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The New Jersey Council of the Blind

CHRONICLE

July, 2006

This publication is edited by the members of The New Jersey Council of the Blind and available on standard speed cassette tape, 3.5 inch diskettes, in large print and e-mail.

As a result of support from the Lions Club, Housing and United Services now donates the materials, duplicates and sends out the cassette and large print versions of the Chronicle. We thank both organizations for their generosity. Cassette tapes, diskettes, e-mail or large print copies are sent free to members. A fee of $5 per year is requested for non-members. E-mail copies will be sent free to anyone upon request. Cassette tapes are yours to keep.

You may consider including us in your last will and testament or donating gifts in memory of a loved one.

Please send any articles, request for change in format or tax deductible donations to: NJCB c/o Robert Lucas, 520 Ewingville Rd., Ewing, NJ 08638, e-mail to Ottilie@verizon.net, fax (609) 882-5416 or call (609) 882-2446. In order to have your article in the next issue; it must be received by September 1st.

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MEETING NOTICE

The next quarterly meeting of NJCB will be hosted by The New Jersey Blind Citizens' Association (BCA) at Camp Happiness on Saturday, July 22, 2006. A picnic lunch will be served at 12 Noon; the meeting will begin at 1 PM and be over at about 4 PM.

In order for them to prepare enough food call the BCA office at (732) 291-0878 by July 14th to let them know that you are coming. One person from each organization can call with a group count. We are looking forward to seeing you there.

Directions:

Take Route 36 to Leonardo, New Jersey in northern Monmouth County.

Turn toward the shore onto Leonard Avenue in Leonardo, NJ. Turn right onto Burlington Avenue. The meeting will be on the right starting at the picnic grounds at Camp Happiness.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

By Lauren Casey

Hello All! Our next quarterly meeting will be held on Saturday, July 22nd at Camp Happiness in Leonardo. This meeting is being hosted by the BCA who will be providing lunch starting at 12 noon. Immediately following lunch we have a special presentation by Susan Vanino from the Adjustment to Vision Loss Project. Our business meeting will begin after her short presentation and run until 4 P.M.

The NJCB Exec Board meeting will be a phone conference call held prior to the July 22nd business meeting.

More details and directions to the July 22nd meeting are available in another article in this issue.

Enjoy your summer everyone!

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REVISION TO THE NJCB CONSTITUTION

Included in this issue of the NJCB Chronicle is a copy of the proposed revision of the NJCB Constitution and Bylaws. Please read it over and come to the July 22nd meeting ready to discuss it and vote on accepting it. There have been many word changes to change the inconsistencies in language. We have also dropped the office of Corresponding Secretary since most committees send their own correspondences.

If you have any questions, call President Lauren Casey, Bill Dougherty, Jim Dougherty or Ottilie Lucas. Come to the meeting ready to vote on this confirmation.

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2006 CONVENTION PREVIEW

"Save the Date"

The 2006 Annual Convention of the New Jersey Council of the Blind will be held at the Clarion Hotel/Palmer Inn in Princeton on Friday and Saturday, October 27 and 28, 2006. The theme will be "Transition". We have many exhibitors already signed up. MAVIS and other activities will be featured on Friday evening tentatively from 6 :30 to 9 PM. Saturday will begin at 8:30 AM with exhibits and a continental breakfast followed by speakers, workshops, a luncheon and concluded with an NJCB business meeting and election of new officers. The program will conclude by 5:30 PM.

The cost of the breakfast and luncheon banquet will be only $25.00 and registration will be $15.00. The meal choices are Chicken Francaise or Beef Sirloin Tips. Fill out the registration form at the end of this newsletter and return it to Frank and Joyce Schack by October 10th. We will have lots of door prizes, raffles and other fun events. If you would like to stay overnight, make your reservations directly with the hotel. Reservation information is on the registration form.

Door prizes donated by chapters, merchants and individuals are appreciated. Please make sure to get them to Frank and Joyce Schack during registration.

Watch for more details and directions in the October Chronicle but register soon.

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BATTER UP

CBVI, NJCB and other interested groups are sponsoring a baseball game at the Waterfront Park in Trenton. The tickets will cost $9.00 for a seat behind home plate. There will be young blind students honored before the game and The National Anthem will be sung by a blind person. A "Bobble Head Doll" will be given to the first 1000 arrivals.

