[Faith-talk] This is sad indeed

Sun Dec 1 16:31:40 UTC 2013

After owning several businesses, most of the time you have to stop offering 
a service it is simply because you can't afford to keep offering it. Where 
there is no money there is no service regardless of the desire to keep 
providing one.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "justin williams" <justin.williams2 at gmail.com>
To: "'Faith-talk,for the discussion of faith and religion'" 
<faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 01, 2013 7:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] This is sad indeed


> While I am generally an audio reader, I am still a fluid braille user; it 
> is
> unfortunate to have people think so little of braille as to stop producing
> it.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Faith-talk [mailto:faith-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Snow
> White Dove
> Sent: Sunday, December 01, 2013 11:24 AM
> To: Faith-talk, for the discussion of faith and religion
> Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] This is sad indeed
>
> Hi all,
> Yes it is sad. The Lutheran Church has really worked hard to try to get
> things in braille front.
> However, I do believe that Christian record services produces a braille
> Bible.
> FYI,
> Jenny
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Nov 29, 2013, at 5:20 PM, "Poppa Bear" <heavens4real at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Very very good points Paul.
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul" <oilofgladness47 at gmail.com>
>> To: "Faith-talk,for the discussion of faith and religion"
>> <faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, November 29, 2013 1:40 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] This is sad indeed
>>
>>
>>> Yes, I agree it is sad, but in all this talk about audio books in
>>> electronic formats and digital NLS cartridges, there is a small but
>>> nonetheless recognizable population among the blind that will be
>>> impacted drastically, and that is the deaf-blind community.  The only
>>> practical way they can read is in Braille, if in fact they already
>>> know it.  That is why the undersigned protested loudly but
>>> respectfully when the Gospel Association for the Blind discontinued
>>> the Braille edition of its official publication, "The Gospel
>>> Messenger" magazine sometime in 2012.  As a small way of showing
>>> solidarity with our deaf-blind Christians, I chose then and continue
>>> not to subscribe to the cassette or online version of this magazine.
>>> I hope personally that I won't live to see the day when Braille is
>>> totally eliminated from being produced.  Let's remember our
>>> deaf-blind Christians in this hour of need, and try to, if only
>>> vicariously, "walk in their shoes." Paul
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Poppa Bear"
>>> <heavens4real at gmail.com>
>>> To: "Faith-talk,for the discussion of faith and religion"
>>> <faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Friday, November 29, 2013 3:40 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] This is sad indeed
>>>
>>>
>>>> It is sad, it reminds me that we need to really be aware of the 
>>>> changing
> world that we live in and understand that if we don't move with 
> technology,
> it has the ability to steam roll us right over. Unfortunatly they didn't
> start to look at different ways they could still inpact the blind 
> community
> with the Bible before it came to this point from what it seems like. Never
> the less, God is still in control.
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "debby phillips"
>>>> <semisweetdebby at gmail.com>
>>>> To: <faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Thursday, November 28, 2013 9:56 PM
>>>> Subject: [Faith-talk] This is sad indeed
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> This is very sad to me.    Blessings,    Debby
>>>>>
>>>>> ---- Original Message ------
>>>>> From: "Raymond Bishop" <rtbishop at sbcglobal.NET
>>>>> Subject: [christianblindinstitute] Braille Center Closes in
>>>>> Arkansas Date sent: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 21:09:02 -0600
>>>>>
>>>>> A new mission Lutheran Braille Workers closes center in Bella Vista
>>>>> church By Christie Storm In 28 years, volunteers at the Lutheran
>>>>> Braille Workers center in Northwest Arkansas printed more than
>>>>> 51,000 books of the Bible for the blind and visually impaired.
>>>>> This month, the group is no more. Advances in technology for the
>>>>> blind have led to a decline in demand for Braille Bibles and the
>>>>> ministry headquartered in Yucaipa, Calif., has been forced to close
>>>>> several volunteer work centers around the country.  Four of six
>>>>> centers in Arkansas were on the closure list, including the one
> operating out of Bella Vista Lutheran Church.
>>>>> For coordinator Marie Herr, it was a hard loss.  She started the
>>>>> only center in Northwest Arkansas at Faith Lutheran Church in
>>>>> Bentonville almost three decades ago.  The center moved to Bella
>>>>> Vista in 2007 and was abuzz with activity each Tuesday from morning
>>>>> to night year-round.  One-seventh of my life has been spent in
>>>>> Braille, said the 87-year-old Herr, referring to the one out of seven
> days she spends working on the Braille Bibles each week.
>>>>> She discovered the Braille ministry while living in Texas and would
>>>>> carpool with a group of women from her church to a work center once
>>>>> a month. When she moved to Bentonville, the women's group at her
