[Ohio-Talk] August 2021 Newsletter

[mmoore11 at kent.edu]

"Beyond the Six Dots"

 

National Federation of the Blind Community Service Division

August 2021 Newsletter

We use a white cane, slate & stylus, and screen readers in between,

We read from the left, write from the right, and will tap tap onto any
scene.

We want our communities to know what we've got, a commitment to serve,

Beyond the Six Dots!

 

WE'VE GOT SUNSHINE

In celebration of Happiness Happens Month, here's your sunshine for the
month of August. Follow us to the corner of Happy and Healthy. "No medicine
cures what happiness cannot."

Question: Why didn't the elephant buy a suitcase for his summer vacation?

Answer: Because he already has a trunk!

Don't think about it, laugh about it!


 


POPPED TO THE TOP


The NFB COMMUNITY SERVICE DIVISION wants to thank all the popcorn lovers
that made our annual fundraiser a popping success! Because of your generous
donations and your buttery love for delicious treats, our Division not only
reached our goal of $10,000! They doubled their efforts in Double Good
style! 

Now that we have had a taste of the cheddar greatness, we would like to take
this moment to give "POPS" to some very special people. Roll call.Thank you,
Gloria Nathan-Cherry for organizing an Allstar fundraiser, and Marvin
Griffin also known as the "Pop King" who was our top pop seller that sold
over $1,800 of delicious popcorn. Wow! Now that's a whole lot of carmel
cheesy. We also want to give a kernel salute to the Willing Workers
Committee. Your participation and dedication to our community project put
the 'fun' in fundraiser! Last but not least, thank you to all the supporters
not to mention the hungry bellies for popping with us! 

 

MEET THE BOARD

The Community Service Division recently held an election and voted in all of
the following members. It is an honor to introduce our newly elected and
those re-elected for another term. These individuals exemplify dedication,
compassion, and the spirit of serving! 

 

Jeanetta Price BSW, M. Ed, President 

Ms. Price is a bold, beautiful, black woman, Texas raised, and hot water
cornbread fed. Ms. Price is an Alumni of Lamar University, Masters in
Clinical Mental Health Counseling. In addition, she works as a License
Mortgage Loan Originator.  Ms. Price is known for her high-spirit,
unwavering faith, divine compassion for others, community service endeavors,
and advocacy on behalf of the blind community and beyond. With that being
said, Ms. Price humbly serves as President of The National Federation of the
Blind Community Service Division for her third consecutive term.  Want He do
it!? Ms. Price leads with love, hope, and determination to change
communities all over the world one service at a time. Ms. Price strongly
believes that the PRICE is right now to get involved by serving others
wherever you are so that they can live the life they want.

 

Mirranda Williams BSW, Vice President 

Mrs.  Williams is an original Georgia Peach that was transplanted to the
soil of Baltimore, Maryland in 2017. Mrs. Williams stated, "I am married to
the chocolate chip to my cookie, Antonio Williams for a little over eight
years. "Mrs. Williams educational background is comprised of an AS in
Special Ed from Albany State University, BSW from Morgan State, and this
coming spring22, she will receive her MSW. Mrs. Williams have been
completely blind since the age of 15. She attended the Louisiana Center for
the Blind in 2011 and became active in portions of the NFB since then.
However, the most important things about her goes a little like this: "My
favorite color is purple, I love R&B, and my favorite thing to eat is
potatoes in any form." 

 

Daria Bannerman, Secretary

Daria have been a part of the Community Service Division of the National
Federation of the Blind since March of 2021. She works as an Employment
specialist. Daria mentioned what she enjoys about both roles is the
opportunity to have an impact on people and changing people's lives. Daria
stated that she loves being a part of an organization that enjoys giving
back to the community with lots of love, support and fun.  She is excited
about her new role as secretary. In this role, Daria will keep track of any
ideas about different projects, and have a chance to collaborate with people
all over the world.

