[Nfbofsc] Positive Note 1656

Wed May 9 12:36:19 UTC 2018

May 9, 2018 

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

From:  Frank Coppel, President

Positive Note 1656

Greetings Fellow Federationists:

              There is only three weeks remaining to preregister for the
2018 NFB National Convention in Orlando Florida.  If you preregister prior
to May 31, registration for convention will cost $25 and a banquet ticket
will cost $65.  After May 31, the cost for convention registration will
increase to $30 and the cost of a banquet ticket will increase to $70.  Save
$10 and also skip the need to stand in line for a long period of time at the
convention by purchasing your convention registration and banquet ticket by
the May 31 deadline.  

              If you have not done so already, please make your hotel
reservations for the 2018 NFB National Convention in Orlando Florida.  The
date of this year's national convention will be July 3, to July 8, 2018 and
will be held at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort.  The 2018 room rates are
singles and doubles, $88; and triples and quads, $93. In addition to the
room rates there will be a tax, which at present is 12.5 percent. No charge
will be made for children under seventeen in the room with parents as long
as no extra bed is requested. Please note that the hotel is a no-smoking
facility.  For 2018 convention room reservations you can call the hotel at
(866) 996-6338.  You may also write directly to the Rosen Shingle Creek,
9939 Universal Boulevard, Orlando, Florida 32819-9357. The hotel will want a
deposit of $100 for each room and will want a credit card number or a
personal check. If you use a credit card, the deposit will be charged
against your card immediately, just as would be the case with a $100 check.
If a reservation is cancelled before Friday June, 1, 2018, half of the
deposit will be returned. Otherwise refunds will not be made.  

              Also, if you have not done so already please make your hotel
reservations for the 2018 NFB of SC State Convention which will be held at
the Marriott Hotel in Columbia August 10-12.  Room rates are very
affordable.  Rates for this year's convention are $109 per night for up to
four in a room.  In addition to the room rates there will be a tax, which at
present is 14 percent.  The deadline to make reservations will be July 15,
2018.  There will also be a limited number of rooms available for the $109
rate Thursday, August 9, for those individuals wanting to arrive to the
hotel a day prior to the official start of the convention.  You can make
your room reservations by calling the Marriott toll free reservation
telephone number (800) 593-6465 or (803) 771-7000 and inform the
reservationist you are reserving a room for the National Federation of the
Blind of South Carolina state convention.  

              We are now accepting your $80 preregistration fee for this
year's State Convention.  Please send your $80 preregistration fee to the
Federation Center of the Blind, 119 S. Kilbourne Rd. Columbia, SC 29205.
This year the NFB of SC board of directors voted again to offer a discount
for families with children regarding the preregistration fee.  Parents will
pay the $80 preregistration fee and each child eight teen years of age or
younger will pay $20.  The board also voted to offer a discount to college
students in the amount of $50 during the preregistration process.  

              All preregistration fees are nonrefundable and
nontransferable.  As in past years, the $80 preregistration fee will cover
the reception on Friday evening, continental breakfast Saturday morning, the
luncheon, banquet on Saturday and a continental breakfast Sunday morning.
The deadline to accept your $80 preregistration fee is August 3.  If you
wait until after the deadline of August 3, the registration will increase to
$100.  Save $20 and preregister early!  

              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.  

              In this week's Positive Note we are featuring a longtime
federation member.  I am speaking of none other than Padgett McKenzie from
our Clarendon County Chapter.  Padgett was born and raised in the Lake City
area of Clarendon County.  He attended school at the School for the Blind at
Cedar Springs in Spartanburg.  His first job was at the Association of the
Blind workshop in Columbia making brooms.  This he did for four years.  Then
he went to Greenville to study becoming a medical transcriptionist.  He put
this skill to work in Columbia at the Good Samaritan Hospital, the State
Hospital, Richland Memorial and Baptist Hospitals.  After completing this
work, Padgett became a canteen operator at State Printing in Columbia for
five years.  After this he retired and moved back to Lake City.  Padgett has
been married to Emily for 48 years and they had a boy and a girl and two
grandchildren.  Padgett joined the federation when the late James Sims
invited him to a Men's Supper meeting at the Federation Center in 1963.  He
joined the Columbia Chapter actively participating, serving two years as
chapter President and as Vice President and Secretary.  After moving to
Clarendon County in 1998, they joined the Florence Chapter in 2000 and then
have been members of the Clarendon County Chapter ever since.  He has
attended three national conventions in Chicago and also in Houston, New York
and Orlando.  He has attended about twenty state conventions.  Padgett likes
to read and he follows the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees in
baseball.  He is a member of the LDS Church in Florence.  He and Emily love
Rocky Bottom and enjoy going to Senior Camp.  Let's salute Padgett (and
Emily of course) McKenzie for their five decades of service to the blind.

Final Thought:   "Failure will never overtake me if my determination is to
succeed." - Og Mandino

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