[Faith-talk] This is sad indeed

Sat Nov 30 02:36:03 UTC 2013

There is another group who does print and distribute brail bibles as a 
missionary outreach, I will try to dig his information up for the list.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Debbie" <mouseless at mindspring.com>
To: "Faith-talk,for the discussion of faith and religion" 
<faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, November 29, 2013 5:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] This is sad indeed


> 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
>>>
>>>
>>> **** Be kind to your email friends.  If you forward this, please remove 
>>> all
>>> previous addresses before you send it on and use the BCC area when
>>> forwarding to several friends.  ****
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Faith-talk mailing list
>>> Faith-talk at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/faith-talk_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>>> Faith-talk:
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/faith-talk_nfbnet.org/heavens4real%40gmail.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Faith-talk mailing list
>> Faith-talk at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/faith-talk_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>> Faith-talk:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/faith-talk_nfbnet.org/mouseless%40mindspring.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Faith-talk mailing list
> Faith-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/faith-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> Faith-talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/faith-talk_nfbnet.org/heavens4real%40gmail.com