[Community-Service] January 2022 Newsletter

[Maggie Stringer]

*“Beyond the Six Dots”*



National Federation of the Blind Community Service Division

January 2022 Newsletter

We use a white cane, slate & stylus, and screen readers in between,

We read from the left, write from the right, and will tap tap onto any
scene.

We want our communities to know what we’ve got, a commitment to serve,

Beyond the Six Dots!



*IT’S 2022*

*Che*ers to a New Year! It is time to POP right back into service.

*Devoted readers! We invite all of our community members, friends, family,
co-workers, neighbors, and federation family members, to leave your
nine-to-five uniforms in your closets and suit up in your best Rebuilding
Together armor this holiday! The Community Service Division is on a mission
to embodies service in 2022, and will begin by kicking off the new year
with a celebration to honor the work, life, and legacy of civil rights
leader Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This significant holiday is also
recognized as MLK Day of Service and is intended to empower individuals,
strengthen communities, bridge barriers, create solutions to social
problems, and move us closer to Dr. King’s vision of a “Beloved Community.”*

*Monday, January 17, 2022 @ 7PM Eastern*

*Our evening of festivities will take place in the comfort of your own
home, brought to you by a Zoom near you! Join in fifteen minutes early, and
win POPUP prizes as we celebrate the CSD way. Double tap on the link below,
you don’t want to miss the show.*

*https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8283687686
<https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8283687686>*

*Meeting ID: 828 368 7686*

*Don’t forget to share your MLK Day of Service on our Facebook page! *

*www.facebook.com/communityservicedivision/*
<http://www.facebook.com/communityservicedivision/>

Popular hash tags include:

*#VirtualVolunteerism *

*#MLKDay*

*#MartinLutherKingJr*

*#IHaveADream*

*"The time is always right to do what is right.”*



*ROLLING OUT THE RED CARPET*

*Because of Braille*

Contributed by Ron Smith, Colleen Roth, & Daria Bannerman

We are rolling out our infamous RED CARPET for one very extraordinary
individual! A man that has touched all of our lives one cell at a time. We
celebrate Louis Braille and his 213th birthday!

Louis Braille was a French educator that spent most of his life teaching
others. When he was three years of age, he had accidentally been blinded by
a leather punching tool. His parents were advised to send their son away to
a mental institution. Thankfully, they didn’t listen to friends or local
physicians, they believed their son could do anything.

When Louis was thirteen years old, he and his fellow classmates were taught
the army’s secret code of communications. The military wanted to send and
receive messages without their enemies being able to decode their
communications. Their system consisted of a twelve-dot method that seemed
to be rather complicated. Louis thought there had to be a much simpler way
and after working diligently for two years, designed a six dots system.
Ladies & Gentlemen, the invention of BRAILLE!

We do not only recognize the birthday of Louis Braille on January 4th; the
entire month is dedicated to Braille literacy! We asked a few of our
members to share how Braille has influenced their lives.

*Braille Makes Me Want to Sing*

By Colleen Roth, NFB Ohio At Large President

“I remember my second and third grade teacher Sister Maura O'Brien, who had
a Master's Degree in blindness. She made it her mission to help me finished
learning the Braille code. She was a dedicated teacher that would go above
and beyond for her students.  I even recall her surrounding me with Braille
dots by labeling everything in her classroom.  Sister O’Brien truly seemed
to understand the power and the importance of knowing and using Braille.

Braille is so beautiful, just to touch it makes me want to sing! These
glorious dots have had a tremendous impact on my life. I took it with me to
Bowling Green State University, I have taught many sighted and blind
individuals of all ages how to read and write in Braille, and I am one of
the biggest lifetime advocates of Braille literacy! I truly believe the
invention of Braille has opened the doors for all of us.”

*Braille Rockstar*

By Daria Bannerman, NFB CSD, Secretary

“When I was six years old, I started learning to read and write Braille. I
remember seeing a Perkins Brailler for the first time. I thought it was
going to be a struggle to learn, but was also fascinated with this heavy
metal device. Very quickly, I fell in love and began to appreciate Braille.
Because of Braille, I was given opportunities! I had opportunities to be
active in lots of activities and could be competitive with my peers. If I
had remained intimidated by those six dots, I would have never been able to
independently do the things I wanted to do, such as taking part in spelling
competitions or the confidence to pursue my college degree.”

*Braille Boss*

By Ron Smith

“In Kindergarten, my braille teacher Mrs. Hartman opened a whole new world
for me. Once I learned uncontracted braille, I loved having a book in my
hands. But then I learned contracted braille, and I felt as if I had the
entire world at my fingertips. I was only in the second grade at that time,
so I did not realize that what I was feeling, was not just a feeling, it
was reality.

