Blind and Low Vision Experience 

Marsha Drenth

Access Technology Instructor

Marsha is currently working as an Access Technology Instructor at Vision Link in Philadelphia. Marsha has helped consumers who are Blind, Deafblind, Hard of Hearing and Deaf for over 10 years in different organizations and agencies.   In addition to serving and helping persons who have disabilities, Marsha is also a wife, a mother of three adult children, and a graduate of Temple University, where she earned her Social Work degree. Marsha identifies as a person who is DeafBlind, a cisgender female, and a Latina Caucasian individual.  She lives north of Philadelphia with her husband, Joseph. She is passionate about empowering persons who are blind, visually impaired, DeafBlind, Hard of Hearing, and vulnerable populations to receive the services they need for engaging their culture, becoming productive members of society, interacting with their environments, and expressing their own voice to influence their future. 

Sylvia Purnell

Director of Learning and Development

For more than 25 years, Ms. Purnell has served in a variety of leadership and management roles in philanthropy, nonprofit management, event production, project management, community and public relations. She has worked with organizations to develop and conduct operations assessments, organizational development strategies, and corporate engagement and fundraising plans.

As the Director of Learning and Curriculum Development for VisionLink, she oversees the development of curriculum and assessment tools for assistive technology (iPhone, iPad and computers), home management and orientation and mobility programs.  Instruction encompasses remote, in person and in the community.

Ms. Purnell has participated as a speaker and panelist at a number of conferences including the Council for the Advancement of Education (CASE) and the National Diversity Council on a variety of leadership and brand topics.  She is an adjunct professor at Peirce College, Co-chair of the Advisory Council of Mural Arts Philadelphia, a director on the Merakey USA Subsidiary Board. In 2017 she was named as Women to Watch by PhillyBiz Magazine.

She holds a B.A. in Journalism and Communications from Rutgers University, an M.A. in Organizational Development from Antioch University, a Project Management certificate from Penn State School of Graduate and Professional Studies, and a Chartered Advisor for Philanthropy certification from The American College of Financial Services.  A native of Camden, NJ, she currently resides in Cherry Hill, NJ.