[NFBNJ] Notes From NFBNJ President Ruffalo April 2017

Tue Apr 18 17:29:23 UTC 2017

Greetings to all!

Spring has sprung with exciting news with the establishment of two new committees, Spanish and Sports and Recreation committees.

Information pertaining to the goals, purposes and objectives were forwarded to all on the NFBNJ distribution list.  Congratulations to Rosa Santiago, Chair of the Spanish Committee.  Rosa’s contact information, please call 201 892 6946 or email rosa.santiago901 at gmail.com. The Spanish Committee scheduled first call will be held on Monday May 1st at 8:00 PM.

For information highlighting the Sports and Recreation committee, please contact Linda Melendez at 732 421 7063 or email, lindamelendez220 at gmail.com. The Sports and Recreation Committee will be conducting a conference call open to all on Tuesday April 25 at 8:00 PM.

Both conference calls, please dial 712 432 0180 and use code 460994.

   For additional information, please visit the state website at www.nfbnj.org/announcing-new-committees.

Congratulations to Veronica Gaspa, President of the New Jersey Association of Blind Students with her assignment as a paid  intern from May 29 through August 4 at the National Federation of the Blind, Baltimore, Maryland. 

The National Federation of the Blind convention to be held in Orlando, Florida from July 10 through July 15 is approaching.  Please visit the national website at www.nfb.org for additional and updated information. 

Shortly, we will be notified, hopefully with good news, with those that applied for a national scholarship and for those that pplied for the Kenneth Jernigan First Timers assistance.

Spring is the season of growth and let’s continue to grow as individuals and as an organization!

Let’s continue to provide the gift of the Federation to others, let’s encourage the discouraged, let’s bring hope, love and determination to transform dreams into reality to live the life we want!

Joe Ruffalo, President

National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey

973 743 0075

Nfbnj1 at verizon.net

www.nfbnj.org

Items of Interest:

1.    Capitol Chapter’s Fund Raiser Trenton Thunder

2.    National Senior Conference Calls

3.    Free Eye Exam For Service Animals

4.    Do You Dream In Color?

5.    Independence Market

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1.    Sunday Afternoon at the Ballpark
As our policy to support the chapters/divisions of the NFBNJ, please read and share the following fundraiser opportunity to support the Capital Chapter.

Are you looking forward to the summer? Would you like to share one day during this season of nice weather with friends and family and people you may not have seen for a long time? Do you like live baseball?

If you can answer yes to any of these questions, you may be interested in attending a Trenton Thunder baseball game, the Double A affiliate of the New York Yankees, on Sunday, June 11. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 pm, however prior to the first pitch, pre-game ceremonies will honor NFBNJ Capitol Chapter member, Don Wardlow. He broadcasted baseball, football and basketball on WGLS, the college radio station at Rowan University in Glassboro. From 1991-2002 Don became the first blind radio broadcaster in pro baseball. There is now a second who may not have been hired without the work Don did earlier on. Finally Don has written a baseball blog and is working on his autobiography, targeting blind readers and hoping they enjoy his story.

Don will throw out the first pitch. In addition, all members of the NFBNJ will have the opportunity to line up on the first base line to cheer Don as he delivers the ceremonial first pitch. Upon completion of the game, all children under 12, will run the bases.

The Capitol Chapter is sponsoring this event. Tickets are $11.00 per person.

The action on the field should be interesting. In addition to seeing the game, you can buy souvenirs at the Thunder Store, eat good food, including chicken and roast beef sandwiches for those of us who are watching their weight and have a good time.

The stadium is located at Arm and Hammer Park and the address is 1 Thunder Road, Trenton, New Jersey. The location is Access Link-accessible and the cross street is Lamberton Street.

Please note that we will not be receiving the tickets until May 22, However, we are taking orders and payment for tickets now. If you have any questions about the procedures which must be followed, please contact Mary Jo Partyka at 609-888-5459 or by email at choirnfb at gmail.com. Please send all ticket orders and money to John Lipton whose address is 2 Forman Drive, Hamilton Township, NJ 08690. Make checks payable to NFBNJ Capital Chapter and put the word “baseball” in the memo field of the check. Since the tickets will be mailed back to you, please include your address and the names of the people in your party who will be attending. Tickets will not be sent if payment is not received.

I hope you will consider joining us on June 11.

For Your Information to anybody going to the June 11 game:

The Trenton Thunder are now on a real honest-to-John radio station,, AM920 the Jersey.

Until yesterday they were only on 91.3FM, WTSR from College of New Jersey that you couldn’t count on getting at the park.

AM920 especially in the daytime has a strong signal we should all be able to pick up.

****

2.    National Senior Division Proudly announces our spring line up of Conference Calls!

The National  Association of Senior Blind (NASB) otherwise known as the National Senior Division of  the NFB is proud to host 4 telephone conference workshops with a host and moderator of each call. The information presented and discussed is focused on senior blindness issues and will hopefully allow all seniors  to feel more confident and live more independently.