 

Natalie Segura, Treasurer 

Natalie is your ideal "Country Girl" with the boots, hat, and heart the size
of Texas in which she resides.  Natalie is always willing to help others and
utilizes her horses as rescue animals during the floods in Houston, Texas.
Natalie has been elected to her second term as Treasurer, and she enjoys
keeping the books while serving in her boots. Three fun facts about Natalie:


1.  Hobby: Fishing 

2.  Favorite Food: Seafood 

3. Cooking is her superpower! 

 

Marvin K. Griffin, Board Member 

A man whose love affair with the arts spans 4 decades. From sketching and
sculpting as a teen, to singing to thousands weekly for the past 15 years,
to cooking for his family and friends, Marvin has been loyal to the sweet
rewards of artistic expression. Since losing his eyesight in 2011, Marvin's
plight is to continue to be an inspiration and a steadfast example of true
human resiliency. He volunteers at his church as the Men's choir director,
tends to his own garden, and has even gone deep sea fishing occasionally.
Though these are hobbies to many, Marvin uses these activities to dispel the
"I can't" mentality. In his spare time, he reads mystery detective novels
and is currently teaching himself to play the bass guitar.

 

Kamille Richardson, Board Member

Kamille hales from the great state of North Carolina. She is a recent
addition to the community service division. In July 2021, she was elected as
one of three board members. Her mother, who was A strong presence in her
life, influenced her community service journey. She led with a servant's
heart which inspired Kamille to do the same. Kamille especially enjoys
serving in the Area of assistive technology. She often assists others with
navigating the zoom platform and any other technology needs that may present
themselves.

 

Dr. LaShawna Fant, Board Member 

Dr. Fant is from the state of Mississippi.  She has been on the Community
Service Division board for three years.  In July 2021, she was elected as
one of three board members.  As a child, she saw family and community
members demonstrate generosity and kindness to one another.  Hence, she has
lived her life helping mankind and lending her services to strengthen
communities.  Her life's focus is to make this world a little better by
fulfilling God's purpose for her life.

 

WISH UPON A STAR

We regret to inform our community about the passing of one of our dearest
members, Star-Shemah White. She was a flickering light that set afire in
many hearts and will always live long in our memory. Our federation family
sends healing prayers and comforting hugs to her family, friends, and to all
those touched by her sparkling spirit.

"Although it's difficult today to see beyond the sorrow. May looking back in
memory help comfort you tomorrow." Author Unknown

 

THE ARCH DOESN'T END HERE

"To be connected with a group of fabulous Willing Workers is phenomenal!"

The magnificent colors of hope were brightly and brilliantly showcased
throughout our seminar on July 8th during the National Federation of the
Blind 2021 National Convention. 

 

Reflections by 

June 'No Smoke' Hunter

"Talana Townsend shared about being hopeful and expecting brighter days! She
went on to compare it to a rainbow; you need both rain and sun to make its
color appear. In her own magnetic way, she told us to say it again and
again. Her message was so powerful it inspired me to add my own twist!

H- is for HAPPINESS  

O- is for OPPORTUNITIES 

P-is for PERSISTENCE 

E-is for ENDURANCE & EXCELLENCe"

Remember: "The most important thing is to enjoy your life, to be happy, it's
all that matters."-Unknown 

 

Adrienne Nelson 

"My reflection with the seminar was super-Popilious. To be connected with a
group of fabulous Willing Workers is phenomenal.  I am so very grateful to
be a blessing sharing my voice whether speaking, texting or singing gives me
great joy. Thank You Lord for hearing my prayers to be surrounded by heart
felt beautiful people with such energy, strength and creativity to be
confident and bold enough to take a stand to serve when they can and how
they can.

I enjoyed being a part of the Pop-up fundraiser. I had a bundle of popilific
fun. My fingers were pecking away sending out text and Facebook messages. I
look forward to us doing this fundraiser next year. I am so blessed to be
among great and solid creative family. We are a voice in this world speaking
loud with a whole bunch of plentiful and overflowing substances that brings
forth much rich and gratifying volume full of marvelous impact and support."

 

