The Moonbrook Country Club is preparing to serve as the setting for an annual fundraising event that few actually get to see.

The Chautauqua Blind Association will host its eighth annual Dining in the Dark fundraiser at the 2879 N. Main St. Ext. venue in Jamestown on Friday, April 20, beginning at 6 p.m. — where the community is invited to partake in a three-course meal without the benefit of sight. The event will offer participants a one-of-a-kind sensory experience as a means of educating the public on just what it means to be sightless while also raising money for the association.

“This is a good event that really speaks to the mission of what we do, ” said Lisa Goodell, CBA executive director. “It really gives sighted people a much better impression of what visually impaired individuals have to live with. I think a large portion of us will have someone in our family lose sight during our lifetime, so it gives us a chance to experience it and get a better understanding of how to help or interact with someone who is visually impaired. This is just a short, two-hour period in which people can find out what that’s like.”

Goodell said Dining in the Dark has been a successful endeavor for the association in years past. It has grown every year, achieving its highest number of participants in 2015 with 185. It is highlighted by the fact that participants are offered the opportunity to be blindfolded in the foyer and led to their table by a sighted guide before attempting to eat a three-course meal.

The association works in partnership with Jamestown Community College’s Occupational Therapy Assistance program and SUNY Fredonia’s Health Professions Club in putting on the event. Goodell said the CBA receives no state funding and so it relies on grants and fundraisers to continue providing its services at no cost to the community.

“We are the only organization in Chautauqua County providing vision services,” she said. “We provide in-home vision rehab services for about 300 blind and legally blind clients a year, and our vision screening programmed over 3,600 children in our school districts last year. And we do that with only four staff members.”

For the second consecutive year, a recipient of the Louise Tefft award will be announced. The award’s namesake was a long-time client and former board member of the Chautauqua Blind Association who died last year just shy of her 102nd birthday. The criteria for the award state that the recipient be an individual who has assisted or supported the association in reaching its mission.

The money raised from the event helps fund the Chautauqua Blind Association’s youth vision screening program, which is also partly funded by the United Way of Northern Chautauqua County and the United Way of Southern Chautauqua County. The program is intended to locate and diagnose previously undetected vision problems in children aged six months and higher — with a focus on preK- and kindergarten-aged children.

According to Priscilla Shoup, administrative assistant and blindness prevention coordinator, the youth vision screening program screened 3,625 in nearly every Chautauqua County school district and had a 15 percent referral rate — which she said is above average. The vision screening program has been in place for 40 years and has undergone three equipment upgrades in that time, with the most recent equipment making for a much more efficient screening process.

Tickets to the event are $60, which covers the cost of the meal and the provision of blindfolds and bibs. They can be purchased by calling Chautauqua Blind Association at 664-6660 or online at chautauquablind.org.

A cash bar and silent auction will be available starting at 6 p.m., and seating will begin at 6:30 p.m. The dinner will run from 7-9 p.m. For more information, call Chautauqua Blind Association at 664-6660 or visit chautauquablind.org.