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A Stranger Left Behind $125 Million for LightHouse for the Blind

By Kanika Gupta | Update Date: Nov 23, 2015 09:21 AM EST

A bequest of $125 Million received by LightHouse for the Blind from a man they never even knew existed gave this San Francisco nonprofit 15 times more than its annual budget. This organization works towards the service of blind and visually impaired. The executive director of LightHouse, Bryan Bashin, discusses how the windfall gain could benefit the organization and help remove the stigma surrounding this disability, reports KQED.

On one morning, when Bryan Bashin checked his routine email, he was surprised to read the one-line email that said, "A businessman has passed away. I think you might want to talk to us," it read. Bashin, director of the nonprofit, gets offers from many people about the donation but this one was different as it came from a group of lawyers who handled the estate of Donald Sirkin, the donor who gave away his estate in charity. Sirkin has never donated in the past to LightHouse and there was no record of him available. Even though he never dealth with LightHouse, yet in his will he left his $125 Million worth of estate to the nonprofit organization and offered no explanation for this decision.

Bryan Bashin lost his vision at the age of 38 years and used the technology and other means to make his life simpler. He also made a mission to help the other blind people get on with their lives. In 2010, he became the executive director of the LightHouse and has helped many other blind or visually impaired people to treat blindness as a part of being human. According to Bashin, Sirkin's bequest can really help the way blindness is treated by people. They would now be able to train the visually impaired with skills so that they can become self reliant not just at home but also at work. He said, "The money is about ... feeling like we can dream and have options and be proud of who we are," reports NPR.

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