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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>August 5, 2019<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 1721<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 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@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@bellsouth.net. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> 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.” <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> 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. <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> 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!”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>