Hudson’s Bay — Students from the Washington State School for the Blind filled Easter baskets with beeping eggs during a special egg hunt April 1. Around 22 volunteers set up tables with Easter baskets and “hid” the eggs on the lawn. Toys and filled plastic eggs were set out near the beeping eggs as well. Rojo the Therapy Llama and the Easter Bunny also joined the festivities.
The unique eggs were provided by Qwest Telecom Pioneers’ Oregon Chapter, active and retired Qwest employees and retirees from former Bell System companies. The beeping allows the children with limited sight to find the eggs. The eggs are engineered with electronic circuit boards, batteries and telephone speakers to emit the beeping sound. The beeping technology was developed in 1964 by a telephone engineer who wanted to create an audio ball for students to play with at the Colorado School for the Blind. Since then the technology has been modified to facilitate other activities for the visually impaired.
