[Nfbv-announce] Cruise Drawing Tickets

[Fredric Schroeder]

Hello all,

I would like to remind you that we are selling drawing tickets to help raise
money for the Virginia affiliate. Specifically, we need to raise funds to
enable us to expand the BELL program for next summer.

Tickets sell for $10 each and the winner will have a choice of a cabin for
two on our affiliate cruise next August or a cash prize of $1,750. We have
sold enough tickets to cover the cost of the prize so any tickets we sell
from here are pure profit.

To help inspire you all, I will promise to sell a book of ten tickets for
every chapter whose members sell at least three books. With about fifteen
chapters, that means that a total of sixty books or a $6,000 could be raised
to help support our programs for blind children and adults.

To get drawing tickets, please contact Tracy Soforenko at

potomacnfb at verizon.net

Please do what you can to help. Below is a brief description of this year's
BELL program.

Fred Schroeder, President
National Federation of the Blind of Virginia

*****

Sorry for the delay in getting back with you. Below is a description of the
summer early literacy program we hosted this year. Next summer we plan to
hold one in northern Virginia and a second in the Virginia Beach area.

Thanks,

Fred

*****

The National Federation of the Blind of Virginia needs your help. Last
summer, the Federation offered an early Braille literacy experience for
young blind children in Arlington. The program, known as BELL (Braille
Enrichment for Literacy and Learning), was a 2-week summer program for blind
and low-vision children from ages 4-12.  Braille is the 6-dot system, two
columns of three dots, used by the blind in the same ways as print is for
the sighted.  Blind adults planned a combination of tactile craft
activities, stories read aloud by blind adults, and field trips to the
drugstore and a trip, using public transportation,  to a library in
Washington, DC housing a large children's Braille book collection.  The
children were either exposed to Braille for the first time or strengthened
their current Braille reading and writing skills and experienced the
excitement of going into a library and browsing a collection of children's
books; most local public libraries do not house collections of Braille
materials.  These students also had fun working with blind instructors who
taught by experience, independent travel by all using canes to walk to the
local drug store to purchase candy on their first trip, and an item needed
for the closing ceremony on their second trip.  For some of these kids, it
was their first time being with other blind peers and after the first few
days, were looking forward to seeing their friends the next morning.