When cowboy Bob Atkinson lost his sight in a gun accident he was rendered totally blind. But rather than just accept his new disability as a reason to live a less full life, he embraced it. He taught himself Braille and proceeded to found the Universal Braille Press in 1919. It was his belief that blind people could still work, that they were still just people. This belief of his is the main goal behind all the operations at the institute: to help blind people to be independent functional members of society. In order to achieve this goal, the Braille Institute has three services it provides. The first is its educational Program. This department provides classes to students at centers all over Southern California. The second service is the Braille Library, which is part of the Library of Congress. It houses countless Audio Books of all literary genres. The final service is the Universal Media Services department, which houses the press that prints millions of pages of Braille yearly. All three of these branches regularly need volunteers. To volunteer at Braille Institute you must be at least 16 years old, but you need not have any experience. It is a great place to volunteer, as volunteers usually end up giving their time over years and years.