[Nfbf-l] FOPBC State Convention Happenings

Sun Jun 6 14:23:36 UTC 2010

what a detailed report it was interesting.
Joe Minichiello, Second Vice President
National Federation of the Blind of Florida
President, Greater Jacksonville Chapter
904-608-0105
jbmini at comcast.net
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lenora J. Marten" <bluegolfshoes at aol.com>
To: <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>; <nfbfjax at comcast.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 9:55 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 brailled 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
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