<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Awesome! Keep getting in that good trouble!<br><br><div dir="ltr">Cheryl E. Fields<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Sent from my iPhone</div></div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Oct 27, 2021, at 10:02 AM, Stacie Leap via Community-Service <community-service@nfbnet.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">Welcome to Blind Equality Achievement Month!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><span style="color:black;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:9.5pt">Podium or not, she will fight for her rights! Meet our 27</span><sup style="color:black;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">th</sup><span style="color:black;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:9.5pt"> </span><span style="color:black;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:9.5pt">Community Achiever, Emily W. Gindlesperger from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:15.6933px;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:13.5533px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:15.6933px;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">My life has always been centered around volunteering and non-profit work. Growing up I never had a paying job in high school, but always volunteered in the local Meals On Wheels kitchen, other soup kitchens, and other church activities. I was a store manager for a brief time, before returning to non-profit and being the office manager for a local hospital. I had two children in two years, and which point I left my position to be a stay-at-home mother a few months before my daughter was born. She was born with a rare eye condition leaving her totally blind and me on my way to joining the National Federation of the Blind. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:15.6933px;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In 2008, I reached out to Jim Antonacci and was referred for the Parent Leadership Program of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. I spent my first convention in Detroit and then my first Washington Seminar in 2009 and there has been no turning back. Though I had done some policy work at my office job, and subsequent community boards, being in Washington DC and being part of the organized blind movement changed me. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:15.6933px;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">I was given the continued support of Mr. Antonacci and now President Lynn Heitz to continue my work reaching out to our Federal Representatives, meeting with them and working with National to form relationships and support for our movement. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:15.6933px;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The new level of state engagement has provided an appointment for me on the state advisory committee for the education of children with blindness and visual impairment. In order to solidify my commitment and my future with the Federation and its movement, I will be starting my master’s program in government, a concentration in Law and Public Policy in January 2022.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:15.6933px;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">She is Emily Gindlesperger, <span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:13.5533px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">second Vice President of the Pennsylvania state affiliate, <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"></span>Legislative Director for NFB Pennsylvania, and a monumental contributor to the blind movement!</span></p><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><span style="color:black;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:9.5pt">#BEAM</span></div></div>
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