[Nfb-greeley] Fw: [Colorado-talk] convention announcement

Wed Oct 19 23:17:10 UTC 2011

Blessings!
Melissa Green
Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make its 
colors appear.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lisa Bonderson" <lbonderson at cocenter.org>
To: "Colorado-talk NFBC" <Colorado-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 2:36 PM
Subject: [Colorado-talk] convention announcement


> 57TH ANNUAL NFBCO CONVENTION
>
>
>
> Greetings Friends,
>
>
>
> The 57th Annual Convention of the National Federation of the Blind of 
> Colorado is coming soon and excitement is mounting.  It will be taking 
> place from November 3rd through November 6th at the DoubleTree Hotel 
> located at 3203 Quebec Street in Denver.  Rooms are $86 a night regardless 
> of the number of people in them and we have already exceeded our original 
> room block.  However, the hotel has extended our deadline until October 
> 20th and allocated us some additional rooms.  Hurry up and get your rooms 
> quickly before they are all gone.  Please call 303 321-3333 and tell 
> reservations that you are with the NFB Colorado convention.  You can also 
> go to our website, www.nfbco.org, and follow an online reservation link to 
> book your room that way.  Online convention registration is still open at 
> this time and will be through October 24th.  Again, go to our website, 
> www.nfbco.org, and preregister for the convention.  It is less expensive 
> to preregister.  With preregistration, convention registration is $15, 
> Friday's luncheon $15, Saturday's luncheon $15, and the Saturday Banquet 
> $30.  After October 24th, everything goes up, Convention registration $20, 
> Friday's luncheon $20, Saturday's luncheon $20, and Saturday evening's 
> Banquet $40.
>
>
>
> This year, we are delighted to have Patti Chang from Illinois as our 
> national representative.  Patti serves on our National Board of Directors 
> and as our Illinois affiliate president.  In addition, she very ably 
> chairs our National Scholarship Committee.  She is a supervising and trial 
> lawyer for the City of Chicago and overall a wonderful addition to this 
> year's convention.  She will be delivering a keynote address at the 
> Saturday Evening Banquet and giving us a national report on Saturday 
> morning.
>
>
>
> We are still in the process of finalizing the agenda and will release the 
> final version sometime next week.  However, I can tell you that we have 
> many exciting and substantive items in store for you.  I am delighted to 
> announce that the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Colorado, Joseph 
> Garcia, will be joining us for the Friday Luncheon and will be delivering 
> a keynote speech addressing the status of education and its effect on our 
> community.  Additionally, are assembling a panel of experts to address the 
> status of education for blind and visually impaired children in the State 
> of Colorado.  We will focus on rehabilitation services available to us and 
> how the severe budget cuts will affect us.  It is time to ask the question 
> of whether the Colorado Commission for Individuals Who Are Blind and 
> Visually Impaired is of benefit to us and whether we should urge that the 
> Commission be allowed to sunset in 2012 as the current law dictates.  How 
> do we get better public transportation in our state under the current 
> fiscal climate?  We will hear all about our BELL, Braille Enrichment for 
> Literacy and Learning Program and how we are changing young lives in 
> dramatic ways.  These topics and many others will be addressed at our 
> Convention.  We will also hear from our 2011 NFB Colorado scholarship 
> winners.  We cannot hold a NFB Colorado convention without the always 
> inspiring, My Blindness, Myself panel where we will hear the personal 
> stories of a few of our members and how they have dealt with their 
> blindness and why they became active in the NFB.  General Sessions will 
> run Friday morning, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning.  The Friday and 
> Saturday sessions will be followed immediately by a luncheon.
>
>
>
> In addition to the general sessions, we will conduct several substantive 
> breakout sessions on Friday afternoon including a technology seminar, 
> parent seminars, a hands-on art room featuring Ann Cunningham, and a 
> seminar sponsored by the Colorado Center for the Blind addressing 
> vocational rehabilitation and employment issues.  Saturday afternoon will 
> feature special interest meetings such as the blind students, parents of 
> blind children, the senior blind, blind merchants and more.
>
>
>
> Once again this year, we will have an exhibit hall where you can explore 
> the latest and greatest in products and services.  We will have an 
> exclusive session Friday morning where only exhibits and registration will 
> be open.  Exhibits will also be open throughout much of the convention.
>
>
>
> We also plan to have some fun during the convention while raising money 
> and shattering stereotypes about blindness.  Our three host chapters, the 
> Denver Chapter, the Mile High Chapter and the North Metro Chapter are 
> planning fabulous social events where the theme will be sports and 
> recreation.  My understanding is that you will be able to try your hand at 
> several different challenging activities Friday evening such as a climbing 
> wall, air hockey, and other games.  We will also have excellent food and 
> socializing throughout the entire weekend.  We will have a great deal of 
> fun with a fundraising auction where we hope to raise big bucks for our 
> BELL program.  Anahit LaBarre, Chairperson of the NFBCO Auction Committee, 
> tells me that we have collected over six thousand dollars worth of goods 
> and services which will be auctioned off.  Anahit has been publishing an 
> auction announcement each Friday featuring some of the items appearing at 
> the auction and she will keep publishing this announcement right up until 
> the convention.  We will also conduct a raffle drawing for a Book Sense XT 
> with IVR.  This interactive digital book player is valued at $499.00 and 
> the funds we raise from the raffle will also be dedicated to the BELL 
> Program.
>
>
>
> Stay tuned for more announcements and look for the agenda next week.  If 
> you have any questions, please contact me at slabarre at labarrelaw.com or 
> 303 504-5979.
>
>
>
> Looking forward to seeing all of you soon!
>
>
>
> Scott C. LaBarre, Esq.
>
> President NFB Colorado
>
>
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