[Cinci-nfb] Foundation Fighting Blindness

[Deanna Lewis]

Hi all,
I would like to add one more thing to this discussion. If we work with the
Foundation Fighting Blindness, they may in turn help us in conducting our
future fundraisers. I also agree that a vote at the August meeting would be
a good idea. 
Deanna

-----Original Message-----
From: Cinci-nfb [mailto:cinci-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Marianne
Denning via Cinci-nfb
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2014 12:09 PM
To: dkkendrick at earthlink.net; NFB of Ohio Cincinnati Chapter List
Subject: Re: [Cinci-nfb] Foundation Fighting Blindness

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

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