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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Hello Everyone,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>As many of you know, the Maryland Regional Braille Challenge will take place at MSB on Saturday, February 8<sup>th</sup>. Along with the myriad opportunities to network with other parents, teachers and blind adults at this event, I would like to also make it an opportunity for our younger blind children to expand their Braille book collections.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I have an extensive library of Braille books which I have collected over the years, but have now outgrown. In an effort to pay it forward to the up-and-coming generation of blind people, I am bringing many of these books to the Braille Challenge and donating them to anyone who would be interested in giving them a home. I would like to invite you to do the same. We are setting up a table in MSB’s Campbell Gym where anyone who has books they would like to donate can drop them off. During their time in the exhibit hall, we invite parents and students to browse through the collection and pick up any book(s) they might want. They can then take those books home with them for their reading pleasure.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>As has been so often repeated in the blindness field of late, we are currently in a “book famine.” Braille books are scarce and young Braille readers are left with only a small number of available pleasure reading material. When I was a new Braille reader, I was very enthusiastic about this newfound literacy and read anything I could put my hands on. I have met and worked with many young blind children in the past few years who have the same passion for literacy that I did, but who are longing for age-appropriate Braille books for them to read for pleasure. Therefore, I hope you will join me in keeping the spirit of literacy alive. If you have any children’s Braille books which are no longer being read, please bring them to the Braille Challenge and donate them to our free library. Once at the Challenge, just drop your books off at the designated table in Campbell Gym during the registration period. Please spread the word to any parents/teachers you know who will be there. I hope to see many of you—and your books—at the Maryland Braille Challenge on February 8.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Thank you,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Chris Nusbaum<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>