[NFBofSC] Positive Note 1721

[David Houck]

August 5, 2019

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

From:  Frank Coppel, President

Positive Note 1721

Greetings Fellow Federationists:

 

              This coming weekend, August 9, 10, 11, many of us will be
attending the sixty-third 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.  If you
would like to have an electronic copy of the agenda, you can do so, by
downloading the agenda from our website at nfbofsc.org.  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 Vispero (formally Freedom Scientific), the SC Assistive Technology
Program, Humanware, and Sprint Vision Accessibility.  The theme for the
convention this year is "transforming our dreams into reality".   If you
have a resolution you would like the convention to consider, you can email
Valerie Warrington, Resolution committee chairperson, at vwarrington at att.net
or you can bring it to the Resolutions committee meeting which will be held
on Friday afternoon, August 9, at 5:00 p.m. in room Palmetto II.  As we have
done in past years, we will be conducting our annual banquet fundraiser
Saturday evening, August 10, 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.  

Throughout the weekend, we will be celebrating our seventy-fifth anniversary
as an organization.  We will begin our celebration Friday evening, August 9,
with our "Diamond Jubilee" reception from 7:30 to 10:30.  We will have a
live band, "Sight Unseen", food, dancing and a silent auction.  All proceeds
raised from the silent auction and other activities will go to Rocky Bottom.
Also, join the SC Association of Blind Students Saturday evening, after the
banquet as they sponsor a Trivia Night fundraiser.  

              We have an announcement from Thom Spittle, 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 9, at the State Convention from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00
p.m. in room Capital IV. 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."  

              The 2019 NFB of SC convention promises to be one of the best
ever.  Shelley and I are looking forward to being with our Federation family
this coming weekend as we celebrate seventy-five years of providing quality
services to the blind of South Carolina.  

              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.  

              I remember different things which have occurred during the 30
years I presided as state President.  The last state convention I presided
over was in the year 2000.  During that time some 20 years, Parnell Diggs
and Frank Coppel have served as state President.  Prior to the 2000 state
convention I had planned to step down from the state presidency and not
offer for re-election.  After making my Presidential Report to the state
convention, I sat down immediately and noticed that Dr. Marc Maurer who was
NFB President at that time, observed that my emotions got the best of me and
he patted me on the shoulder in an attempt to console me.  To the best of my
knowledge my 30 years as state president is tops in the NFB.  Incidentally,
Parnell Diggs succeeded me and served as President for 15 years.  At the
2000 state convention I lacked only three weeks before my 72nd birthday and
it was time for me to step down.  State conventions are strenuous.  I always
tried to take some time off afterward as Betty and I had planned to travel
to Cherokee and Gatlinburg immediately following the convention.  I had
already begun having chest pains and I felt I needed rest.  Two days and
nights after the convention I was still having chest pains and felt I needed
to get back to Columbia and see a doctor.  I thought I might be having a
heart attack.  I called my physician who insisted that I drop everything and
come to his office immediately.  After his examination he immediately put me
in the hospital for further exams.  These exams were done including a heart
catheterization.  After seeing the results of these exams, my physician told
me I was lucky and I could jump for joy as he found my heart to be more like
a teenager's than as a senior citizen's.  He must have been right as after
almost 20 years since the heart catheterization I have not had any heart
trouble.  I'm very fortunate as three weeks from now I will be celebrating
my 91st birthday and I seem to be doing well.  Finally, let me go back to
another national convention 60 years ago held in Santa Fe in 1959.  My son
Craig was three years old.  After introducing Craig to Dr. Jacobus tenBroek,
NFB Founder, he picked up Craig and upon his seeing Dr. tenBroek's
well-groomed goatee, Craig said, "You look like Santa Claus," and Dr.
tenBroek replied, "Ho, Ho, Ho!"

              

Final Thought:   Transforming our dreams into reality requires education and
training in blindness skills, a "can-do" attitude about blindness and one's
self combined with goal oriented thinking.

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