Kim Davis, Director of Volunteers 

Ronald McDonald House 

"Looking back on working with the National Federation of the Blind makes my
heart very happy. Jeanetta first reached out to me asking to team up and
work together a month or back and I thought, of course we want to do this!
But little did I know how above and beyond this amazing group of people
would go! Everyone came together and put a lot of effort into getting us
items that we need around the Ronald McDonald House that help make the
families that stay with us more comfortable and feel at Home. These items
are so important to us and the families here at RMH. So having a group of
people willing to come together to get us blankets, toiletry kits, snack
bags, notes of encouragement, and just overall love and support was
absolutely amazing. We really felt the love! We knew to be expecting these
items for delivery, but let me tell you, when they came in, we were truly
over joyed by the outcome. You could tell so much love and support were put
into the project. Everything was so nice and cute and perfectly packaged for
us to hand out to the families. The blankets were adorable and cozy. We were
so insanely excited to get everything to the families because we knew they
were going to love everything as much as we did. And of course, the Notes of
Encouragement, including some with braille was just so special. I felt like
it really connected the groups together. You never know what others are
going through but being able to learn about and support others even when
you're going through something difficult is just so beautiful. This idea
really touched my heart as I'm sure it did with our families here as well.
And we can't forget about the wonderful CSD seminar. The energy was
electric. I was smiling the whole time. So much happiness and joy and love.
What an amazing and wonderful group of people!! I am so so so grateful for
everything the National Federation of the Blind did for RMH Maryland. We are
so appreciative and grateful for the support you all provided to us. We
can't thank you enough. We love you!!"

We hope you had an excellent convention experience and found strength and
motivation within our seminar. Remember, when you mix vibrant sunlight and
droplets of rain, beautiful hearts will come together to build a community
of rainbows. 

 

A SWEET GEORGIA TREAT

Written by Adrienne Nelson

August is national Peach Month! Drum roll please. raising the curtain for
our CSD's Georgia sweet peach! A Georgia peach is a sweet delight when
picked at the right time and during the right Season. Allow me to introduce
one of the sweetest peaches from our Community Service Division. Her spirit
is sparkling and bubbly like expensive champagne, her heart is golden and
exquisite as the rarest and most flawless jewel. She is always helpful,
compassionate, and understanding; a symbol of love. Even though she is
knowledgeable with technology and knows her skill. The most beautiful,
gratifying and outstanding feature about Julie Moses is the lovely and
devoted Mom that she is. I enjoy hearing her journey through motherhood.
Julie and her daughter, Brenlee, know how to make your day so full of
awesomeness and amazingness with an abundance of joy!

>From June's Kitchen, Georgia Peach Cobbler Ingredients:

Peaches peeled and sliced, unsalted butter, flour, sugar, brown sugar,
baking powder, salt, milk, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Bake at 375
degrees. Sprinkle toppings with that brown sugar and then BAMMMMM!!!!! You
got Julie's magic!

"When life gets blurry adjust your focus."

We thank Julie Moses for inspiring and empowering our blind communities. We
appreciate everything that you do and declare you as a peach who's eager to
teach! We admire your compassion to serve and your commitment to go 'beyond
the six dots'! 

 

ONE EYE GLASS AT A TIME

Written by Donavon Cavender 

"A Lion's Story"

My name is Donavon Cavender. I am a board member of the NFB of Arkansas and
the Vice President of the at-large chapter of the NFB of Arkansas. I have
been a member of the local Lions club here in Harrison, Arkansas since 2018.

The Harrison Noon Lion's Club does three things when it comes to helping
people with their eyesight. One of them is that we help recycle old glasses
that people are not using anymore. We have multiple places in town where
people can drop those off. Every so often one of the Lion's Club members
goes around to collect the glasses and take them to the eye center at
Walmart to be sent out to be recycled.

We also help out with the local school district by providing our service to
help check the students' eyes. We have a machine that will scan their eyes
and it will let us know if the student needs glasses or not. If they do them
then the machine will print out a referral for them to take to their Eye
Doctor.

Moreover, our organization assist those who cannot afford eyeglasses or even
the eye exam at an Eye Doctor. We do have an application process for that
person to go through to help us determine if that person is eligible for the
financial assistant. We as the local Lion's Club have partnered with at
least one of the local Eye Doctors to help cover the cost of the eye exam
and the glasses.

This is one of the many ways the Harrison Noon Lion's Club helps serve the
community of Harrison, Arkansas and the surrounding area.

 

FAMILY FUN DAY

Written by Leigh Starbright

We were super excited whenever our parents would rush into our bedrooms
first thing in the morning and shout excitedly, "Wake up, wake up! It's
family fun day!" When we were little ones, it could mean anything; a day at
the pool or going to the local town fair with the hopes of cotton candy. It
was always a surprise and we didn't mind the suspense. My siblings and I
would get up and dressed so fast, we were like little miniature road
runners. 

As we got older though, our parents would trick us from time-to-time. Our
Family Fun days would have an extra surprise or two. I think the first trick
was when we were all going to spend the weekend at our grandparent's house.
They were driving the wrong direction and Mom told us we had to make a
little stop before going to see Grandma and Grandpa. Apparently, our Dad
knows how to trim trees! And he had a job in mind for each one of us. We
were going to be his tree trimming cleanup crew, then have lunch with the
elderly couple that couldn't stop thanking us for all of our help. 

