[Nfbf-l] FOPBC State Convention Happenings

Thu Jun 3 16:25:57 UTC 2010

Lenora,
Wow, what a great report! Thanks to you and all others mentioned for 
all the planning, work, and all the behind the scenes things done to 
have a successful convention for our parents and children.  I am 
excited to her about Rodney's success and the white cane walk.

Denise

From: Lenora J. Marten <bluegolfshoes at aol.com>
To: nfbf-l at nfbnet.org
Sent: Thu, Jun 3, 2010 11:27 am
Subject: [Nfbf-l] FOPBC State Convention Happenings

Good Morning,

Wow! What a convention! I hope everyone is caught up on their sleep. I 
know I am happy to have my body clock back to normal.

NFBF rocks! Thank you all so much for your continued support. Those of 
you who know me well, know that I cannot say something in just a few 
sentences. I’ve tried REALLY HARD. But it’s just not working. So, pull 
up a chair and grab a cup of coffee….

Our parent seminars were, by far, the smoothest I have ever coordinated 
with any blind group. Kudos goes out to our 14 daycare volunteers who, 
believe it or not, all showed up on time! They thoroughly enjoyed 
working, learning and playing with our children. Your future NFBF 
members spent time playing games, making crafts, coloring with their 
giant low-vision coloring books and brailed pictures. There were even 
muffin tins and balls for the little ones to practice Braille letters. 
Our kids went home with brightly colored Florida beach pails they had 
decorated themselves with tactile shapes filled to the brim with 
goodies and crafts. The teen room that the Inman’s helped Larry and I 
put together was a little boring – on purpose. We wanted a ‘down time’ 
room for our teens, but didn’t want to make it too interesting. We 
wanted them to choose to participate with other teens, the state 
affiliate and their families.

Special thanks go out to our Troop 333 volunteers who traveled from 
Jacksonville to help us out. Michelle Falkner, troop leader and mom 
traveled in with her son Dalton and his friend Justin, both Eagle 
Scouts. They not only assisted us with the lunchtime daycare turnover, 
but cared for our kids during the banquet Sunday night and again on 
Monday morning. They were happy to help out wherever needed with both 
FOPBC and NFBF. They also took the opportunity to participate in our 
cane walk learning even more about blindness issues. They learned much 
 from their experiences with us and will be reporting to both Troop 333 
and the North Florida Council. Go Boy Scouts!

Our speakers, Anna Brynild from Central Florida Parent Center, Mark 
Keith, parent trainer from FSDB and Dr. Bill Cavitt all generously 
donated their time, experience and knowledge in order to help parents 
become better informed when making decisions concerning their children. 
Those parents with school age children attended an IEP workshop put on 
by Anna and Keith while parents of younger children spent time with Dr. 
Bill Cavitt learning much about the Oregon Project and how to maximize 
its use. On Sunday our parents participated in interactive workshops. 
They had so much fun at our Braille book making workshop that not one 
person cared that we were short on braillers. Everyone shared, learning 
and creating with each other. Thanks to NFBF for allowing us to have 
Mike Hingson for an hour. Parents, teens and NFBF members went away 
motivated after hearing about his personal experiences. Our bullying 
workshop was very well received by all. We talked about bullying 
related to blindness issues for just before parents, teens and NFBF 
members broke into role-playing groups. They were given instructions 
and questions designed to engage children in conversation meant to 
‘draw out’ what is happening in their lives.

Our very own Holly Idler, who is too fabulous for words, pulled off the 
best cane walk ever! The room was filled with adults, teens and 
children seeking much needed orientation and mobility instruction. Our 
parents had many, many questions concerning cane techniques, protective 
techniques and sighted-guide. It was such a privilege to see Rodney 
hold a cane for the very first time and watch his confidence grow 
throughout the rest of the convention. Special thanks go out to NFBF 
2nd vice-president Joe Minichiello and our NFBF scholarship winners who 
came out to help Holly and assist our families.

As a division, we tried some new approaches this year that really paid 
off!  FOPBC board members were given the opportunity to actively plan, 
participate and execute our parent seminars. Doreen Franklin, our 
vice-president, together with Anna Brynild not only planned the IEP 
workshop, but put together that wonderful skit for all of you in 
general session giving you an idea of just how difficult it is for 
parents to continuously deal with the IEP team. Anastasia and I spent a 
lot of time this year discussing and researching just how we wanted to 
do the Braille book making workshop. Although we both had different 
ideas, we worked together very well in planning just what our parents 
asked for – those seemingly elusive Braille picture books that are so 
hard to come by.  Larry not only helped to plan and execute the 
bullying workshop but helped out in more ways than I can possibly 
count. In fact, by the end of the conference, we were all referring to 
Larry as the ‘energizer bunny’.  Andrew put together a wonderful 
technology seminar for our teens where they learned where technology 
has been, where it is today, and where it is going in the future. 
Tracie, not sure what to expect at her first NFBF convention, helped 
out in many, many areas including gathering some door prizes for us and 
obtaining that most important auction item – the Peterbrook chocolate 
basket. Kelly, although unable to attend the convention, gave us many 
useful ideas and input throughout the year.

The FOPBC board had many discussions this year concerning the amusement 
parks in Orlando and possibly planning an event on the same weekend as 
convention. We all had different opinions, concerns and desires.
Major kudos go out to Larry for painstakingly making the many phone 
calls and follow-up with each and every major park in order to let us 
know what our options were so that we could make this decision 
together. Thanks go out to Kevin Inman who helped us to explore some 
other options in case we needed them. We all learned a lot from this 
experience as we truly had seven different opinions with a board that 
was not only learning how to interact with each other, but also 
learning about the workings of NFB.

Immediately following general session on Monday, our May Adventures in 
Blind Optimism Saturday Program was held at SeaWorld Adventures in 
Education where our children were given a Shark and Penguin Encounter 
geared toward blind children. We started off in the education center 
where our kids got to touch and learn about a snake, a baby alligator, 
animal bones and even some polar bear fur. We then walked through the 
park for a behind the scenes tour of the penguin exhibit. We spent a 
lot of time there learning about the care and feeding of the penguins 
complete with sanitary precautions for the penguins, scheduling light 
simulation, etc. Our families got to touch and take photos with two 
very different penguins. Upon entering the shark exhibit, we got to 
touch some baby sharks and continued to learn, learn, learn! All this 
took about an hour and a half. Our families got to spend the rest of 
the day at the park where some of our kids rode a roller coaster for 
the first time. We had 28 people attend with two families having never 
visited SeaWorld previously.

All in all, it was a fabulously stupendous convention! FOPBC and NFBF 
are working together to change what it means to be blind for Florida 
children.  WE ROCK!

Lenora J. Marten, President
Florida Organization of Parents of Blind Children
NFB-Jacksonville Chapter Secretary
Chairperson, FSDB/PAC
bluegolfshoes at aol.com
904-777-5976 / 904-229-9554
www.raceforindependence/goto/fopbc