[Cinci-nfb] Report from Columbus and beyond

[Deborah Kendrick]

Greetings Cincinnati Federationists  
The 2014 NFB Ohio convention was a wonderful event, and my intention was to
come home and immediately write about some of its highlights for those of
you who may have missed it.  Life intervened, as it so often does, and I am
writing that report a week later.  Suffice to say that I came home to a
freezing house, followed by several hours of furnace inspection, then three
long work days trying to make up for time lost while in Columbus, and an
early Thursday flight to meetings in Portland, Oregon.  
I'm back and have now read through most of the email accumulated over the
last four days, and am happy to tell you that, even one week later, the glow
of our fabulous 2014 convention still glows brightly in my brain for sharing
with you.  

Highlights of the convention are perhaps too many to mention, but here are a
few;  

Dr. Marc Maurer, immediate past president of the National Federation of the
Blind, and his wonderful wife, Patricia Maurer, were among us the entire
weekend.  And when I say "among us," I mean they were truly in our midst for
every event, singing with us, bidding on our auction items, sharing a true
treasure trove of wisdom and insight and organizational history and
philosophy.  
Our fundraiser was a true success - from the riveting presentation about his
time with the Beatles in 1964 by author and federationist Arthur Schreiber
to the fabulous band our state president Eric Duffy hired to entertain the
crowd with Beatles tunes, to the auction itself, which was well represented
by both items and bids from our very own chapter.  

Cincinnati was well represented in so many ways.  
First, six of our seven-person board were in attendance (and yes, kim, we
truly missed you!)  Altogether, I counted 15 people from Cincinnati, and
there may have been more. Those of you who were unable to attend this year,
I want you to know you were truly missed and I do hope you'll be with us in
2015!
  
Kaiti Shelton did an amazing job of learning and leading a number of
Federation songs.  
Paul Dressell was his usual entertaining self dolng out those door rpizes at
every possble interval, and Marianne made a great presentation with NFBO
board member, Debbie Baker, to share the highlights of our fabulous 2014
BELL program.  

Since your own president (that would be me) was the one with the bright idea
to hold the board meeting Thursday night this year, President Duffy handed
me the challenge of assembling some Friday morning programming that would be
of particular interest to members and BSVI counselors alike.  
I did so - and once again was extremely proud of Cincinnati.  
Two blind Cincinnatians who have not yet joined our chapter were among the
speakers, and they did a fabulous job.  Kelly Schlaffman, a manager at
Procter and Gamble, talked about the reverse mentoring program she has
initiated there, where Procter and Gamble team leaders are mentored by
employees with disabilities.  And Dr. Michael Lichstein spoke beautifully
about the significance of braille in his work as a psychologist.  
Another outstanding speaker, Bob Bosken, was born and raised in Cincinnati,
so we can claim him, too, although he now lives in Columbus where I hope he
will soon be joining chapter meetings there.  
We had an outstanding group of scholarship winners this year and - you
guessed it- -- they all happen to hail from Cincinnati!  Elif Emir Oksuz and
Kaiti Shelton are members of our chapter, and I hope Jonathan Thomas will
one day be joining us as well.  All three are from Cincinnati.  

Lillie Pennington presented on the STEM2U program.  Kaiti Shelton spoke
about the value of braille (even when you can see enough to read some
print), and all of our members were loud, proud, and counted!  

And then there was the surprise at our Awards banquet.  Well, first, of
course, there was Dr. Maurer's brilliant address, which was not a surprise
because any of us who have heard him before knew to look forward to it.  But
when the awards themselves were presented, no one was as surprised or
delighted as your president when the 2014 Gavel Award was presented to our
very own chapter.  I am and was truly humbled by the honor and congratulate
all of you on our success.  And, now that we have been so warmly recognized,
let's keep moving and make our chapter even better and stronger by next time
this year.  

Another thrill during the awards banquet was seeing the student division
recognized as the chapter on the move!  Many of the students who represent
the vibrant spirit of that division are our own chapter members as well -
including Emily and Lillie Pennington, Kaiti Shehlton, Elif Emir Oksuz, and
Brandon Misch. I am so happy for and proud of all of you.  

A stunning piece of our Sunday morning program was when Eric Duffy played
the beautiful rendition of "The Prayer" performed by Dr. JW Smith at the
wedding of Sheri and Jessie.  It is so beautiful and was such a lovely way
for all of us to pause and reflect on their happiness.  

There is much more that could be said about the convention and I hope that
others who were there will chime in on those areas I may not have touched.
What I want to say to every one of you is how very humbled and pleased I am
to be your president and how happy I was each time I heard one of your
voices somewhere in the lively, productive, and always celebratory
gatherings that made up the NFB Ohio 2014 convention!

Let's all keep building the Federation!
Peace,
Deborah

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