<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:14pt"><div><span>Mary Ann,</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 18.66px; font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;"><span>I am a blind, Vietnam era veteran who also happens to be a student. I start graduate school in June. How would one get involved with you committee? I am also the Secretary/Treasurer of the Wisconsin chapter of the Blind Veterans Association and plan on running for President in June. I am also a member of the legislative committee (lobbying committee) of the Wisconsin Council of the Blind. So I have some experience in dealing with people and community service. My major is Public Administration. Please let me know if I can
help and how to become a member of the NFB. Respectfully, Tom Peralta </span></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> On Tuesday, April 8, 2014 6:05 PM, Cheryl Fields <cherylelaine1957@gmail.com> wrote:<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container">Maryann,<br clear="none">I am delighted you asked these important questions! Yes I would attend<br clear="none">workshops, teleconferences that include meaningful topics, speakers,<br clear="none">and offer interesting and timely round table discussions.<br clear="none"> Topics, my preferences are, building community connections,<br clear="none">leadership skills, fund raising , and how
to create diverse volunteer<br clear="none">groups.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"> Roundtable discussions, can be a wealth of knowledge for discussion<br clear="none">list participants if guided properly. A friendly, mature,<br clear="none">knowledgeable and engaging moderator is key to the success of any<br clear="none">roundtable discussion, especially one that is held over the<br clear="none">telephone. Providing opportunities for participants to share<br clear="none">experiences, how they solved problems/ barriers and sharing future<br clear="none">plans. some on the list may have a grander idea for service and<br clear="none">connecting with grant writers, and how to write a business plan could<br clear="none">assist them greatly. Maintaining a list of locations in each state<br clear="none">that provide other workshop opportunities for larger community<br clear="none">projects to participate in may be helpful. For example I live in<br
clear="none">Cleveland and we just hosted the Cleveland International film<br clear="none">Festival, this event could not happen without a vast amout of<br clear="none">volunteers. This summer Cleveland will host the Senior Games and an<br clear="none">annual jazz festival again a huge number of volunteers will be<br clear="none">recruited for these events. Who do we contact to become involved, what<br clear="none">is needed for that involvement and how can we best represent the nfb<br clear="none">by becoming involved?<br clear="none"><br clear="none"> Speakers, it would be beneficial to involve some of the existing<br clear="none">community partners on list, members as speakers to provide overview of<br clear="none">the opportunities available through the projects they have been<br clear="none">involved with. Identifying the challenges and satisfaction levels of<br clear="none">these endeavours. Organizations. Other types of speakers could<br
clear="none">include, local grassroots organizations that provide training,<br clear="none">information on faith based service opportunities, how can parents of<br clear="none">blind children exchange service for other important services such as<br clear="none">day care or transportation of children to school. saving them much<br clear="none">needed funds. Speakers could include persons with unusual/ exotic<br clear="none">skills, feeding animals at the zoo or persons that collect used<br clear="none">computer/ electronics to be refurbished. This could open conversation<br clear="none">about how many blind people would like to have access to technology<br clear="none">but lack the funds for hardware and software. Possibly opening new<br clear="none">avenues, brainstorming with others to enhance the lives within the<br clear="none">blind community. The more diversity of speakers may create more<br clear="none">interest from listeners and encourage others
to join the list. Hearing<br clear="none">from, our Latina community, the African American community, the<br clear="none">parents of blind children as well as blind parents with sighted<br clear="none">children and others. We all want to hear from those that share other<br clear="none">unique challenges that include blindness. Marketing the<br clear="none">teleconference/ workshops to all nfb members may be helpful to<br clear="none">stimulate new ideas and encouraging to others that never thought about<br clear="none">community service projects. Any speaker should be engaging and open to<br clear="none">answering questions when asked, and following up when necessary. To do<br clear="none">this properly the speaker should have a interview process so that the<br clear="none">moderator of the workshop is familiar with the speaker/ orgainization<br clear="none">, in this way the moderator can move the discussion along with<br
clear="none">confidence, introduce other related topics and convey to listeners<br clear="none">that he/ she is prepared. Speakers can also be nfb members with<br clear="none">experience and proven success in the community with his/her outreach<br clear="none">projects.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"> I feel it would be beneficial to have 1 national project, outside of<br clear="none">the covention structure. something simple, meaningful and inexpensive<br clear="none">for every affiliate to complete within some predesignated time frame.<br clear="none">This may create interest in this list, participants can share<br clear="none">experiences on line, post photos, and share the success of the project<br clear="none">together.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"> I don't think this list is the place to post employment possibilities<br clear="none">for others. This list may be better served by explaining how<br clear="none">volunteering can boost a resume,
