THE BLIND MISSOURIAN
Winter-Spring, 2008

Table of Contents

Bringing Hope to Parents and Children: The National Federation of the Blind Presents Mission Believe by Shelia Wright 3

The Kick Off of Our Legislative Year 4

Where Faith, Hope and Charity Unite: One Person’s Reflection on Larry Polk by Gary Wunder 10

Missouri School for the Blind Braille Readers Are Leaders Kick Off by Jana Moynihan 12

Membership Seminar Benefits Chapter by Rita Lynch 16

Diary of an NFB Chapter Meet the Blind Month Coordinator by Jana Moynihan 17

Calendar of Events 26

Board of Directors

Chapter Presidents

Note to Readers

THE BLIND MISSOURIAN is the statewide magazine of the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri. It is published four or more times a year. It is read by those who are interested in all aspects of blindness.

Subscription rates are $5.00 a year. Because the fee does not cover costs, donations are encouraged and appreciated; Checks should be made out to The National Federation of the Blind of Missouri and sent to: Carol Coulter, Treasurer, at 1613 Blue Ridge, Columbia, MO 65202

Subscription requests, change of address notifications, and donations should be sent to Carol Coulter, copy submitted for consideration for publication or any questions about content should be directed to:

BRINGING HOPE TO PARENTS AND CHILDREN
THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND PRESENTS
MISSION BELIEVE

Many people we encounter still believe blindness is a tragedy, and it certainly can be if blind youth do not have the opportunity to dream, the encouragement to believe and the knowledge that blind people can become teachers, parents, lawyers, engineers, mechanics, computer programmers, doctors, scientists … You can help today’s blind youth discover that “The Sky’s the Limit” by passing on information about Mission Believe to parents you know who have middle school age kids. Information about Mission Believe and an on-line application is available at http://www.nfbmo.org.

We have received a $5000 Imagination Grant through the Jernigan Institute to partially fund this program and are seeking matching funds. Robin House is the Project Manager. Much thanks to her and the entire Steering Committee which includes Lisa Brandt, Debbi Head, Katie Juettner, Dan Keller, Dennis Miller, Carrie Modesitt, and Debbie Wunder for taking the lead on this innovative project. Thanks also goes to members of Transformers Unlimited, one of the NFBMO Apprentice Teams at the membership retreat last May, who pitched the idea for us to develop a program for middle school kids.

The Kick Off of Our Legislative Year

WHERE FAITH HOPE AND CHARITY UNITE
ONE PERSON’S REFLECTION ON LARRY POLK

When I was a young boy, the words President of the United States and John F. Kennedy were the same. I intend this to convey more than that John Kennedy was the current President, because for me there was no other President past or future. Certainly I had little history to work with in my reckoning of the world, but even today certain words are so associated with men and women that they become one for me. The name Larry Polk will be forever associated with faith, hope and action. This man built vehicles to travel the earth for his vocation, and concentrated on providing a vehicle for traveling to eternity as his avocation. His daily bread came from what he could do with his hands, but his spiritual sustenance came from delivering the good news of his Lord and Savior.

For many of us reading this newsletter, Larry was not our pastor but a friend we could turn to for many things, spiritual advice being high on the list. We knew him not only as a servant of God but also as a servant in a cause to improve the lives of the blind. Larry served by helping us get to meetings, by delivering products we had sold, and through his own example as a leader in any fund-raising projects we did. As servant and helper in an organization where the blind were supposed to run their own organization and speak for themselves, seldom did Larry seek center stage or try to determine the policies of the group he cared so much about. Still there were times when he knew that speaking out was the right thing for him and for us, and because his words were used sparingly and chosen with conviction and wisdom, when he spoke, he always had an attentive audience and his arguments, more often than not, won the day.

