[Ohio-Talk] From The President's Desk

Sat Mar 30 20:49:10 UTC 2024

National Federation of the Blind of Ohio (NFBO)

>From The President's Desk
March 2024

Ohio Affiliate President, Richard Payne
(937) 829-3368
Rchpay7 at gmail.com <mailto:Rchpay7 at gmail.com> 

Greetings Federation Members, and happy Spring to you!

While I am happy about March Madness, and sports season of all types,
allergy  is also in the air. So, take care of yourselves and remember to
drink plenty of water, get enough sleep and get ready for Ohio events that
are approaching soon, because Ohio blind citizens need you!

>From March 30th until April 9th, I will be traveling to visit my daughter
and grandkids. Therefore, do not hesitate to call or text me and when time
allows, I will respond. I am asking you to please be patient when returning
calls.

Please continue to promote our programs for Ohio's blind children. At this
time, we have two students, and it would be nice to get more. Accordingly, I
have been doing my best to find ways to get new students for our BELL
program, Therefore, I need your help as well. We all must get the word out
by any means necessary. If you know of others that may benefit from the
program, please send them the information, or provide me with their contact.
Moreover, I have sent a number of schools including the school for the blind
our BELL flyer. I have been alerted  that there are one-hundred and fifty
students listed as visually impaired in the Columbus School District. As a
result, let's find them and others across the state to attend this worthy
and necessary program. 

Ohio, I want to take this opportunity to thank members who have completed
the volunteer form and are willing to work at BELL 2024. We still have room
for more volunteers. 

Reminders:
A. There are  still Ohio state funds to assist you at the 2024 National
Convention in Orlando Florida. Please complete the Ohio Convention
Assistance application that was emailed on the NFBO Listserve.

B. Also, please make your hotel arrangements at the Rosen Center Hotel.
Call: (800) 204-7234. The first night fee will be taken immediately. That
amount was $146.00.

C. Pre-registration is now open for the National Convention. The fee is $25
and $75 for the banquet. Pre-registration ends on May 31st.

D. Apply for the Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship Fund if you are a first-timer
attendee at the national Convention. 

All details can be found at NFB.ORG/Convention

E. Ohio, a strong compliment of volunteers is critical to the success of the
Independence Market at convention. So please consider lending your
capabilities, and willingness to provide good customer service for our
members visiting the independence market. We are under a limited time frame
to report back to the facilitators in Baltimore your name and time. They are
eager to get assignments out, so please get back to me or Suzanne Turner  as
soon as possible. Your help is appreciated! 

F. You can be a winner for the Flying Pig Marathon 
Just click on:
https://piggestraffleever.com/.
choose, National Federation of the Blind of Ohio as your charity.
How's it Work? Easy! Purchase a Raffle Entry for $5 each on behalf of one of
the participating charities from the drop-down menu below. For each Pig
purchased, you have a chance to win on Flying Pig Marathon Weekend and the
charity you select receives 100% of your donation!
GRAND PRIZE: $10,000 Cash*
($5,000 to the charity and $5,000 to the winning ticket holder)
SECOND PRIZE: $5,000 Cash*
($2,500 to the charity and $2,500 to the winning ticket holder
THIRD PRIZE: Cincinnati Get-Away Experience
($1,500 in Downtown Cincinnati, Inc. vouchers) 

BELL Academy Volunteer
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSezCusZ72sGxh6jnvpB8IhuxrBy4e0V_AE
NHkPMsBObw_XQxg/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&usp=mail_form_link> 	

If you are interested in volunteering for the NFB BELL Academy, please
complete the form below. It should be noted that all volunteers will be
background checked, interviewed, and trained once approved for volunteering.
Set-up begins Sunday, June. 16th (and tear down will be Friday, June 21

Fill out form
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSezCusZ72sGxh6jnvpB8IhuxrBy4e0V_AE
NHkPMsBObw_XQxg/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&usp=mail_form_link> 

Critical Actions:
April Presidential Release:
	The April Presidential Release
<https://nfb.org/resources/publications-and-media/presidential-releases>  is
scheduled for Wednesday, April 3, at 8:00 p.m., eastern, live from the
Louisiana Center for the Blind. Each Presidential Release Live includes a
question-and-answer session. Please submit questions early to
cdanielsen at nfb.org. <mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org--questions>  Zoom ID 961 2348
7809.

Final Call for Scholarship Applications:
	Deadline approaching: March 31. The National Federation of the Blind
scholarship program helps blind college students reach their educational and
employment goals and so much more-plus each scholarship winner will receive
$8,000. Please encourage students to apply for the 2024 scholarship program
<https://scholarships.nfb.org/> . 

News:
Distinguished Educator of Blind Students:
	The deadline to submit nominations for the Distinguished Educator of
Blind Students Award is May 1. The application is available at
https://nfb.org/programs-services/scholarships-and-awards/distinguished-educ
ator-blind-students-award.

Affiliate and Division Website Redesign Project Update:
	The National Federation of the Blind is upgrading the affiliate and
division websites to modernize and unify the Federation's web presence onto
the Drupal platform-forty-two sites have gone through the process as of
February 2023. The most recent transitions are NFB of New Hampshire
<https://nfbnh.org/> , NFB of Louisiana <https://nfbla.org/> , and NFB of
Massachusetts <https://www.nfbma.org/> . The next set of sites in the queue
are West Virginia, North Carolina, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Stay tuned
for more updates. For questions about the project, please email
NFBProjectTeam at nfb.org <mailto:NFBProjectTeam at nfb.org> . 

NFB24 Convention Ally Network:
	We commit that our 2024 Convention will be a safe space for all
blind people, as well as our friends, families, partners, and allies, and we
are confident that Rosen Hotels & Resorts and the Orlando community join us
in that commitment. The National Federation of the Blind has launched the
Convention Ally Network. The goal of this network is to help facilitate
participation in the convention and support those who feel unsafe because of
laws in the state of Florida. Sign up for the Convention Ally Network if you
are seeking support or if you are interested in being an ally during the
convention. Submissions will be confidential, and there will be
pre-training. Learn more and sign up for the Convention Ally Network
<https://nfb.org/get-involved/national-convention/convention-ally-network> .

Richard Payne,  President
National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
937/829/3368
Rchpay7 at gmail.com <mailto:Rchpay7 at gmail.com> 
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. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.

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