provide training for new skills or<br clear="none">maintaining expertise of existing skills, and help a job seeker with<br clear="none">networking.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Finally, I know I have written lots here, but I was glad to have the<br clear="none">chance to get it off my chest. I was very excited when I first joined<br clear="none">this list, but have become disinterested and disappointed with the<br clear="none">content. Community Service exists for many different reasons and not<br clear="none">everyone is seeking employment or attending the national covention.<br clear="none">Some of us want to serve our communities and enhance the quality of<br clear="none">life for our neighbors and our selves while proudly representing the<br clear="none">philosophy of the nfb. Because of the unique barriers we face, I<br clear="none">thought this list would provide some support and suggestions. When I<br clear="none">initially joined, there was
the sense that this is what we were<br clear="none">accomplishing. Then the list became flooded with issues surrounding<br clear="none">the national covention, this was interesting to me, because most of<br clear="none">the list users stated that they are not attending the covention. There<br clear="none">seemed to be no other conversation. I called once and was engaged in a<br clear="none">conversation where the names of officers and committees was guarded,<br clear="none">not available to us. There were only a few of us on that call and it<br clear="none">was a complete disaster, this is the reason I have not participated<br clear="none">again. it is my understanding that at some future time the committee<br clear="none">and officers intend to create a division from this list. Well, good<br clear="none">luck, because it is difficult to define what the purpose of the group<br clear="none">is. I have not given up on being hopeful to read in exciting
and<br clear="none">engaging topics and will hang in there for a while longer. I am<br clear="none">willing to assist with the growth of this group, it's worth salvaging!<br clear="none">I really hope others respond to assist you and the other leaders in a<br clear="none">positive way to redefine what this list/ group and future division<br clear="none">will become. Thank you for asking and listening, have a great day!<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Blessings,<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Cheryl Fields<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Contact information; 216.932.6644 or <a href="mailto:cherylelaine1957@gmail.com" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:cherylelaine1957@gmail.com">cherylelaine1957@gmail.com</a><br clear="none"><div class="yqt1919022586" id="yqtfd72847"><br clear="none">On 4/8/14, Mary Ann Mendez <<a href="mailto:maryann@jmendez.us" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:maryann@jmendez.us">maryann@jmendez.us</a>> wrote:<br clear="none">> Hi
everyone.<br clear="none">><br clear="none">><br clear="none">><br clear="none">> I want to share with you that there were 0 participants in attendance for<br clear="none">> the March 31 workshop.<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> Here are some questions that can help us develop meaningful opportunities<br clear="none">> for our service-minded community service group participants. Feel free to<br clear="none">> respond to me directly with any thoughts. I will not share your individual<br clear="none">> responses with others. instead, I will use the data to put together a<br clear="none">> meaningful report based on all feedback.<br clear="none">><br clear="none">><br clear="none">><br clear="none">> * Would you attend teleconferences that serve as workshops to<br clear="none">> improve community service? Why or why not?<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> *
Would you attend teleconferences that showcase a guest speaker?<br clear="none">> Why or why not?<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> * What inspires you to attend a teleconference event?<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> * What do you like and dislike about round-table discussions?<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> * What do you like and dislike about guest speakers?<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> * What would you like to see in workshops?<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> * What would you like to see from guest speakers?<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> * And lastly: What would have inspired you to attend the previous<br clear="none">> workshop on ways to become involved in community service?<br
clear="none">><br clear="none">> * What have I missed that you would like to add?<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> Thank you for any thoughts you would like to share about this. Our group is<br clear="none">> only a product of what each of us brings to it. I look forward to offering<br clear="none">> opportunities for us to grow in service learning.<br clear="none">><br clear="none">><br clear="none">><br clear="none">> Sincerely,<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> Mary Ann Mendez<br clear="none">><br clear="none">><br clear="none">><br clear="none">><br clear="none">><br clear="none">><br clear="none"><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">Community-service mailing list<br clear="none"><a href="mailto:Community-service@nfbnet.org" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:Community-service@nfbnet.org">Community-service@nfbnet.org</a><br
clear="none"><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/community-service_nfbnet.org" target="_blank" shape="rect">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/community-service_nfbnet.org</a><br clear="none">To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Community-service:<br clear="none"><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/community-service_nfbnet.org/tinypaws8491%40yahoo.com" target="_blank" shape="rect">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/community-service_nfbnet.org/tinypaws8491%40yahoo.com</a><br clear="none"></div><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div> </div></body></html>