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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>All,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Thank you for joining us for an incredible 80<sup>th</sup> Annual National Federation of the Blind National Convention. We collectively attended nearly 250 unique meetings over five days, had dozens of exhibitors, engaged with numerous sponsors, and had nearly ten thousand participants. In Maryland alone we had 593 registered participants and an additional 200+ attendees with whom I personally spoke, texted, or chatted. We had an amazing convention because of you. We learned, we laughed, and we grew because of you.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Because of your involvement, we shattered the attendance record, we blew the Pre-authorized Check Contribution Program amounts out of the water, and we had tremendous engagement in all workshops and activities. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I enjoyed meeting with many of you at the Maryland Caucus on July 17 and hearing your perspectives on resolutions. It was a great deal of fun speaking with many of you at our daily virtual breakfast club when we walked through each day’s events and activities. It was fun chatting with you in the CrowdCompass app, and literally hundreds of you emailed and texted me each day to tell me your thoughts and opinions about just about everything. I also had a great time with MDABS at our breakfasts on my balcony (appropriately social distanced and with the affiliate Board at the appropriately social distanced banquet. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>We owe this incredible convention to President Riccobono and the staff of the National Federation of the Blind. I was fortunate to be elected as your delegate, and with Zoom, users can have a virtual background. Delegates were on camera during the convention much of the time. This means that instead of seeing my very boring apartment walls, I can put up a picture of something else that shows up behind me when my camera is on. I chose to have Hogwarts, which is the school where Harry Potter learned how to perform magic in the Harry Potter books and movies. I did this as a tribute to the staff of the NFB who literally conjured this convention from thin air and made all the magic happen. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I also wrote the below message to them and wanted to share it with you. I hope you’ll join me in expressing your appreciation to our staff at the National Federation of the Blind for putting on a truly spectacular convention.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I can’t tell you how impressed I am with all of your hard work, creativity, flexibility, and all the other adjectives that apply to you. Most of you know that I’m not usually one who experiences a loss of words, but all that you have acomplished leaves me speechless (almost). Each of you played such a vital role in bringing the 2020 NFB Convention to fruition, from the exceptional technology geeks that gave us platforms for the convention engagement to the Exhibit Hall to the voting system to sound to registration to door prize collection and on and on; to the Zoom moderators who made sure we adhered to our Code of Conduct (seriously, some of those meetings had so many moving parts my head spun); to those who handled fundraising, sponsorship, and marketing; to those who handled communication and social media; to those who generated registration lists, verified membership, and then verified voting eligibility; to those who set up the National Center for our Banquet party and created the most delicious banquet food I or my Board have ever tasted; to those who shared and organized login information for literally over 200 meetings; to those who kept the building TVs and AC running; to those who organized the agenda; to those who ran youth track and co-led Resolutions and supported the Scholarship Committee; to those who did all the things we don’t even know about; and on and on and on. You truly conjured this convention with magic and elbow grease, and you did an outstanding job. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I’ve always been impressed with you all, but now I’m in awe!<o:p></o:p></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='border:none;padding:0in'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal>Yours,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Ronza<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Ronza Othman, </span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>President</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>National Federation of the Blind of Maryland<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>443-426-4110<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Pronouns: she, her, hers<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>