[Nfbofsc] Positive Note 1700

[David Houck]

March 13, 2019

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

From:  Frank Coppel, President

Positive Note 1700

Greetings Fellow Federationists:

 

              Happy ST. Patrick's Day! I am pleased to announce we have
approximately ninety people who are planning to attend the NFB of SC's
Leadership seminar this Saturday at the Federation Center of the Blind.  I
am extremely grateful for the wonderful response we have received from our
membership thus far, and it is quite evident from this overwhelming response
our members are very interested in continuing these type of seminars.
Tiffiny Mitchell, President of the Columbia chapter, tells me the chapter
will be selling bagels, yogurt, and a drink for $5 from 9:00 to 9:45.  Come
early Saturday morning and support the Columbia chapter!  

              We have an announcement from Shelley Coppel, President of our
Senior Division.  "Greetings from the Senior Division!  Again, we will be
starting up conference calls for this spring.  The first one will be held on
March 26, at 4:00 p.m. eastern time.  The topic will be a guest speaker from
the National Senior Division Camp held last year at Rocky Bottom.  This
should be an informative discussion of how lives are changed when presented
the opportunity for individual training in the discovery method of
alternative techniques for daily living and mobility.  The conference call
number is as follows:  1-515-603-3166; access code:759633 pound.  Again the
time for the call is 4:00 p.m. eastern time."

              The Spring meetings of the Rocky Bottom Retreat and Conference
Center of the Blind Board of Directors and the NFB of SC Board of Directors
will be held at the Federation Center of the Blind on Saturday, April 6,
2019.  The RBRCCB Board of Directors meeting will begin promptly at 10:00
a.m. and will adjourn at 12:00 noon.  The NFB of SC Board of Directors
meeting will begin promptly 1:00 p.m. and adjourn at 4:00 p.m.  I look
forward to having all board members in attendance and I strongly encourage
all Federation members to come and to actively participate in the meeting.  

              Congratulations-Debra Canty, President of the NFB Sumter
Chapter and Second Vice-President of the NFB of South Carolina.The YWCA of
the Upper Lowlands has chosen Debra Canty as the recipient of the
Humanitarian Award. She will receive   the award on Saturday evening, March
16, 2019.  "The Humanitarian Award is presented to the individual who
dedicates time to fighting indifference, intolerance and injustice. This
person exudes kindness, benevolence and sympathy to all human beings."  I
believe we can all agree the award Debra is receiving Saturday evening from
the YMC is well deserved!  

              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.  

              Thousands of anniversaries of all descriptions are celebrated
every day across the land.  Recently President Coppel reminded us that the
75th anniversary of the NFB of SC will soon be celebrated in August at the
state convention.  This Wednesday, March 13, 2019 is the 60th anniversary of
our moving into our current residence.  It was on Friday, March 13, 1959
that we moved into our current residence.  During this 60 year occurrence
many wonderful things happened.  However, of all the decades over the 60
years, there is one decade that impresses me more than others.  It was the
decade of the 1950's.  Both of our children were born during the 1950's,
Craig in 1955 and Beth in 1958.  Both our children have college degrees.  We
also built two houses during the 50's.  Betty and I began to plan our lives.
The first four years, the period between June of 1949 and 1953, we first
lived in a two room apartment.  The rent was $47.50 per month.  We were
thrifty and also believed in saving.  During these four years we saved
enough money to buy our first house in 1953.  We lived in this house until
March 13, 1959.  The house was small but nice.   During these six years we
had saved enough to build a second house.   I was kidded by my friends who
implied that we hadn't had any children during these six years and that I
"couldn't cut the mustard."  Betty helped design the house including her
decision to use old brick.  Over a period of time we purchased several other
pieces of property.  When Craig was about three he accompanied us to a state
convention.  When we stopped at a motel he said to the manager, "Do you have
a rocker-my mommy rocks me to sleep every night." and the manager replied,
"Son, you won't need a rocker tonight."  By the way, Craig still has this
rocking chair.  I joined the Columbia Chapter in 1953 and the state
organization in 1956.  We attended our first NFB national convention in 1956
in San Francisco.  The first barbecue was held in Columbia in 1954.  In
1958, $300 of barbecue funds were set aside to use for building a Center.
This became a reality three years later in 1961.  Our first trip to Rocky
Bottom was in 1958.  Had Betty lived for six more months, we would be
celebrating our 70th wedding anniversary on June 25, which happened in 1949.

Final Thought:  It's the last Positive Note before Spring and today we have
reached a milestone 1,700 consecutive weeks of Positive Notes, beginning on
August 22,1986!

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbofsc_nfbnet.org/attachments/20190313/4a7626c8/attachment.html>