[Nfbofsc] Positive Note 1544

[David Houck]

March 16, 2016 

Memo To:  Executive Officers, Board Members, Chapter & Division Presidents &
Others

From:  Frank Coppel, President

Positive Note 1544


                   Greetings Fellow Federationists:

 

         Saturday evening Shelley and I traveled to Bishopville where we had
the pleasure of attending the Black and White Banquet hosted by the Lee
County Chapter of the NFB of SC.  Approximately 100 individuals were in
attendance and they were treated to a wonderful meal as well as great
musical entertainment provided by Doug Hudson.  I was the speaker and I
spoke to the audience as to how I became involved with the NFB and how this
organization has played an important role in my life.  Not only was the
banquet successful in raising a great deal of funds for the chapter, but it
also educated the sighted individuals in the audience to the philosophy and
the programs of the NFB of SC.  Linda Dezzly, the Lee County chapter
President, did an outstanding job presiding over the banquet.  It was  very
evident many hours were spent organizing and planning this event and Linda
is commended for all of her hard work she did to make this banquet a
tremendous success.  

         You can now begin to make your hotel reservation for the 2016 NFB
of SC State Convention which will be held at the Sand Resorts/Ocean Dunes
hotel in North Myrtle Beach October 27-30.  To make your room reservations
call the Sands resort Central Reservations at 1-800-599-9872 and inform the
reservationist you are reserving a room for the National Federation of the
Blind of South Carolina state convention. 

All reservations must be guaranteed by check or credit card and received
within 5 days of reservation date. Advance deposits will be credited to the
last night's stay as indicated by individual reservation request.  Room
rates for this year's convention are very affordable.  The price of rooms
including taxes are $87 per night for ocean view and $99 per night ocean
front and can accommodate up to four in a room.  These room rates will be
available three days before or three days after the convention.  Amenities
include in-room safes, refrigerators, microwaves, coffee pots, irons,
ironing boards, hair dryers, electronic door locks, wireless Internet
connections, and telephones with voice mail in all sleeping rooms.  We are
expecting a large turnout of our members to attend the 2016 state
convention, so I would encourage you to make your reservations early.  

         The Spring meeting of the NFB of SC Board of Directors will be held
at the Federation Center of the Blind on Saturday, April 9,2016.  The
meeting will begin promptly at 1:00 p.m. and will adjourn at 4:00 p.m.  I
look forward to having all board members in attendance and I strongly
encourage any Federation member to come and to actively participate in the
meeting.  

         Jamie Allison, president of the Cherokee chapter, wishes to thank
everyone who donated money to purchase awards and shirts for the SC School
for the Blind Randolph's Readers Annual Braille Reading Contest. "We
received $345 in donations! The student readers will be thrilled to receive
their awards, thanks to your generosity! Thank you so much for standing in
the gap for the students at SCSB!"

 

        The National Federation of the Blind 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.  Joining me for comments in this Positive Note is the President
Emeritus of the NFB of SC.  Here is Dr. Capps.  

                   The Columbia Chapter is busily involved with preparations
for their 63rd annual barbecue dinner.  The first barbecue was held in 1954.
Let me call to your attention some of the things which have happened since
the first barbecue.  In 1954 there were only two chapters, Columbia and
Spartanburg.  The Charleston Chapter would be organized one year later in
1956.  It was two years following the first barbecue that we affiliated with
the NFB in an organizing meeting in 1955 at the YWCA building.  President
Dwight D. Eisenhower was in office in 1954.  Governor Donald Stuart Russell
was in office at that time.  The first barbecue was held in the
Administration Building of what was then the Association of the Blind of SC
which operated a sheltered workshop.  Three or four years later the barbecue
was held at the Township Auditorium for about five years with the first
barbecue to be held in the Federation Center in 1962.  The first year we
sold 200 tickets with a profit of $100.  We paid $1.00 per plate and sold it
for $1.50.  In 1954 there had not been a fundraiser by the chapter such as a
barbecue.  There was some opposition.  I was chapter President in 1954 and
urged the chapter with about fifteen members to try holding a fundraiser as
there was only $16 in the treasury in 1954.  Some members even compared
selling barbecue tickets to begging but I quickly snuffed out their
erroneous positions by stating that Lions Clubs sell brooms for the blind
and some blind persons have engaged in selling brooms as a living including
M. B. "Red" Shaw's father , using Red as a guide.  Barbecue profits were
small but represented an important beginning as sales increased steadily
each year.  Also, $100 in 1954 was far more than $100 in today's finances.
There was no Center in 1954, there was no Bell Center, and there was no
RBRCCB in 1954.  The annual barbecue has continued to be served in the
Federation Center since 1962 or for more than 50 years.  The canvas which
began about 1958 was also controversial but the success we enjoyed four
years prior was sufficient to having several people to participate in the
canvas which increased sales and profits.  There have been canvasses every
year since 1958.  You can imagine the hundreds of blind South Carolinians
who participated in this long running chapter project, probably one of the
longest in this area.  The barbecue is a major project and requires a lot of
effort but its profits directly benefit the blind.

 

Final Thought:  Which do you prefer? "If a man who cannot count finds a
four-leaf clover, is he lucky?"  ~Stanislaw J. Lec or, "What do you get when
you cross poison ivy with a four-leaf clover?  A rash of good luck!"
~Author Unknown  

 

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