https://www.vipsmodesto.org/blog-1-copy-1-1 daily 1.0 2026-10-21 https://www.vipsmodesto.org/blog-1-copy-1-1/getting-to-know-vips-board-member-mary-grace-cangemi monthly 0.5 2026-10-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b077b9f757b5752f662b06/28cc207f-68f3-4500-aef4-a21200bc9c07/image1+%285%29.jpeg Blog - Getting to Know VIPS Board Member, Mary Grace Cangemi - Alt text: VIPS Executive Director, Roberta Inscho, and Mary Grace Cangemi stand close together smiling for a photo with their arms around each other. On the left is Roberta, wearing a beige cap and long beige jacket over a bright orange shirt and blue jeans. On the right, Mary Grace wears a navy-and-white striped shirt and blight blue jeans and carries a black handbag. Sitting across from Mary Grace at Wildfire in Modesto— her favorite restaurant, in part because the lighting at certain tables works just right for her vision needs— I am quickly reminded how much of a people-person she is. Warm, gregarious, and wonderfully talkative, she opened our interview with, “I’m not very good at talking about myself.” That may be the one area where Mary Grace lacks self-awareness, because she tells an incredibly captivating story about her life. Born in Staten Island in 1961, Mary Grace recalls that awareness of hearing and vision loss was limited. Mary Grace herself wasn’t diagnosed with hearing loss until she was eight years old. Until then, school was a confusing and often humiliating experience, particularly at Catholic school, where she struggled to understand what was happening around her. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b077b9f757b5752f662b06/ee79a07c-69b5-41a0-904c-aed26d3bdf5d/image2+%281%29.jpeg Blog - Getting to Know VIPS Board Member, Mary Grace Cangemi - Mary Grace, age 12, with both her parents. Mary Grace, age 12, with both her parents. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b077b9f757b5752f662b06/b154171e-dc60-44b1-8ffb-5a7549e93980/IMG_8109.jpeg Blog - Getting to Know VIPS Board Member, Mary Grace Cangemi Mary Grace with her beautiful daughters, New York 2006. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b077b9f757b5752f662b06/7632bc7a-da85-43c4-8896-8e871a929c71/2012-03-23_12-14-54_183.jpg Blog - Getting to Know VIPS Board Member, Mary Grace Cangemi - Image Alt Text: Mary Grace and her mother, her best friend. Mary Grace is on the left leaning slightly behind her mother, laughing while looking away from the camera. Her mother is on the right, wearing glasses and a light plaid shirt and smiles at the camera. Mary Grace: Yes. Well he was raised– my father was born on a farm. My mother is like the city girl, and my father is the farmer. And my, So when they met, they came from different sides of the track– that's the way they called it. Not that my grandparents were rich, but they were well off for that time. But yeah, we raced quarter horses. And I’m a lover of water. I loved to swim. From the time I was a baby, he threw me in the pool– with him, of course! I went under the water right away. He wanted no fear– no fear. Somebody asked me just recently to describe myself in one word. And I said, “well, can it be kind of an extended one word?” They were like, “what do you mean?” I said, “I'm fearless. I'm not afraid.” I felt like, if I look back over my lifetime and what I have survived– for me, it had to be fearless. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b077b9f757b5752f662b06/2a672693-e8be-4625-9d21-2ca357a4f47c/image5.jpeg Blog - Getting to Know VIPS Board Member, Mary Grace Cangemi Mary Grace with her beautiful family, Christmas 2021. https://www.vipsmodesto.org/blog-1-copy-1-1/discover-the-possibilities-of-braille-at-vips monthly 0.5 2026-10-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b077b9f757b5752f662b06/ddef124f-0eb3-4900-b2f4-4cd91ef20267/IMG_1066.jpeg Blog - Discover the Possibilities of Braille at VIPS! - Meet our Braille Instructor, Jacob Gaddam! VIPS Braille Instructor, Jacob Gaddam, working with Beginning Braille Students https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b077b9f757b5752f662b06/e00e955c-453b-4aa7-bd8b-c669eda75706/IMG_1075.jpeg Blog - Discover the Possibilities of Braille at VIPS! - Make it stand out Students practice Braille during a VIPS class, using Braille writers and tactile learning tools with raised letters and Braille dots on a table. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b077b9f757b5752f662b06/4e5d7b04-99cb-4b59-bc7d-e324a3cfdc5a/IMG_1070.jpeg Blog - Discover the Possibilities of Braille at VIPS! - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.vipsmodesto.org/blog-1-copy-1-1/-october-events-at-vips monthly 0.5 2026-10-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b077b9f757b5752f662b06/ddb20989-7169-481f-ab03-26b3c5ce5a6c/VIPS+October+2026+Calendar.jpg Blog - October Events at VIPS - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.vipsmodesto.org/blog-1-copy-1-1/eo7vmxuxvkxczapd3hbei1hrvwitj6 monthly 0.5 2026-09-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b077b9f757b5752f662b06/f157356a-ceaf-4c33-86dd-df23ab5f4475/image1+%282%29.jpg Blog - Getting to Know Marty Lanser - If you spend a little time talking with Marty Lanser, you quickly discover that you’re talking to someone who knows a lot about a lot! Marty has for a long time been a part of the VIPS community, from receiving services to leading support groups, and he is a staple of our VIPS community. Marty has a degree in Communication from Washington State University, where he was a mighty Cougar. He began his career in radio at KUGR as a DJ and program director and later, fun fact, worked at KWSU as the last morning disc jockey before the station went totally NPR! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b077b9f757b5752f662b06/990e8935-7725-4204-a1fc-ec6efea85f90/marty+lanser+77+WSU.jpg Blog - Getting to Know Marty Lanser - Make it stand out Marty Lanser, Washington State University, 1977. Image Source: https://content.libraries.wsu.edu/digital/collection/p16866coll20/id/38693/ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b077b9f757b5752f662b06/beac551a-0762-4041-bf63-ca6e2cd4c4a2/image0+%284%29.jpg Blog - Getting to Know Marty Lanser - Make it stand out VIPS Support Group lead my Marty Lanser. 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