>>>>> new church was looking for a ministry to support and Herr suggested
>>>>> Lutheran Braille Workers. The volunteers began working in 1985.
>>>>> The Rev.  Phillip M.  Pledger, president of Lutheran Braille Workers,
> said closing the volunteer centers wasn't easy.
>>>>> It's been very hard on everybody, he said.  It's not a pleasant or
>>>>> a welcome change.  But it was inevitable with advances in
>>>>> technology, he said. Our Braille orders have plummeted over the
>>>>> last few years andI had a feeling it was going to, but I never
>>>>> would have thought it would happen so quickly, Pledger said.  Blind
>>>>> and visually impaired readers are increasingly turning to
>>>>> electronic books, audio books and other media, which has forced the
>>>>> organization to adapt, Pledger said.  The ministry is considering
>>>>> books of the Bible via cartridges that fit into USB ports on
>>>>> computers and other devices, he said, adding that they will also
>>>>> continue to supply the Braille Bibles as long as there is a need.
>>>>> Lutheran Braille Workers got its start in 1943.  Fred Graepp was a
>>>>> seminary student in the 1930s and was blinded in an industrial
>>>>> accident.  Pledger said Graepp went back home to San Jose, Calif.,
>>>>> and got involved with ministries for the blind.  During World War
>>>>> II, he heard about the Nazis destroying Braille Bibles and wanted
>>>>> to send new ones to German pastors.  Fred took it upon himself to
>>>>> transcribe the Bible back into German Braille, Pledger said.  He
>>>>> put out an ad in one of our denomination's magazines asking for
>>>>> volunteers who would learn German and Braille to transcribe Bibles.
>>>>> One of the volunteers was Helene Loeber. She was a remarkable
>>>>> person, Pledger said.  She got things done.  Loeber recruited women
>>>>> from her church and with the help of her brother, Norman, who
>>>>> constructed a Braille press from the rollers from the family's
>>>>> ringer washer, began to streamline the process.  Today, the
>>>>> organization has about
>>>>> 5,000 volunteers in centers across the United States.  They send
>>>>> books of the Bible in 30 languages, free of charge, to the blind
>>>>> and visually impaired in
>>>>> 120 countries.  The text is embossed on zinc plates, which are fed
>>>>> through a press to imprint the Braille onto both sides of a piece
>>>>> of paper.  The pagesare then collated and fixed in spiral binders.
>>>>> A complete Bible includes 37 volumes that take up 5 feet of shelf
>>>>> space.  A complete set costs about $185 to produce - costs that are
>>>>> met by donations and money raised by participating churches.  Each
>>>>> center is responsible for printing specific books of the Bible.
>>>>> The Bella Vista center produced Matthew in Spanish and Estonian,
>>>>> Acts in English and French and a two-volume set of Jeremiah and
>>>>> Lamentations in English.  Herr said volunteers learned to sight-read
> Braille to ensure the pages were inserted correctly into the binders.
>>>>> Over the years, about 60 volunteers printed more copies of Acts
>>>>> than any other - 27,785.  Herr shared the statistics at an
>>>>> appreciation banquet held for the volunteers in late October.
>>>>> We've had some wonderful people with us for many, many years, she
>>>>> said.  It's been very rewarding.  Even with the center's closure, the
> volunteers weren't ready to give up their ministry.
>>>>> Herr and others now volunteer at Trinity Lutheran Church in
>>>>> Freistatt, Mo., about 60 miles away.  Our whole objective is to
>>>>> bring Christ to those in darkness, she said.
>>>>> Work centers in Mountain Home, Searcy and Waldenburg, near
>>>>> Jonesboro, were also on the closure list.  Two sites, First
>>>>> Lutheran Church in Hot Springs and Christ Lutheran Church in Hot
>>>>> Springs Village, remain open.  Pledger said the two centers are very
> active and able to financially support the work.
>>>>> Howard Graff has been volunteering at First Lutheran Church's
>>>>> center for several years.  He said the church's center has about 52
>>>>> volunteers. They work Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the year.
>>>>> The center prints I Samuel, I and II Kings, Luther's Small
>>>>> Catechism and John in Burmese and devotional booklets.
>>>>> We usually do about 300 a month, he said, adding thatthe center has
>>>>> three Braille presses.  For Pledger, the changes in the
>>>>> organization have been difficult, especially because he knows the
>>>>> volunteers are so committed. Part of our reluctance to believe this
>>>>> is happening is that there's a big movement of people who love
>>>>> doing this, he said.  A lot of people, once they get started they
>>>>> don't want to stop.  Pledger said he thinks there will be a
>>>>> long-term demand for paper Braille books but perhaps not as much as
>>>>> in the past.  He said one bright spot has been the increased demand
>>>>> for large-print items, including copies of the Lutheran hymnal.
>>>>> Electronic books may one day take over, but he's not ready to give
>>>>> in.  I think eventually they'll be so ubiquitous, people won't think 
>>>>> of
> using a paper book but we're not there just yet, he said.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Raymond Bishop, NV9B
>>>>> Philippians 4:6-7
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> **** Be kind to your email friends.  If you forward this, please
>>>>> remove all previous addresses before you send it on and use the BCC
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
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