[Nfbf-l] FOPBC State Convention Happenings

[Judith Hamilton]

Lenora,

What a great report!  You are so right! FOPBC does ROCK!

So glad everything came together and the board and parents work as a team. 
Congratulations to the Boy Scout troop members.  Truly dedication to take
their Memorial Day Weekend and travel to Orlando.  That is great.

Parents are the greatest support to their children.

Keep up the good work, you guys!

Judy
Gainesville Chapter




> [Original Message]
> From: Lenora J. Marten <bluegolfshoes at aol.com>
> To: <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>; <nfbfjax at comcast.net>
> Date: 6/3/2010 10:29:08 AM
> Subject: [Nfbf-l] FOPBC State Convention Happenings
>
> 

Good Morning,

Wow! What a convention! I hope everyone is caught up on their sleep. I know
I am happy to have my body clock back to normal.
 
NFBF rocks! Thank you all so much for your continued support. Those of you
who know me well, know that I cannot say something in just a few sentences.
I’ve tried REALLY HARD. But it’s just not working. So, pull up a chair
and grab a cup of coffee….
 
Our parent seminars were, by far, the smoothest I have ever coordinated
with any blind group. Kudos goes out to our 14 daycare volunteers who,
believe it or not, all showed up on time! They thoroughly enjoyed working,
learning and playing with our children. Your future NFBF members spent time
playing games, making crafts, coloring with their giant low-vision coloring
books and brailled pictures. There were even muffin tins and balls for the
little ones to practice Braille letters. Our kids went home with brightly
colored Florida beach pails they had decorated themselves with tactile
shapes filled to the brim with goodies and crafts. The teen room that the
Inman’s helped Larry and I put together was a little boring – on
purpose. We wanted a ‘down time’ room for our teens, but didn’t want
to make it too interesting. We wanted them to choose to participate with
other teens, the state affiliate and their families.
 
Special thanks go out to our Troop 333 volunteers who traveled from
Jacksonville to help us out. Michelle Falkner, troop leader and mom
traveled in with her son Dalton and his friend Justin, both Eagle Scouts.
They not only assisted us with the lunchtime daycare turnover, but cared
for our kids during the banquet Sunday night and again on Monday morning.
They were happy to help out wherever needed with both FOPBC and NFBF. They
also took the opportunity to participate in our cane walk learning even
more about blindness issues. They learned much from their experiences with
us and will be reporting to both Troop 333 and the North Florida Council.
Go Boy Scouts! 
 
Our speakers, Anna Brynild from Central Florida Parent Center, Mark Keith,
parent trainer from FSDB and Dr. Bill Cavitt all generously donated their
time, experience and knowledge in order to help parents become better
informed when making decisions concerning their children. Those parents
with school age children attended an IEP workshop put on by Anna and Keith
while parents of younger children spent time with Dr. Bill Cavitt learning
much about the Oregon Project and how to maximize its use. On Sunday our
parents participated in interactive workshops. They had so much fun at our
Braille book making workshop that not one person cared that we were short
on braillers. Everyone shared, learning and creating with each other.
Thanks to NFBF for allowing us to have Mike Hingson for an hour. Parents,
teens and NFBF members went away motivated after hearing about his personal
experiences. Our bullying workshop was very well received by all. We talked
about bullying related to blindness issues for just before parents, teens
and NFBF members broke into role-playing groups. They were given
instructions and questions designed to engage children in conversation
meant to ‘draw out’ what is happening in their lives. 
 
Our very own Holly Idler, who is too fabulous for words, pulled off the
best cane walk ever! The room was filled with adults, teens and children
seeking much needed orientation and mobility instruction. Our parents had
many, many questions concerning cane techniques, protective techniques and
sighted-guide. It was such a privilege to see Rodney hold a cane for the
very first time and watch his confidence grow throughout the rest of the
convention. Special thanks go out to NFBF 2nd vice-president Joe
Minichiello and our NFBF scholarship winners who came out to help Holly and
assist our families. 
 
As a division, we tried some new approaches this year that really paid off!
FOPBC board members were given the opportunity to actively plan,
participate and execute our parent seminars. Doreen Franklin, our
vice-president, together with Anna Brynild not only planned the IEP
workshop, but put together that wonderful skit for all of you in general
session giving you an idea of just how difficult it is for parents to
continuously deal with the IEP team. Anastasia and I spent a lot of time
this year discussing and researching just how we wanted to do the Braille
book making workshop. Although we both had different ideas, we worked
together very well in planning just what our parents asked for – those
seemingly elusive Braille picture books that are so hard to come by.  Larry
not only helped to plan and execute the bullying workshop but helped out in
more ways than I can possibly count. In fact, by the end of the conference,
we were all referring to Larry as the ‘energizer bunny’.  Andrew put
together a wonderful technology seminar for our teens where they learned
where technology has been, where it is today, and where it is going in the
future. Tracie, not sure what to expect at her first NFBF convention,
helped out in many, many areas including gathering some door prizes for us
and obtaining that most important auction item – the Peterbrook chocolate
basket. Kelly, although unable to attend the convention, gave us many
useful ideas and input throughout the year. 
 
The FOPBC board had many discussions this year concerning the amusement
parks in Orlando and possibly planning an event on the same weekend as
convention. We all had different opinions, concerns and desires. 
Major kudos go out to Larry for painstakingly making the many phone calls
and follow-up with each and every major park in order to let us know what
our options were so that we could make this decision together. Thanks go
out to Kevin Inman who helped us to explore some other options in case we
needed them. We all learned a lot from this experience as we truly had
seven different opinions with a board that was not only learning how to
interact with each other, but also learning about the workings of NFB. 
 
Immediately following general session on Monday, our May Adventures in
Blind Optimism Saturday Program was held at SeaWorld Adventures in
Education where our children were given a Shark and Penguin Encounter
geared toward blind children. We started off in the education center where
our kids got to touch and learn about a snake, a baby alligator, animal
bones and even some polar bear fur. We then walked through the park for a
behind the scenes tour of the penguin exhibit. We spent a lot of time there
learning about the care and feeding of the penguins complete with sanitary
precautions for the penguins, scheduling light simulation, etc. Our
families got to touch and take photos with two very different penguins.
Upon entering the shark exhibit, we got to touch some baby sharks and
continued to learn, learn, learn! All this took about an hour and a half.
Our families got to spend the rest of the day at the park where some of our
kids rode a roller coaster for the first time. We had 28 people attend with
two families having never visited SeaWorld previously.
 
All in all, it was a fabulously stupendous convention! FOPBC and NFBF are
working together to change what it means to be blind for Florida children. 
WE ROCK!
 




Lenora J. Marten, President 
Florida Organization of Parents of Blind Children 
NFB-Jacksonville Chapter Secretary 
Chairperson, FSDB/PAC
bluegolfshoes at aol.com 
904-777-5976 / 904-229-9554
www.raceforindependence/goto/fopbc
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