<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Hi,</div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Your message brings up a good question. If one does not wish to disclose his or her blindness prior to a job interview, is there a way to list involvement in a blindness organization or related committees or affiliates without drawing attention to the job candidates visual impairment? I am just thinking that such information may unknowingly draw attention to the visual impairment, causing unnecessary fears or misconceptions about the candidates abilities or qualifications.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Thanks so much for any thoughts, and have a wonderful weekend!</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Best wishes, Miranda</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br><br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>On Jul 21, 2016, at 6:08 PM, taranabella0--- via Community-Service <<a href="mailto:community-service@nfbnet.org">community-service@nfbnet.org</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Hello Graham,</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Thank you so much for your feedback. I greatly appreciate it. Just a few points.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">This program is entirely voluntary. If members do not wish to receive recognition for their service, then they will not be required to join the program. We as in organization would like to award The dedication of our members. Many students are required to submit service hours, so this would be a great way for them to be tracked as well as the certificate being a wonderful asset to a future resume. </div><div id="AppleMailSignature">As far as updating the spreadsheet, considering the size of the division, and the fact that one would only need to input The number of hours for each individual once a month, this would not be a difficult task and I would be willing to dedicate the time to do it. If members do not wish to submit a sentence or two once a month regarding the service they did, then they are not required to join the program. As far as what constitutes community service, I will be sending this in a later email giving more information about the program. Any member of the national Federation of the blind who serves their community would be welcome to join. </div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Once again, I appreciate your feedback and if you have any other concerns we would love to have you as a member of the planning committee. You can contact me at: <a href="mailto:taranabella0@gmail.com">taranabella0@gmail.com</a></div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Thanks so much,</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Tara Abella</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br><br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>On Jul 21, 2016, at 8:40 AM, Graham Mehl via Community-Service <<a href="mailto:community-service@nfbnet.org">community-service@nfbnet.org</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">Hi Tara,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I really like the energy you have and encourage you to try all sort of things. With that said I have some wisdom to share from experience and I do not want to make you think this idea is bad or to discourage you. Just so you know I was employed by a company that had multi thousand employees that had a similar program. For about 6 years I sat on the board of a chapter for a volunteer organization of said company. The chapter I was apart of had anywhere from 700 to 1000 registered members. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Organizing and running a reward program is a lot of work. Entering all ghe info into a spreadsheet is a lot of work to make sure you do not have duplicate people that are the same. A web site form is what my company did, and the employees had logins so they were able to liminate the duplication. This approach maybe over board for our group, but something to think about. Not all people want to get recognized and just volunteer. It needs to be clear on how and where to submit the service hours and told on a regular basis. You will want to streamline as much as you can, because most people will not want to put a lot of effort into submitting hours. My company volunteer group would have people that would lead volunteer activities and provided a form for them to fill out to tell us about the event and a summary after the event to help collect service hours and it was rarely submitted. Lastly keep in mind there are all sort of volunteer activities and many will have different definitions. The same for the term of community service. Rhwew ew doeml oefnizations like Habitat for Humanity, Americorp, etx. Colunteering at church, county event like soup kitches. Volunteering at my son’s T-ball games, or my daughter girl scouts, etc. community service that my company may do, or being volved in a formal HOA to help the community look good and stay safe. Depending od definitions some could say volunteering on NFB chapter and division boards is volunteerism. Oh, would this reward program be for registered division members or open to the public or the the NFB as a whole?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Some food for thought. Good luck and welcome to the community service board.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">--<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Graham Mehl<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:blind@trailstone.com"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">blind@trailstone.com</span></a><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">NFB Central Maryland Chapter, Vice President<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">LCB graduate, 2016<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.freedomscientific.com/Certification"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:windowtext;text-decoration:none"><image001.jpg></span></a><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Community-Service mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:Community-Service@nfbnet.org">Community-Service@nfbnet.org</a></span><br><span><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/community-service_nfbnet.org">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/community-service_nfbnet.org</a></span><br><span>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Community-Service:</span><br><span><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/community-service_nfbnet.org/taranabella0%40gmail.com">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/community-service_nfbnet.org/taranabella0%40gmail.com</a></span></div></blockquote></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Community-Service mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:Community-Service@nfbnet.org">Community-Service@nfbnet.org</a></span><br><span><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/community-service_nfbnet.org">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/community-service_nfbnet.org</a></span><br><span>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Community-Service:</span><br><span><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/community-service_nfbnet.org/knownoflove%40gmail.com">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/community-service_nfbnet.org/knownoflove%40gmail.com</a></span></div></blockquote></body></html>