[Faith-talk] This is sad indeed

Sat Nov 30 02:14:33 UTC 2013

How sad that this facility doesn't know how valuable a service they provide 
to those of us who like to take a Braille Bible to church!

Maybe someone else will take up the cause!  If I had the monetary ability, 
I'd do it for sure.

Have a blessed and thankful evening!

Debbie Human

----- 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
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
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