Christmas came early at the First Presbyterian Nutrition Center Monday morning.

Members of the center heard from William Bowman, president and CEO of V.I.P. Organization Inc., as he gave descriptions of the gifts that his group was providing for seniors at the center.

Bowman said that V.I.P. is a non-profit group that provides recreation for blind and visually impaired people. He said some of the items that were being provided included Monopoly, card and bingo games, checkers and books.

Bowman added that part of his job is to find items that would be useful for blind or visually impaired people. These include books in large print and Braille, and talking products like calculators and watches.

Maxiaids, a company based in New York, Bowman said, is one company that makes large print games and assistive devices and sells them at a low cost.

V.I.P. has been providing large print games and books at the nutrition center for the past three years, Bowman said. According to Bowman, the group will also be visiting Brown YMCA and Special Years on Monday.

Bowman also said that the group wouldn’t be visiting GWC Homes on Monday because the nutrition center was closed. However, he added, the people at GWC Homes have been told that they’ll get their gifts after Christmas once it reopens.

Bowman said that V.I.P. will have a booth at the Star/Technet Assistive Technology Expo in Selma Jan. 10.

The expo will show people with disabilities that they can enhance their lives with assistive technology devices.

Bowman demonstrated one such device, a talking watch, by pushing it. When pressure is applied to the watch a mechanical voice speaks the current time.

Bowman also said that Miss Alabama Scarlotte Deupree would be at the V.I.P. booth from 1 to 5 p.m. She’ll be signing autographs, taking pictures and discussing her literacy program.