[nfbwatlk] Account of a Louis Braille Activity held in Arizona

[Nightingale, Noel]

NAB of Washington Talk:

I am forwarding this account of an Arizona chapter's event to celebrate Louis Braille to inspire some of our chapters who have not yet held any event.  The account shows that an event does not have to be huge, fancy, or require a lot of people to hold.

Noel
 

-----Original Message-----
From: brl-coordinators-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:brl-coordinators-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Allison (NFB of Arizona)
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 9:10 PM
To: Braille Readers are Leaders contest support list
Subject: [Brl-coordinators] Update on Latest Louis Braille Activity

Hi Everyone,

I just got back from our latest Louis Braille outreach event.  I thought I'd share the experience with you all because I thought it went rather well.

The West Valley chapter of the NFBA attended the weekly children's story time at the Glendale Arizona Public Library.  Marc Schmidt and I did a short talk about blindness and Braille, and then read a twin-vision (print/Braille) book.
Since today was inauguration day, we read a cute little story called _Duck _for _President.  It was short fiction with a lot of silly pictures for the kids to enjoy.  They loved it!  We had more than a dozen sets of kids and parents attend... aged anywhere from approximately 3 to 8.  When the kids are that little it's hard to say just how much they really understand about Braille and blindness, but they did ask questions and giggle at the story.  After the reading we let the kids come up so we could Braille their names for them on index cards.  Everyone seemed to enjoy that... even some of the parents and librarians asked to have their names brailled.  We left Braille.org fliers, alphabet cards, and Kernel books out on a table for parents to take
on their way out if they wanted.   I'd say that the alphabet cards were
definitely the most popular, but some of the other items were picked up too. 
In addition, we donated some of the Kernel books to the library to add to its collection.  The youth librarian seemed to really appreciate this because she said she didn't really have many good books about blindness. 
She also asked us where she could buy some of her own Twin-Vision books for the library.  We gave her some resources, so hopefully the Glendale Library's children's section will have some new Braille additions soon. 
Then she invited us to read again around Louis Braille's next birthday, so I take that to mean that everyone did enjoy the event.

Anyway, I'm sharing this in part to update you all on what Arizona is doing, but also to encourage others to try out a library story time if you're still looking for an event idea.  This activity didn't take a great deal of complicated planning, money, resources, or a huge chapter full of members.
Three of us attended, we got our print/Braille book from the local library for the blind, we received our alphabet cards and other material from national, and my chapter president volunteered his own Braille writer and index cards for the night.  While we did do some of our own event advertising, the library also did a great deal of outreach of its own.  Since we held our Braille book reading during a pre-scheduled children's read aloud that the library does every week, we were able to draw a larger number of participants than we might have otherwise gotten with just our own advertising resources.  So I feel that the event was fairly successful, and I encourage others to try out similar activities in your local libraries.

Best,
Allison Hilliker