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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Hi Tom.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Thank you so much for your thoughtful response to my e-mail. Let me share a bit of information with you that can help answer some of your questions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The Community Service group is primarily made up of NFB. You are more than welcome to be a part of this group even if you are not a current NFB member.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I also invite anyone to be a part of my workshop and membership development committee. Feel free to write to me privately if you are interested in participating. I have been a committee of one thus far, but there is much room for all who would like to participate with me in growing our current members and inviting new ones.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Here is a link to the membership area of the NFB Web site. This link can point you to state and local resources to help you join the organization.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><a href="https://nfb.org/how-join">https://nfb.org/how-join</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Here is information to point you to the National Association of Blind Veterans, a Division of the NFB<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>President: Dwight Sayer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>P.O. Box 784957<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Winter Garden, Florida 34778<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Phone: 321-948-1466<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>E-mail: president@nabv.org<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Web site: http://nabv.org<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Mailing list: http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindvet-talk_nfbnet.org<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Again, Tom, welcome to our group. We hope to soon become a division at the NFB national convention in Orlando in July.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Mary Ann<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> Community-service [mailto:community-service-bounces@nfbnet.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Thomas Peralta<br><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, April 08, 2014 7:01 PM<br><b>To:</b> Community Service Discussion List<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Community-service] Workshops<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Mary Ann,<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>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 <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>On Tuesday, April 8, 2014 6:05 PM, Cheryl Fields <<a href="mailto:cherylelaine1957@gmail.com">cherylelaine1957@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Maryann,<br>I am delighted you asked these important questions! Yes I would attend<br>workshops, teleconferences that include meaningful topics, speakers,<br>and offer interesting and timely round table discussions.<br>Topics, my preferences are, building community connections,<br>leadership skills, fund raising , and how to create diverse volunteer<br>groups.<br><br>Roundtable discussions, can be a wealth of knowledge for discussion<br>list participants if guided properly. A friendly, mature,<br>knowledgeable and engaging moderator is key to the success of any<br>roundtable discussion, especially one that is held over the<br>telephone. Providing opportunities for participants to share<br>experiences, how they solved problems/ barriers and sharing future<br>plans. some on the list may have a grander idea for service and<br>connecting with grant writers, and how to write a business plan could<br>assist them greatly. Maintaining a list of locations in each state<br>that provide other workshop opportunities for larger community<br>projects to participate in may be helpful. For example I live in<br>Cleveland and we just hosted the Cleveland International film<br>Festival, this event could not happen without a vast amout of<br>volunteers. This summer Cleveland will host the Senior Games and an<br>annual jazz festival again a huge number of volunteers will be<br>recruited for these events. Who do we contact to become involved, what<br>is needed for that involvement and how can we best represent the nfb<br>by becoming involved?<br><br>Speakers, it would be beneficial to involve some of the existing<br>community partners on list, members as speakers to provide overview of<br>the opportunities available through the projects they have been<br>involved with. Identifying the challenges and satisfaction levels of<br>these endeavours. Organizations. Other types of speakers could<br>include, local grassroots organizations that provide training,<br>information on faith based service opportunities, how can parents of<br>blind children exchange service for other important services such as<br>day care or transportation of children to school. saving them much<br>needed funds. Speakers could include persons with unusual/ exotic<br>skills, feeding animals at the zoo or persons that collect used<br>computer/ electronics to be refurbished. This could open conversation<br>about how many blind people would like to have access to technology<br>but lack the funds for hardware and software. Possibly opening new<br>avenues, brainstorming with others to enhance the lives within the<br>blind community. The more diversity of speakers may create more<br>interest from listeners and encourage others to join the list. Hearing<br>from, our Latina community, the African American community, the<br>parents of blind children as well as blind parents with sighted<br>children and others. We all want to hear from those that share other<br>unique challenges that include blindness. Marketing the<br>teleconference/ workshops to all nfb members may be helpful to<br>stimulate new ideas and encouraging to others that never thought about<br>community service projects. Any speaker should be engaging and open to<br>answering questions when asked, and following up when necessary. To do<br>this properly the speaker should have a interview process so that the<br>moderator of the workshop is familiar with the speaker/ orgainization<br>, in this way the moderator can move the discussion along with<br>confidence, introduce other related topics and convey to listeners<br>that he/ she is prepared. Speakers can also be nfb members with<br>experience and proven success in the community with his/her outreach<br>projects.