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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>August 17, 2020<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 1775<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 21, 22, 23, many of us will be attending the sixty-fourth annual State Convention of the NFB of SC. The State Office has been extremely busy during the past few weeks handling many details for the convention. The Computer Science and Technology Division under the leadership of Thom Spittle and Steve Cook have been extremely busy as well working very hard to ensure everything runs smoothly during our virtual state convention. 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. The theme for the convention this year is “working together to help blind people live the lives they want”. 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 21, at 5:10 p.m. As we have done in past years, we will be conducting our annual banquet fundraiser Saturday evening, August 22, 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. There will be multiple ways to contribute to the banquet fundraiser. You can contribute by mailing a check or a pledge to the Federation Center of the Blind prior to the convention, or you can go to nfbofsc.org click on the donate page and use Pay Pal, or make a pledge Saturday evening at the banquet. 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 at the Federation Center of the Blind no later than August 21. As we have done for many years, we will be conducting a memorial service on Sunday afternoon 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, President of the NFB of SC’s Seniors Division. “Greetings from the Senior Division!!! Another year is winding up, and it is time for our annual Senior Division meeting during our State Convention. I want to invite all seniors to call in for our zoom meeting. It will be held on August 21 at 4 p.m. eastern time. I would love to have a large crowd present. I look forward to seeing you!”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> The 2020 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. In closing, it has been my pleasure to serve as your state president for the past five years. Although I am “stepping down” as state president, I will continue to always be available to do whatever I can in this great organization to help the blind to live the lives they want. <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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> Final Thought: Let’s give a big “Thank You” to Frank Coppel for his decades of service to the state’s blind and for his five years of outstanding service as NFB of SC President!<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>