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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>August 22, 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 1671<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> Before we turn our attention to the Fun Day Festival at Rocky Bottom on September 1, Shelley Coppel has an announcement regarding the 2018 state convention. “Greetings! I want to give a big shout-out to everyone who participated in the talent showcase at our state convention. It takes a certain gumption to get in front of folks and entertain!!! From the students, to us more mature folks, the range and level of talents displayed was truly wonderful! Thank you again, let’s do it again!!!”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> As I have been reporting during the last few weeks in the Positive Note, the thirty-seventh annual Rocky Bottom Fun Day Festival will take place Labor Day weekend, August 31-September 2. If you would like to make a reservation for the weekend you can contact me at (803) 796-8662 or call the Federation Center at (803) 254-3777. We have already begun to receive requests for sleeping accommodations, so I would strongly encourage you to call and reserve a room at Rocky Bottom as soon as possible. This information is extremely important as we need an accurate head count as to the amount of food we need to purchase for the weekend. Four meals will be served including three on Saturday, September 1, and breakfast on Sunday morning, September 2. Adults will be charged $30 and children will be charged $15 under twelve years of age to cover all four meals including the lunch on Saturday. Those individuals who are only attending the Fun Day Festival Saturday will need to pay Valerie and Larry Warrington $8 for lunch. I hope you are continuing to sell your $5 Fun Day tickets as this greatly contributes to the overall profits of the Fun Day Festival. Remember, the seller of the winning ticket will receive $50 and $500 to the buyer of the winning ticket. If you purchase your own ticket, you will receive $550. The chapter selling the most tickets will receive $300 for its treasury! Thus far, we have only sold 148 tickets statewide. I know we can do much better, so let’s get busy and do what we can to sell as many tickets as possible during the next ten days! I would like to thank Lenora Robertson and her “food crew” (Ellen Taylor and Glenda Culick) for all of their hard work preparing menus for the Fun Day weekend. I would also like to thank Tiffiny Mitchell who has agreed along with the assistance of others in donating soft drinks and water for the weekend. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> We have an announcement from Jennifer Bazer. “Hello NFB of SC Family! Fun Day at Rocky Bottom will be held Saturday, September 1. One of the highlights of Fun Day is the auction which is always fun and can be hilarious at times. Please consider donating new items including, but not limited to: gift cards, electronics, homemade cakes and pies, jewelry and more. Even if you feel your item is small, we are grateful for the contribution as we can make gift baskets of small items to make a great auction item. Please contact Jennifer Bazer if you would like to donate an item at 803-960-9977 or jhipp25@sc.rr.com. Thank you for your continued support of Rocky Bottom!”<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> This week we spotlight the spouse of a hard working federationist who in her own right works just as hard as her husband in support of the blind locally, statewide and nationally. I am speaking of Ed Bible’s lovely wife Julie Bible. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> Julie was born in Concord, NH and was the oldest of five children being the only girl. Her father was in the Air Force and she and her brothers grew up in the military moving around the country attending many schools. One of the places they were stationed when Julie was a baby was Greenville, SC. They lived overseas and she started school in Okinawa. The last place they were stationed before her father retired was in Rome, NY where she attended her last two years of high school at Rome Free Academy. One of her young brothers was deaf and it was a challenge communicating, but she and he became close. She met Ed during her Junior year in high school who was the first blind person she ever met. He was a Senior and also grew up in the Air Force. They rode the bus together. He asked her to read to him for one of his subjects during study hall. He went on to college and Julie went to USC after graduating (Utica School of Commerce) and trained to be a medical secretary. They lost touch for a while, until he came home from college on break and looked her up. They started dating and got married right before his senior year at Syracuse University. Julie got a job at Syracuse University working at the college infirmary for four years and then worked at an extended care facility doing medical transcription, until they moved to South Carolina in 1978, after Ed’s father retired from the Air Force and moved back to South Carolina where they were from and where Ed was born. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> After arriving in SC, they stayed with Ed’s parents until Ed found a job in Columbia. They moved there and bought a house and Julie went to work for Bankers Trust of SC and stayed there over 20 years (now Bank of America). Then she went to work for Richland School District One as a secretary in Special Education for 14 years, retiring 3 ½ years ago. They’ve been married for 45 years, had two children, Jennifer and Ashton. They have two grandchildren, Sally turning 1 year old and Ethan, age 6.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> In 1985 they became friends with Frank and Gail Copped, after Ed went to work at the SC Commission for the Blind. Frank and Gail were involved with the NFB and because of them Julie and Ed became involved. They attended their first National Convention in Chicago in 1988. Since then they have attended most national conventions and almost every state convention. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> Julie has helped with the annual Columbia Chapter BBQ for over twenty years as the hostess and getting out the BBQ deliveries, has driven van loads of people to Rocky Bottom, statewide picnics, and other events. She has taken groups of people to Washington, D.C. on more than one occasion for the Washington Seminar. She is a member of Mt. Hebron United Methodist Church in West Columbia and has been on mission trips with them to Rocky Bottom to do repairs. She loves helping others whenever the need arises. She was awarded Associate Member of the Year in 2007. In her spare time she enjoys gardening and spending time with her grandchildren. During the Labor Day weekend Ed and Julie will be attending an NFB National Leadership Seminar. Let’s salute Julie for her many years of service to the blind.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Final Thought: “Sharing is a great gift. One size fits all and it is easy to exchange.”<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>