[Blindvet-talk] Fwd: [Nfbnet-members-list] National Federation of the Blind Congratulates Dwi...

Mon Jun 27 20:44:23 UTC 2011

Dwight D. Sayer
National President,
The  National Association of Blind Veterans
A Division of the NFB
Email -  presidentnabv at aol.com
or president at nabv.org 
Web Site - _www.nabv.org_ (http://www.nabv.org/)   

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To: NABlindVets at aol.com
Sent: 6/27/2011 12:26:53  P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Fwd: [Nfbnet-members-list] National  Federation of the Blind 
Congratulates Dwi...

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Sent: 6/26/2011  2:24:06 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: [Nfbnet-members-list] National  Federation of the Blind Congratulates 
Dwight

Dwight D. Sayer
National  President,
The National Association of Blind Veterans
A Division of  the NFB
Email - presidentnabv at aol.com
or president at nabv.org 
Web  Site - _www.nabv.org_ (http://www.nabv.org/)   

____________________________________
 From: JFreeh at nfb.org
To: nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org
Sent:  6/25/2011 12:37:01 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj:  [Nfbnet-members-list] National Federation of the Blind Congratulates 
Blind  Driver Experience Participants

FOR  IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Chris  Danielsen

Director of Public Relations

National Federation  of the Blind

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330

(410) 262-1281  (Cell)

_cdanielsen at nfb.org_ (mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org)   

National  Federation of the Blind Congratulates
Blind Driver Experience  Participants

Baltimore, Maryland (June 24,  2011): The National Federation of the Blind 
(NFB), the oldest and largest nationwide organization of blind  people, 
today congratulated the  thirty people who won the honor of participating in the 
Blind Driver  Experience.  On Tuesday, July 5, from  1–6:00 p.m., as part 
of the NFB National Convention in Orlando, the  winners will get the 
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ride in the Blind  Driver Challenge™ car equipped 
with nonvisual technology (the same car  that was driven on the famed 
Daytona International Speedway on January 29,  2011).  

The participants of the Blind Driver  Experience will be driven in the 
official Blind Driver Challenge™ vehicle  by Mark Riccobono, executive director 
of the NFB Jernigan Institute, and  the first blind person to drive a street 
vehicle in public.   

The Blind Driver Experience is an initiative of the  NFB Imagination Fund, 
which supports the education, technology, and  research projects of the NFB 
Jernigan Institute, as well as programs  conducted by the fifty-two 
affiliates and over seven-hundred local  chapters of the Federation.  

Dr. Marc Maurer,  President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “
We greatly  appreciate the hard work of our Blind Driver Experience 
participants, as  well as our other Imagination Fund contributors.  With their 
help, we  are able to create innovative research, training, education, and  
technology programs that improve the lives of the blind and move us closer  to 
our ultimate goal of full integration into society on a basis of  equality.”

Parnell Diggs, chairman of the Imagination  Fund, said: “We congratulate 
our Blind Driver Experience participants, and  thank them for a job well done. 
 It is vital that we raise the funds  we need to operate the programs of 
the National Federation of the  Blind.  Those who registered to be Imaginators 
and raised at least  $1,000 by June 15 have our gratitude." 

The top ten  individuals in overall dollars raised as of June 15 were 
automatically  selected to participate in the Blind Driver Experience.  The  
remaining twenty spots were drawn at random from the pool of individuals  who 
raised at least $1,000 for the Imagination Fund by June 15, and who  plan to 
be in attendance at the convention.  Each individual winner  is invited to 
bring three guests, and if for some reason a winner cannot  participate, the 
ride is transferable. 

The Blind  Driver Experience winners are listed below:

Top Ten  
    1.  John Paré (MD)  
    2.  Mary Ellen Jernigan (MD)  
    3.  Parnell Diggs (SC)  
    4.  Jack & Pat Munson (CA)  
    5.  Patti Gregory-Chang (IL)  
    6.  Ann-Marie Laney (MD)  
    7.  Joe Ruffalo (NJ)  
    8.  Dwight Sayer (FL)  
    9.  Lindsay Adair (TX)  
    10. Scott LaBarre (CO) 

Eleven through thirty were drawn and  announced Wednesday evening on 
ThruOurEyes with Joe  Ruffalo.

    1.  Ever Lee Hairston (CA)  
    2.  C. Edwin Vaughan (CA)  
    3.  Denise Avant (IL)  
    4.  Gary & Debbie Wunder (MO)  
    5.  Kim Diggs (SC)  
    6.  William Jacobs (MD)  
    7.  Debra Canty (SC)  
    8.  Dan Burke (MT)  
    9.  Carl & Mindy Jacobsen (NY)  
    10. Patricia Maurer (MD)  
    11. Barbara Pierce (OH)  
    12. Kathleen Byrd (NM)  
    13. Anthony Cobb (MD)  
    14. Garrick Scott (GA)  
    15. Dr. & Mrs. Capps (SC)  
    16. Mark Riccobono (MD)  
    17. Ed Morman (MD)  
    18. Julaine Arient-Rollman (SD)  
    19. Kayleigh Joiner (TX)  
    20. Kimberly Flores (TX) 

For more information  about the Blind Driver Experience, please visit 
_www.blinddriverchallenge.org_ (http://www.blinddriverchallenge.org/) .  

###

About the National Federation of the  Blind

With more than 50,000 members, the National  Federation of the Blind is the 
largest and most influential membership  organization of blind people in 
the United States.  The NFB improves  blind people’s lives through advocacy, 
education, research, technology,  and programs encouraging independence and 
self-confidence.  It is the  leading force in the blindness field today and 
the voice of the nation's  blind.  In January 2004 the NFB opened the 
National Federation of the  Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and 
training center in the  United States for the blind led by the  blind.

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