About Us – Through the Years
Learn more about Seedlings’ history through this pictorial timeline.
Join Our Email List
Stay up-to-date on all things Seedlings!
1979
Debra Bonde learned how scarce and expensive children’s braille books were so she became a Certified Braille Transcriber.
1984
Seedlings Braille Books for Children, located in a tiny office in Debra’s basement in Detroit, was incorporated as a Michigan nonprofit.
1985
A small braille printer made by Debra’s father arrived and the first 221 braille books were printed and sent to children in need.
1990
Production expanded to 5,000 books per year, leading to a move to The Bentley Center, a bigger facility in Livonia, MI.
1994
With its first bequest, Seedlings added the first giveaway program: The Rose Project (free encyclopedia articles in braille).
1997
Continued growth led to a move to a bigger office at the MetroPlex complex in Livonia.
2001
The Detroit News honored Seedlings’ Founder as a Michiganian of the Year.
2002
The Book Angel Program was launched, enabling thousands of children with vision loss in the U.S. & Canada to receive free books each year.
2004
Production grew to over 20,000 free & low-cost braille books per year!
2009
Seedlings’ produced the 250,000th book since its inception.
2015
The prestigious Bolotin Award was given to Seedlings by the National Federation of the Blind.
2016
Production grew to over 30,000 free & low-cost braille books per year!
2018
Seedlings’ reached a lifetime milestone by producing its 500,000th book!
2019
The Teachers of the Visually Impaired Program was launched, providing 5 free braille books to teachers in the U.S. each year.
2023
Seedlings placed more than 48,000 free and low-cost braille books into the hands of children worldwide!
2024
Seedlings has now produced over 3/4 of a million of books in its lifetime!