[il-talk] FW: Article from Braille Monitor Articles Section 2019 03 01

Sat Mar 2 23:03:46 UTC 2019

Very nice Marylou. Gina Falvo 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 2, 2019, at 3:50 PM, eileen Truschke via IL-Talk <il-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Mary Lou is a  true champion for the NFBI and has been since day 1 of the affiliate's charter.  She's one of the hardest working individuals for equality of the blind.  Ken Schad and I are mighty proud of you, Mary Lou.  
>    On Saturday, March 2, 2019, 8:32:42 AM CST, Mary lou Grunwald via IL-Talk <il-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:  
> 
> For those individuals in the NFB of my generation, having an article published in the braille monitor that you had something to do with is quite an honor!
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
>> On 2 Mar 2019, at 6:19 AM, Denise Avant via IL-Talk <il-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> This article features comments by a great federationist.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Denise R. Avant, Esq.
>> 
>> President,
>> 
>> National Federation of the Blind of Illinois
>> 
>> 773-991-8050
>> 
>> Live the life you want.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> For more information about NFBI,
>> 
>> Go to www.nfbofillinois.org
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> From: NFB-NEWSLINE Online <publications at nfbnewsline.net> 
>> Sent: Saturday, March 2, 2019 6:09 AM
>> To: Denise Avant <davant1958 at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Article from Braille Monitor Articles Section 2019 03 01
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> A Network of Support From the Editor: Longtime NFB of Illinois member Mary
>> Lou Grunwald delivered the following presentation at the joint luncheon for
>> vendors and students on October 27, 2018. I'm so excited to be at an event
>> like this. It's kind of a dream come true for me. I'm up here because I was
>> asked to speak about one very specific reason why I'm in the NFB. There are
>> many reasons why I'm involved, but this is a story many of you may not know.
>> For a little background, one of the early successes of the NFBI was that we,
>> along with our national office, advocated with the National Labor Relations
>> Board (NLRB) to reclassify sheltered workshops as factories and not as
>> rehabilitation institutions. As a result, the NLRB took jurisdiction over
>> union organizing efforts at the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind. In 1976 I
>> was in my early twenties. I wasn't able to go to college, so my first stop
>> in my career journey was the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind. At that time
>> it was not the place that it is today. They paid subminimum wages, and they
>> had substandard working conditions. I worked in the factory making big ones
>> out of little ones, a shorthand for assembling chemistry sets and
>> switchboard plugs. It was tough work for very little money, but my mom and I
>> needed that money desperately. I had recently gotten to know the NFB and had
>> become involved with the Chicago chapter. Through our involvement with the
>> NFB some of us at the Lighthouse started trying to form a union there. We
>> worked very hard on it with the support and the guidance of the chapter and
>> of the state and national NFB, and also the help of the Teamsters Union.
>> Unfortunately we lost by only a couple of votes because of some ugly scare
>> tactics that were going on. I'm not at all sorry I did it. It was wonderful
>> experience that prepared me for things I did later on. But when I got home,
>> the reality set in. I had done something that I thought was very important,
>> but now I had no job, and Mom and I had very little money. My mother was
>> very upset with me because I had done all of this advocacy. I started trying
>> to figure out my next career move. And while I was working on that,
>> something started happening. I started getting envelopes in the mail. These
>> envelopes had people's names on them, people I didn't recognize. When I
>> opened them I found checks, checks from people, and I didn't know who the
>> heck they were. I thought, who could this be? What is this? Then I
>> recognized a couple of the names, and I realized that these checks came from
>> Federationists all over the country who were supporting me! People I had
>> never met in my life were sending me money to help support me! That
>> experience solidified my desire to be helpful in this organization at
>> whatever level my talents would allow. That's one of the reasons I'm in the
>> NFB. Thank you!. 
>> 
>> This article is provided to you as a courtesy of NFB-NEWSLINE? Online for
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