[Community-service] Discussion Starter

[Cheryl Fields]

Good Day! Hope everyone is well and enjoying spring weather.
 I agree too and sharing with Ohio affiliate.
"Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. … You only need
a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love, and you can be that servant."
	Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

On 4/30/17, Darian Smith, President, National Federation of the Blind
Community Service Division via Community-Service
<community-service at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Good Morning,
>  a few days ago we discussed the definition of community service in general
> and specifically it’s definition as it relates to our Community Service
> Division.
>   As it stands today, the purpose of the division is to encourage blind
> people to serve in their community, either by themselves, with their family,
> friends, chapter members, neighbors, etc.
>  If people don’t know where to start, the division helps them find out where
> they can. If people are hesitant to start, the division encourages them.  If
> a person faces difficulty serving in their community, the division does what
> it  can to help the person through it.
>  We are a division of the National Federation of the Blind, which means we
> support the programs and policies of the NFB,  and consequently everything
> we do is based upon the foundational positive philosophy of blindness that
> all of us in the NFB believe in.  Another words we believe that as blindness
> is not the characteristic that defines us or our future, that blindness does
> not define or limit us in the way we can use our talents and passions to
> give to the world we were born into and live in. We have long held the
> belief  that the  real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight, but
> that the real problem of blindness is people’s attitudes and misconceptions
> about blindness and blind people. We believe that blind people are as normal
> as anyone else, having the same interests, likes, dislikes, hobbies, desires
> and fears as anyone else.   Our division believes that  serving in our
> communities is just the most logical  step down the path to true
> independence and equality in society, making this not just a nice thing to
> do,  but as essential to everything we do.
>  We believe that just as it is important  for us to be out in the public to
> protest discriminative practices, or out in force in the halls  of our
> legislature to let people know what we want and need, that it is just as
> important to be out in our community, showing just what we can do and be.
>
>  While service has the benefit of helping others first and foremost, it also
> allows us  the opportunity to teach and learn at the same time. When we
> serve our community, we learn about issues we didn’t know existed or of
> stories people share that might cause  us to view the world differently.
> There an also be tangible benefits.  Through national service programs such
> as AmeriCorps or teach for america, we  gain professional level skills that
> make us more attractive to employers, life long connections and friendships
> and assistance to help us through school.  As a division we can bring these
> opportunities with programs and organizations closer to our reach by letting
> them know about our mission and those who share in the call to service.
>  So  at the end of the day, we want to not only encourage service , but to
> expand opportunities for blind people (individually and collectively) to
> serve   wherever the need to serve may be and where their desires and
> interests lead them regardless of what society tells us they can or can’t
> do.
>
>
>  Do you agree with this explanation? disagree?
>  what else comes to mind?
>  Darian
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-- 
Wishing You All the Best,

Cheryl E. Fields


A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human
life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will
never sit.
--D. Elton Trueblood