[Community-service] And the work begins…

[Darian Smith]

Good morning to everyone,

  I want to first thank the people who stepped up to lead  the committees, I appreciate your words, and the actions that you have taken thus far  that  have supported them.
 I am hopeful that you all have decided what committees you would like to join and are willing to own a piece of the work and by so doing, a  piece of the community service group.
  
 By taking ownership, we in effect own stock in  in our community service group.
 if it  is true  that the combination of action and effort leads to results (you get out what you put into something), then I believe it's imperative that we look at ourselves as the catalysts and not look to others if the work is not getting done.
 The definition of service is to do what is needed how it is needed, when needed, and to the best of our ability.  The definition of leadership is to go forth with a desire to do what is needed to complete the task, to do the work when no one else will 
 I'm  I am excited to work with all of you who are ready to do the work that is needed to build opportunities for blind people.  to enrich and change lives, to serve and better our society, community, country.
 There are doors which need to be opened, and we are the people that can open them. We are the people who can work to give youth  exposure to the world around them, to give young professionals and students valuable work experience, and  senior citizens a way to impact their communities even still. These are the opportunities that we can give blind people, by doing this work and changing perceptions.
 I have been someone who has been fortunate enough to change perceptions by  doing good community service work, often by being willing to show people,  by showing  them that I am more then just a blind person, that i am a person that is there to do the work that is needed because I truly want to. 
 Often I've had to work through negative attitudes and undermining strategies in order to do what I wanted. Even still, there were times when  those efforts and strategies   were successful   and I was unable to do things that I wanted  to do.
 I don't want another blind person to be stopped. Although I am willing to fight for what I believe in, too many of us will take"no: for an answer. This needs to change, if we stand on the periphery, will be kept on the periphery, and we will be led to believe that it is acceptable to be left there. 
 So I thank   you, those willing to act and serve. We have much work to do and many positive changes to look forward to. 
 Let's build this into something that we can be proud of, something that will change lives, something that will leave a lasting impact upon the service community the blindness community and the Federation.

   in Service and Federationism,
  Darian  Smith


Darian Smith
Chairperson, Community Service Group -National Federation  of The Blind.
dsmithnfb at gmail.com
> 
> Vehicle Donations Take the Blind Further 
> Donate your car to the National Federation of the Blind today!
> For more information, please visit: www.carshelpingtheblind.org or call 1-855-659-9314




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/community-service_nfbnet.org/attachments/20130812/9a580c40/attachment.html>