[Cinci-nfb] Foundation Fighting Blindness

[Marianne Denning]

While I am offended by the words "fighting blindness" there have been
many medical advances that have reduced the number of people who are
blind.  Would you tell a family member to forget having cataract
surgery because it is good to be blind.  Would you tell someone not to
treat glaucoma?  I certainly would not.  These eye conditions can and
are treated due to medical research.    Foundation Fighting Blindness
does raise money for research to find ways to prevent blindness in
people who have macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and other
degenerative retina conditions.  We have not been asked to donate
money to the organization but to help at their walk on October 4.  I
believe the NFB should participate in this walk so we can let walkers
know you can live a successful, productive life as a person who is
blind.  I agree with Deborah that we need to focus our fundraising
efforts on our local, state and national organizations.  We prove our
abilities by getting out in our community and showing what blind
people are capable of doing.  We can also encourage families to
participate in the NFB and grow our organization.  I would like to
have a vote at the August meeting.

On 8/4/14, Deborah Kendrick via Cinci-nfb <cinci-nfb at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> All,
> There has been some discussion regarding the Vision Walk, a fund raiser for
> the Foundation Fighting Blindness, and whether or not our chapter should
> participate in this event.  I'm moving this discussion to our new list to
> be
> sure everyone is included, and hope I can clarify where I believe we should
> be on the business of participating in the walk.
> First, a little overview.  FFB is a huge international organization that
> does a great job of fundraising.  Their Vision Walks and Dining in the Dark
> events are held in many cities and raise a ton of money.  They do so for
> the
> sole purpose of "curing' blind people.  Their philosophy is completely
> opposite that of the National Federation of the Blind.  They want to fix
> blind people. They see blindness as a tragedy and are successful in raising
> money by appealing to that mind set.  Our motto, on the other hand,  is
> "Live the life you want."  We know blindness is not an obstacle to living a
> full and equal life.
> We do not, as a national organization, form any kind of partnership with
> the
> Foundation Fighting Blindness.
> Yes, we have participated in an information-sharing event with them at
> CABVI.  That is an open forum, organized by them, for anyone with
> information of use to blind and visually impaired people to come and
> distribute literature.  We have done that for a few years now and we will
> probably do it again.
> Information sharing is quite different from participation in a fundraiser.
>
> If you want to raise money to find a cure for blindness, then go walk in
> the
> Vision Walk.
> We are not, as a chapter, going to vote on whether or not we will do
> something which is in complete opposition to our national organization's
> policies.
> More importantly, we have so much work of our own to do that we simply do
> not have time to divert attention away from the NFB to an outside
> organization.
> As we discussed at the July 28 chapter meeting, our state affiliate is
> planning one of the most impressive fundraising and public events we have
> ever attempted at this year's state convention.  If you missed the meeting
> and the discussion, that event is a presentation mae by Art Schreiber, a
> Federationist who, as a broadcast journalist, toured with the Beatles in
> 1964 and who has written a book about his experiences.  We plan to have a
> silent auction with big ticket items, possibly musical entertainment, and
> of
> course, Art Schreiber's thrilling presentation.
> An event of this srt will take a huge amount of work and all of us need to
> participate.  As I indicated at our meeting last week, we need to think
> about raising funds to get our own chapter members to this convention and
> we
> need everyone to be thinking about attracting those large-ticket auction
> items for the event.
> We need to focus on our own chapter, building membership andraising funds,
> to do the work we know must be done.
> While I appreciate news of this other event being brought to all our
> attention, I think we need to get back to business and focus on our own
> work.
> Deborah
>
>


-- 
Marianne Denning, TVI, MA
Teacher of students who are blind or visually impaired
(513) 607-6053