[Nfbf-l] Fw: News Chief NFB Article

Tue Apr 7 20:47:16 UTC 2009

Hi Sherri:

Thanks, Sherri.  I was proud of our Chapter and their support and interest 
in the Louis Braille campaign.

Kitty
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sherri" <flmom2006 at gmail.com>
To: "NFB of Florida Listserv" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 12:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfbf-l] Fw: News Chief NFB Article

> It is so great to see chapters doing activities to commemorate Louis
> Braille's birth. Very good Polk County.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kitty King" <joenkitty at earthlink.net>
> To: <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 10:09 AM
> Subject: [Nfbf-l] Fw: News Chief NFB Article
>
>
>> Hello Gang:
>>
>> Here is an article, which appeared on the front page of our local News
>> Chief, regarding our Chapter Pancake Breakfast last Saturday.  I don't
>> know if the pictures are included or not.  However, there were several
>> pictures--one of Judy Black and John Christianson on the Braille writers
>> and Joe King, flipping pancakes.  Our theme was centered around Louis
>> Braille.  Ron Wills, one of our members, designed  a poster with the new
>> silver coin depicted in an enlarged form. We had these posted about the
>> room.    He, also, created a flyer explaining the life and impact Louis
>> Braille has had on the lives of the blind.  These were distributed to
>> everyone. There was much interest among our diners.    Hope you enjoy the
>> article.
>>
>>
>> Kitty King
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: Tom King
>> To: Kitty King
>> Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 4:16 PM
>> Subject: News Chief NFB Article
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Fundraiser for the blind also a teaching opportunity
>>
>> By Donna Kelly
>> News Chief staff
>>
>>
>> Published: Monday, April 6, 2009 at 8:12 a.m.
>>
>>
>> WINTER HAVEN - Eleven-year-old Addlyn Teague and her mother, Mel, watched
>> intently as Judy Black, who is legally blind, deftly punched the alphabet
>> and a line of numbers on paper with her Braille writer.
>>
>> The Teagues had just finished volunteering as servers at the National
>> Federation of the Blind Annual Pancake Breakfast at Beymer Memorial 
>> United
>> Methodist Church when they watched NFB member Black demonstrating how to
>> read and write in Braille, a system of raised dots that enable the blind
>> to read by touch.
>>
>> Teague - a third-grade teacher who presents a unit each year about Helen
>> Keller, Braille creator Louis Braille and sign language to her students 
>> at
>> Jewett School of the Arts - believes it is important for children to 
>> learn
>> about the challenges and accomplishments of the blind. She believes this
>> teaches them tolerance and appreciation.
>>
>> "I teach this so children can see how fortunate they are to have their
>> sight and to see how other people have to live," said Teague, who invited
>> Black to visit her classroom to visit with students.
>>
>> And from volunteering with NFB members, whose blindness ranges from those
>> with limited vision to some who can't see anything at all, Addlyn now
>> understands the message the organization is sending to the public.
>>
>> "It taught me that you can do many things even if you are blind," she
>> said, breaking into a huge smile.
>>
>> Her words made Joe King, president of the Polk Chapter of the NFB, grin,
>> too. The breakfast not only serves as a fundraiser - the group raised
>> approximately $1,200 Saturday - but as an opportunity to teach folks 
>> about
>> the reality of blindness.
>>
>> "The importance of our event is to make the public aware that blind 
>> people
>> are people. We are nothing to be shunned. We are nothing to be afraid 
>> of,"
>> King said. "We have the same equal rights as the sighted people - we just
>> can't see."
>>
>> Legally blind since birth from retinopathy of prematurity, an abnormal
>> growth of blood vessels that can occur in babies born prematurely.
>>
>> "What a normal person can see at 125 feet, I see at 25 feet," King said 
>> to
>> describe his vision.
>>
>> While there were plenty of community volunteers on hand to help with the
>> cooking and serving Saturday, King flipped his share of pancakes, made
>> coffee and arrived at 6 a.m. to set up for the breakfast. Other NFB
>> members decorated and cleaned tables, distributed information, visited
>> with guests and gave demonstrations on the Braille writer.
>>
>> Many folks return to the breakfast each year to support the NFB mission
>> and enjoy the socializing. Laura and Harry Scull, winter visitors who
>> spend divide their time between Pennsylvania and Florida, have attended
>> the event five or six times. Laura Scull became acquainted with the NFB
>> when she met chapter secretary Kitty King at a low vision life skills
>> class at the Lighthouse for the Blind six years ago.
>>
>> "What brings us back is the friendship and to help the NFB so they can
>> continue the good work they're doing. And the food is very good, too,"
>> Laura Scull said.
>>
>> The pancake breakfast and the annual White Cane Walk held each October
>> during Meet the Blind Month, are events designed to promote the
>> organization's motto, "Changing what it means to be blind."
>>
>> "We want people to know that blind people are very capable and can 
>> achieve
>> great success if given the right tools," said Kitty King, the chapter's
>> secretary and treasurer who is married to Joe King. "All we want is
>> opportunity, security and equality."
>>
>> In addition to meeting on the second Saturday of each month at Perkins
>> Restaurant on Cypress Gardens Boulevard to discuss issues pertaining to
>> the blind, the chapter advocates for the blind on the local, state and
>> national levels. In addition to receiving various types of training
>> through state and national conventions, representatives from local
>> chapters meet with state legislators in Tallahassee and members of
>> Congress in Washington each year. The chapter is about 40 members strong
>> and is open to anyone interested in issues pertaining to the blind. King
>> would like to see more people become actively involved.
>>
>> "We're out fighting for their rights. If we hadn't been out there, a lot
>> of things they have nowadays they wouldn't have," King said.
>>
>> King said NFB members were instrumental in a change in Social Security
>> rules that now allow the blind to earn a higher income while still
>> receiving benefits. The organization also fought for, and received,
>> Braille literacy rights that enable blind students to receive Braille
>> textbooks at the same time sighted students receive their books.
>>
>> The NFB is in the throes of a national Braille literacy campaign called
>> Braille Readers are Leaders that is designed to double the number of 
>> blind
>> children learning Braille by 2015. On March 26, the United States Mint
>> released of the 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar, the first
>> coin ever minted with readable Braille characters. A portion of the
>> proceeds from the sale of the coin will benefit the Braille literacy
>> campaign.
>>
>> "They're trying to bring Braille back," said Black, who is proficient in
>> reading and writing in Braille with the Braille writer.
>>
>> Kitty and Joe King and Black agree that learning Braille is an advantage
>> for the blind.
>>
>> "Braille is the outlet for blind people for knowledge. If you learn
>> Braille, you can go on with your life because it is an opening door for
>> everything," Joe King said.
>>
>> For more information about the National Federation of the Blind, call Joe
>> or Kitty King at 863-293-5648.
>>
>> donna.kelly at newschief.com
>>
>>
>> This story appeared in print on page A1
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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