In our Federation we think of ourselves primarily as advocates for and consumers of services for the blind, but grudgingly we have learned that sometimes, to get the services we want and need, we have to show the way. Research and training of the blind desperately needs our philosophy about blindness, and so, to begin the 21st century, we set ourselves the task of building the world's first research and training institute built by, run by, and run for the blind. This effort, like so many human endeavors, called for the raising of money - a lot of money - money the amounts of which we had never seen or attempted to raise. This meant reaching out to people we didn't know and making what we came to call “the big ask”, but it also meant making our own personal commitment to demonstrate the importance of our vision. At our national convention individuals and affiliates were asked what they would pledge in this effort, and as members in the audience of 2,000 plus people rose to make their pledges, Larry came to ask me what Missouri was going to do. I told him Missouri had not met to make a decision about what we could afford to contribute, and Larry said, "I thought we elected you to lead. You say what we can afford and we'll find a way to do it. I want us to give our pledge tonight, and I'll start off by committing $2,500 to the effort." And so we made a pledge that night, one which we eventually exceeded thanks to the hard work of Larry, his wife Ruby, and many hundreds of Federationists around the country.

In our meetings we proudly announce the number of people we have registered or how many join us in our banquet, but we know that this number simply represents the bodies we have gathered and doesn't begin to credit those who join us in spirit. There is no gathering of the NFB in Missouri without John and Rhoda Dower, Bill and Jama Sims, Tiny and Wilbur Beedle, John and Louise Orick, Cotton and Marie Busby, DOC and Poly Salter, Carl Wyatt, Melvin Lewis, John Ford, Harvey Fisher, Larry Murphy, George and Gwen Rittgers, Billie Weaver, and now our dear and loving friend, Larry Polk. They, and many I have failed to remember and recognize, applaud when we achieve something for the blind, rejoice when we unite in love to take on the task, and whisper to us when we ask God for his support and guidance in our decisions and the work which springs from them. Larry, we promise to keep working, promise to keep striving, and promise to listen for that still small voice when we need counsel, wisdom, faith or encouragement.

Missouri School for the Blind
Braille Readers Are Leaders Kick off

One morning in early October, 2007, the NFB Coordinator for the Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest in Missouri, Ruby Polk, called my husband, Jim Moynihan, and I. She asked us if we would go to speak to students at the Missouri School for the blind in St. Louis, Missouri for the School’s Braille Readers Are Leaders kick-off assembly on October 22, 2007. Ruby indicated that she wanted to send someone who had been successfully employed and used Braille in their work. She wanted us to not only review the changes in this year’s contest with the students, but also explain to them how important Braille had been in our successful employment. We indicated to her that we would be proud to represent the NFB of Missouri in this way.

Jim and I thought for a moment. October 22 meant we would have to travel to St. Louis by train on Sunday the 21st. since the assembly would be at 10:00a.m. That was going to be a bit stressful. Jim was performing with the Kansas City Heart of America Barbershop Chorus that week-end in the Central States District competition.

However, we decided that we would go and talk with the students given the importance of the message to their future success in life. It also didn’t hurt that we would have a chance Sunday evening to spend some time with our son who lives in the St. Louis area.

We checked information on train schedules and found that we could catch a train leaving at 7:30a.m. On Sunday morning and be in St. Louis, barring delays, before 2:00 p.m. That would give us enough time for a good visit with our son. Our son found us a moderately priced hotel on-line. He lives in an area where taxi service is problematic going into the city. We were set except for finding a place to eat lunch following the assembly.

To obtain this information, we called an NFB friend from St. Louis, Dan Flasar. He not only suggested a place for lunch, but offered to join us. He said that he planned on attending the assembly himself. Not only that, but he would meet us at the train station and take us to our hotel on Sunday. This would save our son waiting an indeterminate amount of time at the station since Amtrak trains are notoriously late. We agreed to call him from the next stop before the station in down-town St. Louis.

We got up at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday morning and gulped down a room service breakfast since we were staying at a Kansas City hotel during the Barbershop competition. We took a cab to the Union Station and got on the train.

Our trip was enlivened by several Senior Citizens traveling in a group to Herman, Missouri for the October Fest. Finally, we arrived in St. Louis only a half an hour late.

True to his word, Dan was waiting at the station for us and took us to our hotel. Jim listened to the baseball play-off game while I rested. Then our son and his new girlfriend arrived to take us to dinner at a well-known Italian restaurant. The girl and the dinner were both very nice and we enjoyed seeing our boy.

Dan called Monday morning and said he would pick us up at the hotel to go to the School for the assembly. He arrived right on time.

When we arrived at the School, we met two other NFB members from the St. Louis area, Fran Benham and Fred Olver who were also going to attend the assembly. We were signed in at the office and met by the School Librarian, Mary Dingus. She explained what the School wanted us to talk about and showed us the library. Then we went to the auditorium for the assembly.