<br><br>I feel it would be beneficial to have 1 national project, outside of<br>the covention structure. something simple, meaningful and inexpensive<br>for every affiliate to complete within some predesignated time frame.<br>This may create interest in this list, participants can share<br>experiences on line, post photos, and share the success of the project<br>together.<br><br>I don't think this list is the place to post employment possibilities<br>for others. This list may be better served by explaining how<br>volunteering can boost a resume, provide training for new skills or<br>maintaining expertise of existing skills, and help a job seeker with<br>networking.<br><br>Finally, I know I have written lots here, but I was glad to have the<br>chance to get it off my chest. I was very excited when I first joined<br>this list, but have become disinterested and disappointed with the<br>content. Community Service exists for many different reasons and not<br>everyone is seeking employment or attending the national covention.<br>Some of us want to serve our communities and enhance the quality of<br>life for our neighbors and our selves while proudly representing the<br>philosophy of the nfb. Because of the unique barriers we face, I<br>thought this list would provide some support and suggestions. When I<br>initially joined, there was the sense that this is what we were<br>accomplishing. Then the list became flooded with issues surrounding<br>the national covention, this was interesting to me, because most of<br>the list users stated that they are not attending the covention. There<br>seemed to be no other conversation. I called once and was engaged in a<br>conversation where the names of officers and committees was guarded,<br>not available to us. There were only a few of us on that call and it<br>was a complete disaster, this is the reason I have not participated<br>again. it is my understanding that at some future time the committee<br>and officers intend to create a division from this list. Well, good<br>luck, because it is difficult to define what the purpose of the group<br>is. I have not given up on being hopeful to read in exciting and<br>engaging topics and will hang in there for a while longer. I am<br>willing to assist with the growth of this group, it's worth salvaging!<br>I really hope others respond to assist you and the other leaders in a<br>positive way to redefine what this list/ group and future division<br>will become. Thank you for asking and listening, have a great day!<br><br>Blessings,<br><br>Cheryl Fields<br><br>Contact information; 216.932.6644 or <a href="mailto:cherylelaine1957@gmail.com">cherylelaine1957@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><div id=yqtfd72847><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><br>On 4/8/14, Mary Ann Mendez <<a href="mailto:maryann@jmendez.us">maryann@jmendez.us</a>> wrote:<br>> Hi everyone.<br>><br>><br>><br>> I want to share with you that there were 0 participants in attendance for<br>> the March 31 workshop.<br>><br>> Here are some questions that can help us develop meaningful opportunities<br>> for our service-minded community service group participants. Feel free to<br>> respond to me directly with any thoughts. I will not share your individual<br>> responses with others. instead, I will use the data to put together a<br>> meaningful report based on all feedback.<br>><br>><br>><br>> * Would you attend teleconferences that serve as workshops to<br>> improve community service? Why or why not?<br>><br>> * Would you attend teleconferences that showcase a guest speaker?<br>> Why or why not?<br>><br>> * What inspires you to attend a teleconference event?<br>><br>> * What do you like and dislike about round-table discussions?<br>><br>> * What do you like and dislike about guest speakers?<br>><br>> * What would you like to see in workshops?<br>><br>> * What would you like to see from guest speakers?<br>><br>> * And lastly: What would have inspired you to attend the previous<br>> workshop on ways to become involved in community service?<br>><br>> * What have I missed that you would like to add?<br>><br>> Thank you for any thoughts you would like to share about this. Our group is<br>> only a product of what each of us brings to it. I look forward to offering<br>> opportunities for us to grow in service learning.<br>><br>><br>><br>> Sincerely,<br>><br>> Mary Ann Mendez<br>><br>><br>><br>><br>><br>><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Community-service mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Community-service@nfbnet.org">Community-service@nfbnet.org</a><br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/community-service_nfbnet.org" target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/community-service_nfbnet.org</a><br>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Community-service:<br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/community-service_nfbnet.org/tinypaws8491%40yahoo.com" target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/community-service_nfbnet.org/tinypaws8491%40yahoo.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>