Our guests from the Earle Baum Center of the Blind this week we are Bob Sonnenberg and Dr. Hoby Wedler, who join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras.

Dr. Hoby Wedler has been on Brew Ha Ha twice before. The first time was in September of 2018, when he brought blindfolds and they conducted a truly blind taste test. The second time was in May of 2019.

Bob Sonnenberg and Dr. Hoby Wedler are both members of the board of directors of the Earle Baum Center of the Blind, which is a non-profit regional community center in Santa Rosa serving people with sight loss in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Lake Counties. Hoby Wedler grew up in Petaluma and attended UC Davis for undergraduate and got his PhD in Chemistry in 2016.

Hoby Wedler is a co-founder of Senspoint Design, a creative strategy firm that designs and builds brand strategies. Hoby is calling in from home to minimize the risk of damage to his sense of smell, which is a known effect of Covid-19. Since he relies on his sense of smell so much, it is best to minimize his risk.
Hoby says, "...I like to talk about eyesight loss instead of vision loss, because I think all of us have vision, some of us might not have eyesight."

Bob explains how they are there to help anyone with vision loss, including personal and social support and finding specialized care. The Earle Baum Center used to run a concert series. Bob explains that everything has a shelf life, and they ran the "Earle Fest" for about 10 years. But it was a lot of work and not really connected to the mission of the center. So they had to focus more on their mission.

During the pandemic, the Earle Baum Center has not lost a step. They are conducting their classes and support groups all online.  O&M means Orientation and Mobility, which is the name of the collection of skills that they teach to people with vision impairment.

During the conversation, Herlinda mentions they are drinking a Happy Hops beer, from our sponsor, Russian River Brewing Company.

There is a Donate button on the Earle Baum Center of the Blind website.