Ms. Dingus explained that only part of the School’s students would be at the assembly. She estimated that they had about 50 students in first through twelfth grade. Just before the assembly, we met Katie Kroon. She is also blind and is the School’s Braille teacher.

When the assembly began, we were introduced to the students. Jim spoke to the students about our background and, nature of our blindness, and our family. Then he told them how he had used Braille in his studies in sighted Catholic high school, college, and in his various jobs as teacher and investigator with Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education.

I talked to the students about the changes in this year’s Braille Readers Are Leaders contest and about how I used Braille as a person with a little usable vision in my studies and in my daily life. I told them that having books on tape is nice, but that they could only learn proper spelling, paragraphing, and punctuation through Braille, not through listening.

I also stressed the importance of learning Braille for those students who may have a little usable vision for reading print since Braille will be a more efficient and faster way for them to read and will save them the time of learning it later should they lose the rest of their vision.

Ms. Dingus graciously arranged a brief tour of the school for us following the assembly. Both she and Ms. Kroon expressed to us and later to Ruby Polk how glad they were to not only have people who had been successfully employed, but also a married couple who had successfully raised a family as their speakers.

Before leaving St. Louis, Dan and Fred Olver went with us to lunch and we passed an enjoyable couple of hours getting better acquainted. Dan took us to his home so Jim could change out of his suit for the train trip home. Then he took us to the train station.

Our trip home was uneventful except for the many stops to let long freight trains pass. What should have been a five hour trip took almost nine hours. Still, we were glad we went and hope we had some good influence on the students.

We thought the School’s method of encouraging students to participate is very interesting. Ms. Dingus and Ms. Kroon meet with the students once a week after school. They have a theme to the reading. This year it is the environment, both environmental stories and issues, and using Braille in their own environments every day. To ensure good attendance, they draw for a $5.00 prize each week among the students present. Wish my teachers had encouraged me like that!

Membership Seminar Benefits Chapter

I would like to share with all of you the success of the Membership Seminar that was held last August here in Jefferson City. The entire Chapter was involved and we had a good turnout of both guests and Federationists. We did gain a few new members and we were very pleased about this.

The organizing of the seminar did take some work but with everyone’s help it went very smoothly. After deciding on a date for the seminar and reserving a place to hold it, we then began the other planning including who to invite, and the agenda for the meeting. Thanks to the help provided by Alice Hebert a list of all the RSB referrals in this local area that had been received in the past couple years was compiled along with other possible interested persons. Invitations were mailed out and follow-up was done by phone. Literature was ordered from our National Office and assembled into packets for participants at the seminar. An agenda was put together and we were very pleased to have our State President, Gary Wunder, First Vice-President, Shelia Wright, and State Membership Chair, Debbie Wunder join us at the seminar and their presentations were very informative and motivating. Comments were made by the new attendees as the meeting came to an end that they did not know that NFB had been involved in so many programs that affect blind people. Several then submitted their dues indicating that they wanted and needed to be a part of the organization. The seminar was a good experience and a real success. I encourage other chapters to try this, as well and I know our State Membership Chair, Debbie Wunder and other leaders would be happy to help in any way we can.

Diary of an NFB Chapter
Meet the Blind Month Coordinator

Today, President Ruby Polk of the NFB, KC Chapter, called me and my husband, Jim Moynihan and asked us to chair the Chapter’s Meet the Blind Month Activities. We agreed after getting some idea of what was involved.

I began calling places south of the Missouri River in the area where Jim and I live to attempt to find somewhere where the Chapter might have a booth to pass out literature or to make presentations. President Polk had agreed to contact the places where we had presentations the previous year north of the Missouri River in the area where she lives. After a couple of weeks, we were able to line up several activities. I was now ready to call Mr. Lazarus at our Central Office in Baltimore who had been assigned to nationally coordinate the Meet the Blind Month Activities for the Federation.

While attempting to make the above contacts, I announced the kick off of Meet the Blind Month at the Kansas City NFB Chapter meeting. I asked all chapter members to attempt to arrange activities. They were to call me or Jim to let us know the time, date, and place of any activities they arranged and the amount of literature they might need.

