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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>August 6, 2018 <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Memo To: Executive Officers, Board Members, Chapter & Division Presidents & Others<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>From: Frank Coppel, President<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Positive Note 1669<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Greetings Fellow Federationists:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> 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@bellsouth.net. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> 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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> 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.” <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> 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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> 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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> 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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> 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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Final Thought: “NFB and NFB of SC Conventions are like a battery recharger that helps you live the life you want.”.”<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>