[nfbmi-talk] Michigan Sports Club

[Fred Wurtzel]

Hello,

 

Wow!  What a wonderful, positive and up building convention!  I feel so
good.  We spent a lot of time this past weekend on transportation.  As blind
people it is always a challenge to get around.  Fitness can play an
important role in this.  We may not feel like walking a half mile to a bus
stop or hustling across a busy street with a short light.

 

The NFB is looking at fitness as an aspect of how blind people are perceived
and how we perceive ourselves.  Kevan Worley discussed Wefit Wellness this
past weekend.  He provided statistics about obesity rates among blind people
compared to the general population.  Now, I wish to quickly say that I am no
paragon of fitness.  My standard of measure is how my fitness affects my
life activities.  If I cannot do what I want because of fitness, I know I
must do something. In other words, fitness is part of living the lives we
want.

 

As many of you know, I like outdoor activities.  I like to be outside in the
woods or almost any place else.  Some of our members like Beep Baseball.
Some of our members like Goal Ball.  Some of our members like cross-country
skiing.  If you are interested in developing these or any other ideas into
something which we can come together to fellowship and build our
organization with, I invite you to let me know.  I only wish to serve as a
means of connecting people.  I will not likely play Goal ball or even Beep
Baseball, though baseball is my favorite sport.  I would take great joy in
knowing that our members are enjoying these sports and building our
organization by attracting more people to what we do.  So, let me know, or
simply start a thread on this list about your interests and ideas.  

 

A great example of how fitness may be combined with our core values is that
our Grand Rapids Chapter is planning a Walk-a-thon in the spring as a
fundraiser.  What a great way to combine fitness, affiliate building and
fundraising.  We will be in the public space showing that blind people have
all kinds of talents, interests and we will have the opportunity to share
our issues of concern with everyone we meet.     

 

If you wish to start this week, meet me and some other blind people at
Woldumar Nature Center, 5739 Old Lansing Road,  in Lansing at 9:00 AM, to
walk off road.  We are presently all Federation members, but we invite
anyone to join with us to enjoy the outdoors and each other's company.  We
are leisurely about our approach, so, do not feel you need to maintain an
Olympic pace to participate.  We will just have fun, get exercise and enjoy
the outdoors.

 

Warmest Regards,

 

Fred