I called Mr. Lazarus at our National Center to discuss the amount and kind of literature we would need and advise him of the activities we intended to do during meet the Blind Month. I found that he not only needed dates, and specifics about each activity, he also needed the exact place of each activity. After calling President Polk to get more specific information about the location of the activities she had scheduled north of the River, I called Mr. Lazarus back and found him most helpful in advising the amount and type of literature which might be best for each kind of activity. He surprised me by indicating that, at the same time the National Center was preparing to send out Meet the blind Month literature, it had become necessary to close the Materials Center which provided the literature for inventory of materials for almost a week. Therefore, nothing would be shipped during this period.

Since it was now almost the middle of September, I expressed some concern since we had two activities planned for October 5, and 6, where we would be passing out a large amount of literature. Mr. Lazarus indicated that the National Office had extended the deadline for ordering literature by a week. In addition, he agreed to send enough literature to meet our needs on October 5, and 6, by UPS instead of the normal procedure of sending it Free Matter by the Post Office. I gave a big sigh of relief when he told me it should be here within the week.

On Friday of last week, one box of literature arrived via UPS, but we were expecting another box. That arrived on Monday, also UPS and delivered right to our front door. I wasn’t expecting any other shipments for another few days as I supposed they would experience some delay coming Free Matter. Tuesday it began to pour down rain in the morning and continued into the night.

Imagine my horror this morning (Wednesday) when the handyman we had hired to paint the woodwork and ceiling on our enclosed side porch called me outside to show me a huge pile of soaking wet boxes dumped outside the door of our side porch. Was all that literature ruined? How were we to get more before the October 5, and 6, activities?

Jim, the handyman, and I carried the boxes down to our basement. I didn’t want to put them on our carpets or floors upstairs since they were very wet. I began opening boxes and sorting literature. As it turned out, the boxes were fortunately sturdy. Only the top and bottom layers of literature were soaking wet.

We skimmed off the bottom and top layers of wet literature and spread the rest out to dry out the dampness. We had NFB Kernel Books and literature spread over every flat surface and floor of our house not commonly used. Thank god! Our kids had moved out or were in college. We also put the boxes not so badly damaged that they couldn’t be used in our daughter’s room and on the porch to dry under ceiling fans. All this took about a week.

On a very rainy Tuesday, President Polk and her husband, Larry, arrived to pick up the needed literature for the activities north of the river.

On Friday, October 5, 2007, Jim and I and Barbara Briggs, a Chapter member who had volunteered to help, arrived at the Cosentino’s Price Chopper Super Market on 63rd & Brookside in Kansas City, Missouri to hand out literature. This is the store where we and several other blind persons in the neighborhood shop. I had spoken with the manager on duty during one of my shopping trips about having a table to hand out literature outside the store. He had agreed to this as long as we didn’t sell anything.

The store was most accommodating. They offered to provide a table, but we had brought a card table. They apologized for not having the room to have us inside since it had turned out hotter than expected, but they were having a big sale and didn’t have space inside. They moved us to the side under a covered entrance of the store.

We worked from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. handing out literature and Kernel books. We estimated passing out at least a case of Kernel Books and considerable additional literature. In addition to the Kernel books, we had Voice of the Diabetic, What Is the national Federation of the Blind, information on News Line, and several other titles. Jim and Barbara worked until about 1:30 p.m. when Dave Hutchens, another Chapter member, came to relieve them. Dave and I worked until 5:00p.m.

If we do this again next year, I believe that limiting it to three or four hours would be sufficient. We were fortunate that Friday was a high traffic day. Several people took literature, preferring the Kernel Books. A few asked questions about blindness or wanted further information for blind friends or relatives. Much to our amusement, one lady refused to take any literature from Barbara and Jim when she saw the picture of George Bush on the cover of the Summit Kernel book along with Erich Weinmeier, the blind man who climbed Mount Everest. Nothing they could say would convince her we weren’t passing out literature to support President Bush. You can’t win them all.

On October 6, 2007, President Polk, State First vice President, Shelia Wright, and Chapter Treasurer, Jeremiah Wells, manned a booth during a Safety day at a Wal-Mart store north of the river. They sold M&Ms as a fund raiser and passed out a considerable amount of NFB literature and Kernel books. People seemed interested and glad to get the materials. They gave personalized Braille Alphabet Cards to the children and any adults who wanted them.