Because of braille, I can sit in a crowded, very noisy airport, or at a bus
stop, or in a car with music blasting, and read a book, or work on a report
for my job. Because of braille, I can walk into a meeting at my job, and
with confidence, giving my full attention to the people I am addressing,
present statistics and if necessary, I am able to answer them. I don’t have
to rely on what someone tells me.”

Teachers like Sister O'Brien & Mrs. Hartman have been giving blind students
the key to independence, and they’ve been unlocking Braille cells ever
since!

*“Braille readers are leaders!”*



*THE GIGGLING CORNER*

Someone will smile, then the other person smiles. And we all know that one
smile, creates many smiles together!

Let’s start the new CSD calendar year with a year-long contagious circle of
smiles!

Question: How did Jack Frost get to work on New Year’s day?

Answer: By icicles!

*“a CSD mirror smiling back at you!”*



THE QUEEN OF CLAY

International Creativity Month

Written by Roshunda J. Holt

My journey of discovering who I was, began the day I was diagnosed with
Retinitis Pigmentosa. It put things into perspective, like, why I was so
‘clumsy’ and helped me make sense of the shortcomings within my sighted
world.

Before I was diagnosed, I would draw using graphite and color pencils, but
that was the extent of my skill.

Once I discovered Envision Arts, my whole world changed! I became more
confident and comfortable with my sight since being around people who were
learning to live with their own visually impairments. I was handed a piece
of clay and asked to mold it into whatever I was feeling. I had never held
clay in my life prior to walking into this classroom, and it gave me the
feeling of control I was needing during this time of discoveries.

I was losing my sight, no longer able to drive, no longer ‘visually’
keeping up with my current employment, and now, I had the ability to create
outside of a sketch pad and pencils. With this new craft, I opened myself
up to being called an Artist! I found a skill that was meant for me and no
one could take that away.

I use this gift to give back to those who help me along in my journey as a
humble way of saying Thank You: or caring, supporting and encouraging me!
For having the patience with me as I learn who I really am for the first
time.

I have art on display throughout Sedgwick County and I am grateful to
everyone who has invested in me and it is an honor to have earned the
reputation as a certified Visually Impaired Artist.

Because I recognize that I have been blessed with such an amazing gift, I
have also given back by hosting workshops and donating some of my pieces to
auctions. It has been a magnificent journey and if given the option of
being fully sighted or Retinitis Pigmentosa, I would choose this unique
eyesight every time!



CH*ANGING ATTITUDES*

National Mentoring Month

National Federation of the Blind CAREER Mentoring Program

Written by Maurice Peret

In October of 2004 the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute
received a five-year model demonstration grant from the US Department of
Education Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to develop a
mentoring excellence program for blind youth between the ages of sixteen
and twenty-six. With this grant, the Federation established a National
Center for Mentoring Excellence to design, develop, implement, and evaluate
a comprehensive national mentoring program to connect young blind people
with successful blind adults. Today we are building on the quantitative and
qualitative data collected from that experience to establish NFB CAREER
Mentoring Programs across the country for blind youth with a stronger
emphasis upon pre-employment transition services as outlined in the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act (WIOA). The NFB CAREER Mentoring
Program combines best practices in mentoring with the philosophy of the
NFB—a philosophy that combines high expectations, a positive attitude, the
value of alternative techniques of blindness, and the belief that it is
okay to be blind. In the end, we hope to instill a conviction in the blind
women and men we serve that they can live the lives they want and that
blindness is not what holds them back.

The empowering role that mentors play in encouraging and modeling proven
strategies and winning behaviors to young mentees can hardly be overstated.
>From the time they are very young, boys and girls begin to think about what
they want to become when they grow up. Unfortunately, this is also the time
that society begins to tell blind and visually-impaired children and their
families that not only are they different from other children, but that
this difference means that there will be less expected of them because they
could never measure up to the expectations held for sighted children.
Combined with the tendency for blind and low-vision youth to be
underexposed to blind adult role models who are successful in a variety of
technical, professional, and academic pursuits within the mainstream
workplace, these societal misperceptions of the capabilities of the blind
discourage blind children from using their imagination to combine their
personal interests, aptitudes, and innate talents to dream big about what
they want to be when they grow up. In the words of Frederick Douglass, “It
is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

Blind youth need exposure to positive blind role models who demonstrate a
solid belief in the abilities of blind people and can, through guidance and
example, raise expectations and offer practical tips and tricks for
accessing resources and acquiring skills for success. When successful blind
role models take a concerted interest in the lives of young blind people,
expectations are raised about what can be accomplished. As dreams become
reality, practical lessons are absorbed, often without even knowing that
the learning is taking place. With an intolerably high rate of unemployment
and under employment of working-age blind people in our nation, knowing
what it takes to succeed in the vocation of one’s choosing is critical.
Navigating the labyrinth of the special education, vocational
rehabilitation, and other social systems while juggling the dissidence and
mixed messaging of expectation imbalances can become perplexing and
wearisome. The personal knowledge and experience of successful blind adults
helps ground blind youth to internalize the philosophy that blindness is
not the characteristic that defines them or their future. Every day
successful blind mentors help raise the expectations of blind young people
because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and their
dreams. They come to know that they can live the lives they want; blindness
is not what holds them back.

