In the early 1930’s, two blind people began meeting every week in Downtown Lake Worth, FL  to practice their Braille skills, teach others and have lunch.  The Group grew and in 1935 the decision was made to establish a club.  The first officers were elected in 1936.  In 1937 Club members were offered the Pioneer Park House for their meetings by the City of West Palm Beach, located where Norton Art Gallery now stands.  The club’s name was changed to The Braille Club of Palm Beach County.  By 1938 a clubhouse was made available at Howard Park for meetings and social activities.  The first constitution and by-laws were drawn up that year.  By 1939 Braille Club received its Charter as a non-profit organization.  In 1944 4 ½  acres of land adjacent to Phipps Parks was deeded to the Braille Club to build cottages and a clubhouse.  In 1950 the clubhouse was built at 4801 S. Dixie Hwy in West Palm Beach, FL and the first cottage 4801 ½ was built in 1959.  In 1958 the American Red Cross began providing round-trip transportation to club members attending Wednesday meetings until public transportation became available.  In 1974 the City of West Palm Beach acquired 1 ½ acres of the property to expand Phipps Park.  In 2000 a fire badly damaged the clubhouse, but thanks to community support and insurance, the clubhouse was rebuilt and modernized.   In 2002 the City of West Palm Beach acquired an additional 2 acres of the property to further expand Phipps Park.  In August of 2021 the clubhouse and cottage at 4801 S. Dixie Hwy. West Palm Beach, were sold. We relocated to a new facility 1240 S. Federal Highway Boynton Beach, FL.  Today, we continue to meet every Wednesday morning at 9:00 a.m. for fellowship, education, and lunch.  The Braille Club is a private, 501c3 Charitable organization.  All donations are tax-deductible under the US tax code.  It is owned and operated by the blind and visually impaired members with the help of sighted volunteers.  The Braille Club operates on charitable donations, gifts, fund-raisers, and grants.  By charter, we do not have paid employees.  100% of all donations and contributions are used for the operation and maintenance of the Braille Club.

Our mission is to provide social, recreational and educational activities for the blind and visually impaired residents of Palm Beach County.  Some of our activities include games, Karaoke, Social outings to plays and concerts, descriptive audio movies, and guest speakers.  We also play adaptive baseball called Beep Baseball.  In this adaptation, we play with beeping balls and bases.  To date, our team, the Braille Bandits of Palm Beach County, have participated in the National Beep Baseball Association World Series. In 2016 Wellington, FL, 2019 Tulsa Ok, 2021 Wichita KS, 2022 Beaumont TX, 2023 Norman DK, 2024 St. Louis MO. In 2017 we did a demonstration at the All-Star Major Leage Baseball Game in Miami. The Braille Bandits give our team members valuable opportunities and exposure to different areas and parts of the country that would not be possible for most of our team members.. We visited the Keeper of the Plains and Black Wall Street in Wichita and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.