the majority of clients they serve are seniors experiencing macular degeneration.

“We want to grow our client database,” he said. 

Pierce said a big challenge for people without sight is the inability to drive, and Future In Sight launched a network of volunteer drivers around the state this year. The program covers the whole state, but is limited by fewer volunteers in some areas. 

Information about Future In Sight, services it offers and ways to donate can be found at futureinsight.org.

]]>