Our Mission: To provide outdoor enrichment programs to youth with blindness and low vision
Our Vision: That each child with a visual impairment finds their footing, both outdoors and in
Why We Do It
There is a shortage of quality programs for students with visual impairments, particularly in the area of outdoor experiential education. Multiple studies have confirmed that students with visual impairments are more likely to be less active, less healthy, and less socially engaged than their sighted peers. These discrepancies have become more pronounced following the Covid pandemic.
Put another way:
Adults are constantly conspiring to plop kids into the backcountry, and we’re no exception. We do it for all the usual reasons: to build confidence and competence, to encourage teamwork, to improve problem-solving skills. Essential traits for all children, but perhaps more critical for the blind and visually impaired. Our campers grow up in a world that is skeptical of their skill. They hear too many messages of blindness as a disability, and live in a world of overabundant caution, with too many can’ts in the places of cans. Internalize this message, and it becomes all too easy to sit on the sidelines and let the world whirl by unheeded. In hitting the trail, we hope to fight this impulse: to expand possibility, reward curiosity, and nurture the spirit of adventure that beats in every heart. - from “Seeing is Believing” by Jay Hardwig, Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine, September 2015
Our Team
JAY HARDWIG (Executive Director) is a certified teacher for the visually impaired who has worked with children with blindness and low vision for more than twenty years. He has taught at public schools throughout Texas and North Carolina, adding a Master’s degree in Special Education and certification as an Orientation & Mobility instructor in 2011. He has directed summer camps for children with vision loss for over 10 years. When not taking blind kids ziplining, he reads, writes, and plays barrelhouse piano with his friends and family in Asheville, North Carolina. You can learn more about Jay, and his middle-grades novel Just Maria, by visiting jayhardwig.com.
NITA SMITH (Lead Teacher) is a certified teacher for the visually impaired who has worked in the field for more than 30 years. She is the director of Blue Ridge Vision Services, LLC, and provides contract VI services to students in districts across western North Carolina. She has worked in camps for kids with blindness and low vision since 1992.
In addition to Jay and Nita, BRAVO hires experienced teachers for the visually impaired, orientation and mobility specialists, and blind and visually impaired adults with outdoor experience to staff our summer camps. Our teachers have worked with us for many years, and bring a wealth of experience to our camps.
Our Board
STACEY HILDENBRAND (Board President) is a Teacher of the Blind & Visually Impaired for Henderson County Public Schools in North Carolina. She has worked in education for nearly 20 years. She is an advocate for students with disabilities, believing that all students have a right to accessible education. Stacey earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Indiana University, Master of Arts in Education from Northern Kentucky University, and Master of Arts in Education specializing in Teacher of the Blind Visually Impaired from the University of Louisville. Stacey lives in Mills River, NC with her husband Jason and two daughters Layla and Natalie. She enjoys being outdoors, hiking, biking, and traveling with her family.
JAKE MORRILL (Treasurer) is founder and president of Generation to Generation Leadership Coaching, which helps family businesses in East Tennessee and Western Carolina get better at managing challenging relationships and decisions. His background includes ministry, family therapy, military chaplaincy, and non-profit management. As a young adult, Jake worked with teens with blindness and visual impairment and is proud to be connected to BRAVO Asheville, helping to make that kind of difference in young lives again.
AUDREY DEMMITT (Secretary) has been a registered nurse for 40 years, working in a variety of healthcare settings, including school nursing. At age 25, she was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa and found creative ways to adapt her career to her visual impairment. She worked as an Adjustment to Blindness Counselor and Diabetic Educator for Vision Rehabilitation Services of Georgia. Audrey is a Peer Advisor and health education writer for VisionAware, serves on the advisory council for the Older Individuals with Blindness Technical Assistance Center, and facilitates a support group for adults living with vision loss. Audrey has served as a camp nurse for many summers, combining her passion for the great outdoors and mentoring young people. She believes summer camp experiences should be accessible to ALL kids, providing a transformative opportunity for personal growth and a lifelong appreciation for active learning in nature. Audrey lives in Peachtree City, Georgia with her husband Kevin and her guide dog Delta. She enjoys traveling, hiking, kayaking, reading, writing, and crocheting. Life with a visual impairment has taught her to never underestimate herself, reframe the seemingly negative events in life, always look for new opportunities, and envision the possibilities.
HEIDI SCHEFFER (Member at Large): “I’m the mother of an amazing young woman who’s about to graduate college. My daughter was born blind, and I got immersed in the learning and supporting her, assuring she had all the same opportunities her sighted peers had. Being a part of BRAVO is important to me, as Jay and Nita were part of my daughter’s success and accomplishments. I want the same opportunities for all blind and low vision kids.”
LIZA RUTHERFORD (Member at Large) is a choreographer from Dandridge, TN, and is the homeschool mom of two girls, Campbell and Harris, and wife to Mike. Campbell was born blind, and suddenly the Rutherfords were immersed in the deep waters of acquiring an education for a braille reader in a rural Appalachian community. Early in that journey, they settled on homeschooling and found Jay as they searched for resources. His programs, instruction, and networking became a huge part of Campbell's education and contributed directly to her now thriving in Cambridge as an applied mathematics major at Harvard. Liza believes that all blind and visually impaired kids deserve to be challenged and encouraged through resources like BRAVO offers. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, dancing, reading, knitting, cooking, seeing shows, and back-porch-sitting in the hills of East Tennessee.