On October 12, 2007, Jim and I gave an hour presentation to residents of the Manor Homes Senior citizen’s Community at 81st and Wornall in Kansas City, Missouri. I arranged this by contacting friends of our family, the Reverend Keith Klockau and his wife, Charlotte, and residents of the community. I asked if they could get the head of the Community to allow us to come and talk to the residents. Keith and charlotte called me back within a few days and said that they had arranged it. Charlotte brought over a notice which they planned to post to attract people to the meeting for our approval. It was very good. On the appointed afternoon, Keith came to pick us up. We brought plenty of literature which we thought would be helpful to persons needing to know about blindness and to seniors and diabetics in particular. We also brought a case of Kernel Books. Jim and I talked about the causes of blindness among older adults, and of how the numbers of seniors with visual problems and blindness would increase as the Baby Boomers aged. We indicated that their lives would not end or be extremely limited if they lost most or all of their vision. We explained several alternative techniques and services to allow them to continue doing many of the things they have enjoyed for years and continue living independently. We took some questions and Keith and Charlotte put out literature which we left for anyone interested in having it. We were well received. In handing out literature, I developed a list of local and State agencies and our local Chapter and State Affiliate information to be given out with the Federation literature.

Saturday, October 13, 2007, was supposed to be the date of our joint White Cain Walk with members of some of the local Kansas Chapters in the Metropolitan Kansas city Area. The plan was for a 5K walk followed by our Chapter picnic at the main shelter house in Loose Park, Kansas City, Missouri. There were prizes for the people who raised the most, and for other categories. The prizes were donated by local businesses and restaurants or hotels. There was also to have been an auction of a few special items. Shelia Wright has successfully organized this activity for the last several years. As we were preparing to head out for the Park, thunder rolled and lightning blazed across a sky almost as dark as night. Rain poured down in sheets blown by a strong wind. The forecast said this would last all day. We were disappointed, but not surprised, when Shelia called to say the event had been canceled for safety reasons. No one wants to be struck by lightning..

After much discussion, the Walk and our picnic was rescheduled for October 28, at Tower Park, also in Kansas City, Missouri. Unfortunately, some members had other commitments by that time and were unable to participate, but approximately $800.00 was raised for our State Affiliate and the public driving along Homes and 75th Street, both very busy streets, definitely saw our members walking with canes and enjoying the picnic.

During October, President Polk coached her 10-year-old granddaughter, Ashley Geddins, so she could make a presentation on Braille to her Girl Scout troop. She made the presentation to about 20 other girls and handed out Braille alphabet cards. The Troop leader told the girls that she would have a treat on the following week for any girl who could translate the Braille for the phrase on the card which does not have a print translation.

On October 18, and October 25, 2007, we had an opportunity to have booths at two Senior Citizens Health Fairs in Platte County, Missouri. However, we were unable to staff these booths but some public recognition was obtained.

During the week I took three cases of Kernel Books to the Main Kansas City, Missouri Public Library. Ms. Sue Sanders, who works with our chapter in scheduling meeting rooms at the various public libraries in the city, had agreed to distribute the books to the various branch libraries to be given free to anyone who wanted them. To ensure wide selection, I mixed the cases before taking them.

President Polk and Chapter member Shirley Grauel manned a booth back at the Wal-Mart store in Kansas City North. It was the store’s Halloween Festival. President Polk and Shirley were asked to come in Halloween costume. They also brought a large bowl of wrapped candy to attract the children attending the event. They gave out candy to the children and Braille Alphabet Cards. Since the parents wanted to see what their children were getting, most of them came over, too. Many asked questions and took other literature.

On November 17, 2007, I wrapped up our Meet the blind Month Activities by giving a report at our Chapter meeting. I distributed Kernel Books and literature to any member who felt they could distribute it to members of their Church, doctors, friends, or others. We reminded them that educating the public isn’t just for one month a year, but an on-going individual or Chapter activity.

Personally, I have given Kernel Books to my handyman, cleaning ladies, doctors, and any one else I can think of.

Here are a few recommendations I have after considering the activities of the last few months. Hopefully, they will be helpful for other chapters and for our chapter next year.

Calendar of Events

Board of Directors
National Federation of the Blind of Missouri

Chapter Presidents

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