[Ohio-Talk] Meet the Blind Month Profile Articles

[Todd Elzey]

Good afternoon!  As many of you may recall I work as a freelance writer.
Several weeks back, President Payne and I spoke about the idea of working
with newspapers and other media outlets throughout Ohio to get the word out
in October about Meet the Blind Month. After the Capital Chapter and Jordy
Stringer announced their plan to get audio clips from members about what
the Federation means to members, and the recent media coverage of Mr.
Turner and other blind bowlers, I came up with an idea that I am writing
about today to obtain your assistance with.

What I would like to do is write a profile piece on various NFB members
around the State. The article along with a press release about Meet the
Blind Month would then be sent to newspapers in the geographic area in
which the person lives. The goal is to get profile pieces published in as
many newspapers as possible.

So I am looking for NFB members who are willing to sit down via phone or
zoom conference call for an interview. Ideally, I am looking for members
spread out all through the State so we can get as much geographic coverage
as possible. In addition, it would be great if the member has an
interesting life story to tell or can speak about their employment
experiences. The idea is to show readers how blind people are just like
everyone else and do many, many types of jobs and other activities. In
other words, the articles will aim to show readers how we as individuals
who are blind are living the lives we want to live.  Unfortunately, it
would be counterproductive to pitch multiple articles within the same
geographic area. Consequently, it is likely that I will only be able to
work with one person in a particular area unless perhaps the area is served
by multiple papers, which is rare these days.

If you are interested in participating in this project please reach out to
me via email at toddelzey at gmail.com with a brief synopsis of yourself and
why you think you would be a good profile subject to feature in a newspaper
article.  Please respect the time of other list followers and protect your
own privacy by not responding with this information on-list. Only respond
off-list to toddelzey at gmail.com.

If you are willing to participate in this project, please reach out as soon
as possible as the goal is to interview everyone within the next week or
two so that articles can be submitted to papers within the last 2 weeks of
October as a conclusion to Meet the Blind Month and as a lead-in to our
upcoming State Convention.

Thank you for considering participating in this project and I can always be
reached off-list at toddelzey at gmail.com if you have any questions regarding
the project.

Sincerely,

Todd Elzey
NFB of Ohio Springfield Chapter