Many Federationists have stories of how mentorship by an older or more
experienced Federationist changed their life. For some it was someone in
their local or state chapter; for some it was someone like past Presidents
Dr. tenBroek, Dr. Jernigan, or Dr. Maurer. And most of those Federationists
talk about their determination to pay the time, faith, and confidence spent
on them forward with new and younger Federationists.



*VOLUNTEERS ARE LIFESAVERS*

National Blood Donation Mont

Did you know that 38% of the U.S. population are eligible to give blood,
yet only 7% do? Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. And
those needs do not diminish during disasters or pandemics. That patient
could be a grandparent battling COVID-19 in need of convalescent plasma, a
child battling cancer, an accident victim being raced into the Emergency
Room, or new mom with a complicated childbirth.

Through a national inventory system, the Red Cross has the ability to move
blood around the country to wherever and whenever it is needed most. With
the help of volunteer donors, the Red Cross stands ready to provide blood
and blood products as needed in response to these ongoing emergencies both
large and small. Health emergencies don’t pause for holidays, game days or
a pandemic.

As COVID-19 cases have risen across the U.S., so has the need for
convalescent plasma, leading to a shortage of this potentially lifesaving
blood product.

Those who have recovered from COVID-19 can make a big difference too! The
Red Cross is collecting convalescent plasma at over 170 locations
throughout the country. If you’ve recovered from COVID-19, you may be
eligible to donate your plasma to help others going through COVID-19
treatment. Fill out the eligibility form to start the process. In addition,
Plasma from whole blood donations that test positive for COVID-19
antibodies may be used to help COVID-19 patients.

Make an appointment today to give blood by downloading the free Blood Donor
App, visiting

www.RedCrossBlood.org

or calling (800) RED CROSS.

Start the year by making a lifesaving donation during National Blood Donor
Month!



*RESOURCES*

Search for virtual volunteering or locally based opportunities:

www.MLKDay.gov



If you would like to apply as a mentor for the NFB CAREER Mentoring
Program, go to

www.nfb.org/mentorapplication

If you are that young Federationist who would like to benefit from the
advice and support of a mentor, go to

www.nfb.org/menteeapplication



Make A Blood Donation Near You

First United Methodist Church of Portland

January 9, 2022

9AM to 1PM CST

Portland, TX

https://donor.coastalbendbloodcenter.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/30629



Stuart's Opera House

Nelsonville, Ohio

Monday, January 17, 2022

1PM to 7PM EST

https://stuartsoperahouse.org/events/blood-drive-at-stuarts-opera-house-5/



Memorial Blood Centers

St. Paul, MN

https://www.mbc.org/



Lifesouth Community Blood Centers

Florida, Alabama, & Georgia

https://www.lifesouth.org



Donate Blood, Platelets or Plasma: Red Cross

https://www.redcrossblood.org/



More Information on Learning Braille

Hadley Vision

Phone: (800) 323-4238

Website: https://hadley.edu/learn?topic_id=15



NFB 2022 National Convention

July 5 through July 10, 2022

New Orleans, LA

Website: https://nfb.org/get-involved/national-convention

Will NFB22 be your first National Convention?

Learn about the Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship that helps active
NFB members, blind or sighted, attend their first NFB National Convention.

If you have questions, please contact us at:

Phone: (410) 659-9314

Email: nfb at nfb.org



*EDITOR’S NOTES*

We want to feature you in our next issue! Write about your personal
experience with your community service project and submit the article by
the first of the month.

We also want to help promote your community projects and state affiliate
events. Share your calendar with Beyond The Six Dots and we will feature
your events in the ‘Represent Your State’ section of our next issue.
Contact our editor to submit your calendar events and featured articles.
(The editor may edit the Length and/or wording of your article.)



*NFB Community Service Division*

www.facebook.com/communityservicedivision/

President Jeanetta Price

Email: price.jeanetta at gmail.com

Mobile: (409) 344-1005

Newsletter Editor: Maggie Stringer

Email: Ravensfan784 at gmail.com

Mobile: (443) 750-0070



*ONE MINUTE MESSAGE*

The National Federation of t*he Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. We are survivors!*
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