Laverne Rogers has a mouse in her house. In fact, she has had thousands of them over the years.

"I just stuff them," Rogers said. "I need 50 more to make 2,000."

Rogers lovingly stuffs each mouse to raise money for the second chance animal shelter.

"When someone adopts a cat, they always give them one," said Rogers. "Got to be very careful not to cut the stitches."

Over the last two years, Rogers has spent more than 1,000 hours volunteering her time to make cat toys. Then, something unpredictable happened: Rogers had a hemorrhage in her eye.

"I couldn't even tell light from dark," she said. "It was absolutely gone."

Rogers lost nearly all of her vision in her right eye thanks to a retinal hemorrhage and she had no way to get to the doctor for treatment. Her Singer fell silent.

"I couldn't thread the sewing machine needle for a while," she said. "I could see the hole, but I couldn't judge."

Homemaker Health Care is a Central Missouri United Way agency that provides services including transportation to doctor's visits. It is a not-for-profit organization that cares for low-income seniors in 17 counties in Central Missouri.

"I have a nurse that comes in once a week and helps me with my medication and helps me with my blood pressure," Rogers said.

After a couple of treatments, her sight returned.

"I got a shot in the eye, and I can see out of it almost as good as I did before, and it's better than the other eye," she said.

She's singing again and belting out even more mice.

The United Way of Central Missouri is hoping to raise $1.6 million with this year's community campaign.