[Nfbofsc] Positive Note 1669

[David Houck]

August 6, 2018 

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

From:  Frank Coppel, President

Positive Note 1669

Greetings Fellow Federationists:

 

              This coming weekend, August 10, 11 & 12, many of us will be
attending the sixty-second annual State Convention of the NFB of SC.  The
State Office has been extremely busy during the past few weeks producing
print and Braille agendas, Braille menus, name tags, and handling many other
details for the convention.  If you want a sneak preview of the agenda, it
has been posted on the NFB of SC list serve, web site, and Newsline.  I
would encourage you to please check out the exhibits this year after you
register and pick up your convention packets.  A few of the exhibitors we
will have this year are VFO (formerly Freedom Scientific), the SC Assistive
Technology program, and Sprint Vision Accessibility.  The theme for the
convention this year is "you can live the life you want".  As we have done
in past years, we will be conducting our annual banquet fundraiser Saturday
evening, August 11, to help fund the NFB of SC.  We need individuals as well
as chapters and divisions to step up and contribute during the banquet which
will greatly help to fund our state organization.  We will have door prize
drawings throughout the convention as usual. Lenora Robertson of Rock Hill
is the Chairperson of the Door Prize Committee.  All door prizes should be
given to Lenora soon after you arrive to the State Convention.  As we have
done for many years, we will be conducting a memorial service and devotion
Sunday Morning of the Convention.   Please give Dorothy Barksdale names of
individuals in your chapter who have passed away since last year's state
convention.  You can reach Dorothy by calling (803) 765-1622 or emailing her
at dcbarksdale at bellsouth.net.  

              We have an announcement from Shelley Coppel.  "Greetings!  I
would like to request that all participants for the Talent Show contact me
at the Senior Division table in the exhibit hall as early in the day Friday
as possible.  I want to be certain that everything is properly coordinated!
I would also appreciate the help of anyone who would like to volunteer time
at the Senior Division table where we will be selling jewelry.  Thank you
and I will look forward to seeing all seniors at our meeting at 5 p.m.
Friday afternoon in Palmetto I.

              We have an announcement from Thom Spittle, the newly elected
President of the Computer Science and Technology Division.  "The Computer
Science & Technology Division of the NFB of South Carolina will be holding
an open house on Friday, August 10th at the State Convention from 6:00 p.m.
to 7:00 p.m. in room Capital I. Please drop in and see what is new with the
CSTD. We have some new things coming up and you won't want to miss them.
This open house is for all state members."  

              I'm saddened to report the passing of Patricia Warrington, the
mother of Larry Warrington of our Newberry Chapter.  Let's keep the
Warrington family in our thoughts and prayers during this time.

              The 2018 NFB of SC convention promises to be one of the best
ever and I am looking forward to seeing many of you this weekend.  

              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.  

              All of us in this big program of service to the blind under
the banner of the NFB of SC are excited as our state convention is now upon
us.  While our health conditions and other circumstances prevent us from
attending the convention, all of you across the state will be in our
thoughts and prayers.  The NFB of SC got its beginning in April of 1956 as
there was a statewide meeting held in Columbia at the YWCA where a
constitution was adopted and officers and board members were elected.  At
that time there were three local organizations in Spartanburg, Columbia and
Charleston.  Three months later in July 1956 it was my good fortune to
attend the NFB national convention in San Francisco.  I learned a lot.  At
that convention banquet, Dr. tenBroek, our national President presented me
with a charter for the NFB of SC.  A special seminar following the
convention was conducted by Dr. tenBroek who presided over the meeting.  In
1956 some 1,800 blind persons received monthly income then known as Aid to
the Needy Blind (ANB), but for a long time the program has been known as
Supplemental Security Income (SSI).  South Carolina's blind were nearly at
the bottom of this national program.  Upon my return to Columbia, my fellow
members joined me to correct this inequity.  In doing so we learned that
hundreds of thousands of dollars of state funds restricted to ANB were in
fact diverted to raises for other officials.  We threatened litigation if
the state funds were not returned to the blind as required by law.  By now I
had been threatened by agency officials but I wasn't deterred.  I recall our
Founder, Dr. Samuel Miller Lawton joined me in making our presentation to
the Ways and Means Committee.  Our federation attorney, Eugene F. Rogers
provided us with legal advice.  Soon thereafter these funds were distributed
to the needy blind of the state.  I don't think this would ever have
occurred if I did not attend the 1956 national convention.  Attending the
national convention took me away from my job for three weeks and I'm still
grateful to my employer, Colonial Life, for going the extra mile in support
of this work.  President Coppel and his fellow officers have put together an
excellent agenda and this will be an outstanding convention.  It will be our
pleasure to participate in the Saturday banquet proceedings in which we will
be able to help fund this program at this special occasion.  I'm confident
our members will respond.  Today, 62 years later, state programs for the
blind are much better and we're grateful for support from different
directions.

 

Final Thought:   "NFB and NFB of SC Conventions are like a battery recharger
that helps you live the life you want."."

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