To access these conference workshops  dial 712-432-1500, then use access code 759633 pound. You will hear the code you entered repeated. Press 1 if it is correct. Press 2 to re-enter it. If you press 1, you then announce yourself by stating your name and you will then be entered into the conference call.

In order to obtain the best possible sound for these calls, it is recommended that each caller, after dialing in, press star 6 which puts you in a “mute” mode. You will be able to hear everything during the call but background noise from your location will not disturb others listening in on the conversation. When you wish to speak and enter the discussion, press star 6 and you will be released from the “mute” mode and able to participate. It is also highly recommended that each person wishing to speak state his or her name and wait for the moderator to recognize you before speaking. We can have too many people trying to seek the floor at one time. 

The moderators will do their very best to recognize as many callers as possible however, they will determine the order in which speakers proceed. 

When finished with your comments, press star 6 again to go back into “mute” 

mode to facilitate better, uncluttered communication for everyone. Star 6 also works when you have your phone on speaker.

The times for the calls are:

•        4:00 Eastern

•        3:00 Central

•        2:00 Mountain

•        1:00 Pacific

Because our conference calls contain information that’s helpful and interesting to blind seniors, we archive all of them within hours of their completion. You can listen to our most recent archives by calling 712-432-1202, and entering the access code 759633 pound followed by the call reference code. There are 11 of our most recent calls for you to choose from. You can also listen to them through your computer or mobile device by visiting http://seniors.nfb.org/ConferenceRecordingsPage.html. We hope you enjoy and learn from them.

Calls for 2017

•        Thursday, March 23, 2017:

Art Schriber will moderate The Blind Consumer, Interacting with Hospital and Emergency Room Professionals While Receiving Medical Care With Confidence.

•        Thursday, April 13, 2017:

Diane McGeorge with Duncan Larsen will moderate Live The Life You Want: Be A Senior In Charge of Your Destiny

•        Thursday, May 18, 2017:

Wayne Marshall with his colleagues from the Senior Support Group at the Colorado Center for the Blind will continue the discussion of independence, Seniors In Charge: Cane Travel, Blindness Training Essential Elements To Attain Newfound Independence

•        Thursday, June 15, 2017:

Shelley Copel will moderate a discussion with fellow South Carolinians who have taken correspondence courses from Hadley to obtain nonvisual skills, What Options Do I Have To Learn Needed Skills From Sources Other Than My State Agency?

Archived Calls

•        June 8, 2016 – Let’s Keep Writing and … Publishing and More

Moderator: Robert Leslie Newman, member of the NFB Writers’ Division

Reference code: 17 pound

•        May 11, 2016 – How To Solve The Little problems in Your Life When 

Significant Vision Loss occurs

Moderator: Ruth Sager

Reference code: 16 pound

•        April 13, 2016 – Churchgoing Making Everyone more Comfortable with 

Our Blindness

Moderator: Tom Anderson, president of the national Association of the Blind in Communities of Faith

Reference code: 15 pound

•        march 17, 2016 – Losing Vision and Adapting to Life’s Changes

Moderator: Shelley Copel

Reference code: 14 pound

Additional archived calls can be viewed at http://seniors.nfb.org/ConferenceRecordingsPage.html.

For more information regarding the NFB National Senior Division, please visit www.seniors.nfb.org. For more information  regarding our own Senior Division of the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey,, please visit www.nfbnj.org/chapters-and-divisions/seniors or email me, Jane Degenshein, at jdegen16 at comcast.net.

****

3.    Just a reminder that the annual American College of Veterinary 

Ophthalmologists (ACVO) National Service Dog Eye Exam will take place during the month of May. Through this program you can get a free eye exam for any service animal, including your Seeing Eye dog. During the exam, veterinary specialists will look for problems such as redness, squinting, cloudy corneas, retinal disease, early cataracts, and other serious abnormalities.

You can register any time between now and April 30. For more information, go to: http://www.ACVOeyeexam.org, email servicedog at acvo.org, or call 208-466-7624 (open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. MST).

****

4.    Do You Dream in Color?:
We are working with the filmmakers to host screenings of Do You Dream in Color? across the country. For more information about the film, go to http://www.doyoudreamincolor.com/.

****

5.    Items from the Independence Market:
We recently discovered some vintage NFB music boxes with the Security/Equality/Opportunity logo that play “Glory, Glory Federation.” We are making them available for $5.00 each, plus shipping and handling, while supplies last. Please note that these music boxes must be shipped via UPS. 

If you are feeling nostalgic, you might like to add an NFB stoneware mug to your order. These handsome mugs with NFB in raised Braille, which are now $5.00 each, show the older side of the NFB headquarters building and feature the same triangle logo as the music box.

And speaking of mugs, we just have a few of the seventy-fifth anniversary Irish coffee glass mugs left for $7.50 each. Don’t miss out on any of these NFB memorabilia—supplies are limited! To order, call the Independence Market at (410) 659-9314, extension 2216.

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