[Nfbf-l] Fw: News Chief NFB Article

Tue Apr 7 20:06:23 UTC 2009

Joe & Kitty, It is so great to see your NFB chapter reaching out to your 
community like you are with these Pancake breakfast fund-raisers and 
community  awareness for the blind socials! Congratulations on the $1,200 
for the chapter Treasury as well! Super atta boys for all, Kirk
 Harmon
1031 Lenmore CT.
Orlando, FL. 32812

Phone:
Office: 1-407-380-3371
Cell: 1-407-473-2176
BVA/FRG
District Director
E. central Division

BVA/FRG
Fundraising coordinator
911 cell phone  donations Program

City of Orlando
Mayor's Advisory Counsel
Counsel member

"Blinded Veteran's Helping Blinded Veteran's"
"Smiles are nothing more than 30 second vacations"!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sherri" <flmom2006 at gmail.com>
To: "NFB of Florida Listserv" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 12:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfbf-l] Fw: News Chief NFB Article

> It is so great to see chapters doing activities to commemorate Louis 
> Braille's birth. Very good Polk County.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kitty King" <joenkitty at earthlink.net>
> To: <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 10:09 AM
> Subject: [Nfbf-l] Fw: News Chief NFB Article
>
>
>> Hello Gang:
>>
>> Here is an article, which appeared on the front page of our local News 
>> Chief, regarding our Chapter Pancake Breakfast last Saturday.  I don't 
>> know if the pictures are included or not.  However, there were several 
>> pictures--one of Judy Black and John Christianson on the Braille writers 
>> and Joe King, flipping pancakes.  Our theme was centered around Louis 
>> Braille.  Ron Wills, one of our members, designed  a poster with the new 
>> silver coin depicted in an enlarged form. We had these posted about the 
>> room.    He, also, created a flyer explaining the life and impact Louis 
>> Braille has had on the lives of the blind.  These were distributed to 
>> everyone. There was much interest among our diners.    Hope you enjoy the 
>> article.
>>
>>
>> Kitty King
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: Tom King
>> To: Kitty King
>> Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 4:16 PM
>> Subject: News Chief NFB Article
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Fundraiser for the blind also a teaching opportunity
>>
>> By Donna Kelly
>> News Chief staff
>>
>>
>> Published: Monday, April 6, 2009 at 8:12 a.m.
>>
>>
>> WINTER HAVEN - Eleven-year-old Addlyn Teague and her mother, Mel, watched 
>> intently as Judy Black, who is legally blind, deftly punched the alphabet 
>> and a line of numbers on paper with her Braille writer.
>>
>> The Teagues had just finished volunteering as servers at the National 
>> Federation of the Blind Annual Pancake Breakfast at Beymer Memorial 
>> United Methodist Church when they watched NFB member Black demonstrating 
>> how to read and write in Braille, a system of raised dots that enable the 
>> blind to read by touch.
>>
>> Teague - a third-grade teacher who presents a unit each year about Helen 
>> Keller, Braille creator Louis Braille and sign language to her students 
>> at Jewett School of the Arts - believes it is important for children to 
>> learn about the challenges and accomplishments of the blind. She believes 
>> this teaches them tolerance and appreciation.
>>
>> "I teach this so children can see how fortunate they are to have their 
>> sight and to see how other people have to live," said Teague, who invited 
>> Black to visit her classroom to visit with students.
>>
>> And from volunteering with NFB members, whose blindness ranges from those 
>> with limited vision to some who can't see anything at all, Addlyn now 
>> understands the message the organization is sending to the public.
>>
>> "It taught me that you can do many things even if you are blind," she 
>> said, breaking into a huge smile.
>>
>> Her words made Joe King, president of the Polk Chapter of the NFB, grin, 
>> too. The breakfast not only serves as a fundraiser - the group raised 
>> approximately $1,200 Saturday - but as an opportunity to teach folks 
>> about the reality of blindness.
>>
>> "The importance of our event is to make the public aware that blind 
>> people are people. We are nothing to be shunned. We are nothing to be 
>> afraid of," King said. "We have the same equal rights as the sighted 
>> people - we just can't see."
>>
>> Legally blind since birth from retinopathy of prematurity, an abnormal 
>> growth of blood vessels that can occur in babies born prematurely.
>>
>> "What a normal person can see at 125 feet, I see at 25 feet," King said 
>> to describe his vision.
>>
>> While there were plenty of community volunteers on hand to help with the 
>> cooking and serving Saturday, King flipped his share of pancakes, made 
>> coffee and arrived at 6 a.m. to set up for the breakfast. Other NFB 
>> members decorated and cleaned tables, distributed information, visited 
>> with guests and gave demonstrations on the Braille writer.
>>
>> Many folks return to the breakfast each year to support the NFB mission 
>> and enjoy the socializing. Laura and Harry Scull, winter visitors who 
>> spend divide their time between Pennsylvania and Florida, have attended 
>> the event five or six times. Laura Scull became acquainted with the NFB 
>> when she met chapter secretary Kitty King at a low vision life skills 
>> class at the Lighthouse for the Blind six years ago.
>>
>> "What brings us back is the friendship and to help the NFB so they can 
>> continue the good work they're doing. And the food is very good, too," 
>> Laura Scull said.
>>
>> The pancake breakfast and the annual White Cane Walk held each October 
>> during Meet the Blind Month, are events designed to promote the 
>> organization's motto, "Changing what it means to be blind."
>>
>> "We want people to know that blind people are very capable and can 
>> achieve great success if given the right tools," said Kitty King, the 
>> chapter's secretary and treasurer who is married to Joe King. "All we 
>> want is opportunity, security and equality."
>>
>> In addition to meeting on the second Saturday of each month at Perkins 
>> Restaurant on Cypress Gardens Boulevard to discuss issues pertaining to 
>> the blind, the chapter advocates for the blind on the local, state and 
>> national levels. In addition to receiving various types of training 
>> through state and national conventions, representatives from local 
>> chapters meet with state legislators in Tallahassee and members of 
>> Congress in Washington each year. The chapter is about 40 members strong 
>> and is open to anyone interested in issues pertaining to the blind. King 
>> would like to see more people become actively involved.
>>
>> "We're out fighting for their rights. If we hadn't been out there, a lot 
>> of things they have nowadays they wouldn't have," King said.
>>
>> King said NFB members were instrumental in a change in Social Security 
>> rules that now allow the blind to earn a higher income while still 
>> receiving benefits. The organization also fought for, and received, 
>> Braille literacy rights that enable blind students to receive Braille 
>> textbooks at the same time sighted students receive their books.
>>
>> The NFB is in the throes of a national Braille literacy campaign called 
>> Braille Readers are Leaders that is designed to double the number of 
>> blind children learning Braille by 2015. On March 26, the United States 
>> Mint released of the 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar, the 
>> first coin ever minted with readable Braille characters. A portion of the 
>> proceeds from the sale of the coin will benefit the Braille literacy 
>> campaign.
>>
>> "They're trying to bring Braille back," said Black, who is proficient in 
>> reading and writing in Braille with the Braille writer.
>>
>> Kitty and Joe King and Black agree that learning Braille is an advantage 
>> for the blind.
>>
>> "Braille is the outlet for blind people for knowledge. If you learn 
>> Braille, you can go on with your life because it is an opening door for 
>> everything," Joe King said.
>>
>> For more information about the National Federation of the Blind, call Joe 
>> or Kitty King at 863-293-5648.
>>
>> donna.kelly at newschief.com
>>
>>
>> This story appeared in print on page A1
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
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