[nfbwatlk] Inland Northwest Lighthouse Braille Rally

[Julie Warrington]

wow Ben.
sounds like an eventful weekend.
Wish I had gone!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Prows, Bennett (HHS/OCR)" <Bennett.Prows at HHS.GOV>
To: "NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 1:52 PM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Inland Northwest Lighthouse Braille Rally


> Well Listers, I made it.  The Braille car rally, held on Saturday in 
> Spokane for the INL was excellent.  It was well attended, and a great deal 
> of fun.
>
> I went over with Kirk and Ros Adams on Friday from Seattle in order to 
> tour the facility. As Maria can probably attest, the facility is pretty 
> impressive. It was once a large, (probably fifty thousand square foot) 
> grocery store that has been converted to the manufacturing plant for five 
> different product lines at present, all made for the government.  The 
> workers seem really invested in the INL, and the work as well. I was able 
> to talk with a number of folks who showed me their machines and how to 
> work them. I was impressed the Kirk, the CEO of the whole thing was put on 
> a frame stapling machine for wall board, and performed the tasks for about 
> an hour to get a feel for what's happening.  He says he does something on 
> the machine area each month.
>
> Before the tour, we had an awards luncheon for the MVP employees who have 
> encapsulated the values of the organization for the year.  The winners had 
> all been nominated by their fellow employees, and so the awards meant a 
> lot to each of them.
>
> So, on Saturday, the fund raising car rally began at 9:00 A.M .  It was 
> raining, and didn't really stop all day. There were sixteen cars and 
> drivers involved this year, and of course each had a navigator, reading 
> the specific directions in Braille. Before the event, Kirk addressed the 
> crowd, and told everyone that we are turning the tables on those dependent 
> on vision. Blind folks were in charge, since we had the directions. Each 
> car and occupants had a number.  I was in car #3. It was a 2003 Porche 911 
> convertible. (of course the top was up, grin.)  The local Porche club 
> contributed several cars and drivers for the event. They apparently do a 
> lot of fund raising for nonprofits in the area, and were excellent 
> partners in this event.  The 40 mile course took us about 2 hours to 
> complete. My driver, Barry and I were the second car back, but we didn't 
> win anything on points. I speculate that we went too fast, coming to 
> several check points much ahead of schedule. The ride was aw
> esome, the car's handling in the turns and with speed was beyond amazing. 
> I loved every minute of the ride.
>
> Afterwards, we had another lunch to declare the winners, hear from some 
> speakers about blindness, Braille and of course the INL. The event was a 
> tremendous success, even in spite of the rain, and I think the INL and we 
> all have benefitted from the experience. Not only did we demonstrate the 
> capabilities of blind persons, but showed how Braille can help level the 
> playing field, or road as it were.
>
> Thanks goes to all who helped with all aspects of planning organizing, 
> setting up and participating in the Braille Rally.
>
> Kevin Daniel, the director in Spokane is moving to Seattle to take a 
> senior position with the Seattle Lighthouse. His replacement, Sean Dobbs 
> and Kevin were both there, and I certainly enjoyed meeting them both. This 
> was essentially Kevin's last event with the INL in particular, so he went 
> out with a bang. Sean is taking the reins, and will also do an excellent 
> job.
>
> Oh, while there, I saw Debbie, and Maria, as well as Monika Stuglemeyer 
> (SP) and to see how happy she seems working there.
>
> I was glad to be part of the whole weekend's activities.
>
> /s/
>
> Bennett Prows
> _______________________________________________
> nfbwatlk mailing list
> nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nfbwatlk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org/jdwtlc%40frontier.com