Now don't get us wrong, we eventually had fun once we got into the groove of
being a helper, but we became more like the cautious coyote whenever there
was the burst of enthusiasm for a Family Fun day.

Our parents were always helping a family member, friend, colleague,
neighbor, or a lot of the times, a stranger. I remember I was in my teens
when one of our neighbors was not able to go grocery shopping for herself
anymore. Whenever we went to the store, my Mom would always call and ask
Mrs. Wonder if she needed anything while we were out. On this particular
day, Mom asked if I would deliver Mrs. Wonder's groceries so she could get
our dinner started. I tried every excuse I could think of to get out of
doing it, but nothing was working.

I didn't want to admit then, but I was nervous about going to her house by
myself. I had never been there without one of my parents and what if I don't
do it right? Mrs. Wonder was always friendly and nice to us, that wasn't the
issue. I just wasn't sure if I was ready to help a blind person all by
myself. 

I grudgingly walked over and knocked on her door. She told me to come in and
wipe my feet on the rug. Trying to think of all the ways I had seen my
parents interact with Mrs. Wonder, I told her who I was and that I had four
bags of groceries for her. I took everything out of the bags, then one by
one, asked where she would like for me to put that particular item. Much to
my surprise, we sorted through all the groceries fairly quickly and felt
confident that I had done it right! This wasn't so bad after all, as a
matter fact, I realized I had gotten myself all worked up over nothing.

After the groceries were all sorted and put away, Mrs. Wonder asked if I
would sit and talk with her for a few minutes. I don't know if she saw my
nervousness when I first arrived, but this was the first time she and I had
ever had a one-on-one conversation. It was nice. We talked about my
schoolmates, classes, and teachers. The movies I watched, the music I liked,
and the books I read. I had learned that she wasn't a fan of televised news
and thoroughly missed being able to read her daily newspapers while drinking
her morning cup of hot tea. Before I even realized what I was doing, I
volunteered to read the newspaper to her. I told her I wasn't very good at
reading aloud, but I was willing to give it a try, if she would like. 

You would have thought I was Ed McMann with a smile so big. She was so
ecstatic it was intoxicating! I was eager to start reading her newspaper
that very moment.

I spent the next seven years reading anything and everything she wanted me
to. Newspapers, magazines, cookbooks, short novels, old family letters and
greeting cards. I learned so much from her; some of my favorite teen
memories were spent with her. And as an added bonus, my confidence in
reading aloud eventually got me a summer job at our local library!

My siblings and I are all grown up and have families of our own now. Often,
we reminisce about all the family fun days and the added tricks over the
years. Don't tell Mom & Dad, but some of our best memories come from those
'little stops' along the way.

 

REPRESENT YOUR STATE

South Carolina 65th Annual State Convention

Friday, August 20th to Sunday, August 22nd 

To register for the virtual convention, visit:

 
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nfbofsc.org&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AF
QjCNEE_wZGIA6pEMyfLmG8jFMX7xcEkQ> www.nfbofsc.org 

 

RESOURCES

Eye Health month! Don't take your eyes for granted! Learn how to take care
of them, get the facts about specific eye problems, and help others learn
about healthy vision.

https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health

 

Lions Clubs

To make a donation or to find a club near you, visit:

https://www.lionsclubs.org/en

 

EDITOR'S NOTES

We want to feature you in our next issue! Write about your personal
experience with your community service project and submit the article by the
first of the month.

We also want to help promote your community projects and state affiliate
events. Share your calendar with Beyond The Six Dots and we will feature
your events in the 'Represent Your State' section of our next issue. Contact
our editor to submit your calendar events and featured articles. (The editor
may edit the Length and/or wording of your article.)

 

NFB Community Service Division

www.facebook.com/communityservicedivision/
<http://www.facebook.com/communityservicedivision/> 

President Jeanetta Price

Email: price.jeanetta at gmail.com <mailto:price.jeanetta at gmail.com> 

Mobile: (409) 344-1005

Newsletter Editor: Maggie Stringer

Email: Ravensfan784 at gmail.com <mailto:Ravensfan784 at gmail.com> 

Mobile: (443) 750-0070

 

ONE MINUTE MESSAGE

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. We are survivors!