Game Date: Wednesday, August, 23, 2006

Time: 6:30 for opening events

Place: Waterfront Park

One Thunder Road

Trenton, NJ 08611

Phone: (609)-394-3300

Make your check payable to NJCB, $9.00 per person

Send to Robert Lucas, Treasurer NJCB

520 Ewingville Road

Ewing, NJ 08638

We need to place our ticket order on or before July 25th. Before July 25th you may see Bob Lucas at the July 15th MCAB picnic or the quarterly meeting on July 22nd at Camp Happiness.

Please be sure to tell him the number of tickets you want, your name, your address and your phone number so that we can make arrangements to get your tickets to you.

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COME TO THE MCAB PICNIC

The Mercer County Association of the Blind's picnic will be at the Lucas' on Saturday, July 15, 2006. There is always lots of homemade food, "Music by Ira" and lots of laughs. Let Bob or Ottilie know if you would like to come. Call: (609) 882-2446 or e-mail Ottilie@verizon.net before July 5th.

Date: Saturday, July 15

Time: 12 PM to about 5 PM.

Cost: $5.00 for non MCAB members

Place: 520 Ewingville Rd., Ewing, NJ 08638, (609) 882-2446. (Cross Street is Pennington Road.)

Directions:

Get onto Route 95 heading south. (From Route 1 south in Lawrenceville, from Route 295 heading north or Route 195 heading west to Route 295 north)

Get off at Exit #4 making a left turn onto Pennington Road (Route 31 South toward Ewing)

Turn left at the second traffic light, (Upper Ferry Road on right and Ewingville Road on Left)

The Lucas' house is the first house on the left just past the 7-11 on the corner. The driveway is opposite the Village Hardware Store.

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FYI

NJBCA/Camp Happiness is selling beautiful hardbound cookbooks containing approximately 160 recipes, many from our blind members. Proceeds will support the fine arts program for the blind, which is the most popular (and expensive) program at Camp Happiness. Please support this fundraising effort. It is a great gift idea or Christmas present. Send $10.00 to NJBCA, 18 Burlington Ave., Leonardo, NJ 07737. Contact Doug Scott for additional info at 732-291-0878. THANK YOU.

BIG.com. Submitted by Carl Augusto

One of my colleagues was doing a little web research earlier today when she happened upon Big.com

LINK: www.big.com

It is a search engine with "the most readable results on the web." literally. There is no squinting or straining to read small type when you're on the site. I hear the design is clean (somewhat Google-like) and the font size is large to begin with, with the option to make it bigger. This is a great find for people with vision loss. The site also offers a Big.com toolbar

LINK: http://www.big.com/toolbar/

you can download, which enables you to enlarge everything on a page. Check it out and let us know what you think.

2006 Summer Reading Club at the NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped. Children of all ages who like animals, either the cute, fluffy kind or the creepy, scary kind like Stephen King's dog Cujo are invited to join the NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped's 2006 Summer Reading Club!

This year's theme is Paws, Claws, Scales & Tales for the younger readers & Creature Feature for the older readers.

The reading program begins Friday, June 30 and continues until August 11, 2006 for 6 weeks. Registration packets will be sent out in June to give you time to sign up and select books to read in advance.

This is for children of all ages! Parents are encouraged to read to their children if they aren't old enough to read themselves. Siblings or friends can also be "reading buddies" and read to the child.

Participants will receive a list of books related to the theme for various grade levels and incentive gifts throughout the summer to encourage them to keep reading.

Readers must call Ms. Sharon Rawlins, head of Youth Services, throughout the summer to tell her which books they've read. Anyone who reads at least 1 book and talks to Ms. Rawlins about it, gets a chance to win a raffle prize to be pulled at the S-pet-acular Extravaganza on Saturday, August 19th.

Readers who read 6 books and then write an essay will get a chance to win a prize for their essay. The theme of the essay will ask the readers to imagine that they are a particular animal and ask them why they would choose to be that kind of animal.

Essay winners will then get the chance to participate in a raffle drawing for a wonderful grand prize. Last year, the grand prize winner won a trip for four to Disney World! This year's won't be Disney World but will be something closer to home.

The S-pet-acular Extravaganza & Award Ceremony will be on Saturday, August 19, 2006 (Rain Date Sunday, August 20, 2006) from 11 AM- 2 PM at NJLBH, 2300 Stuyvesant Ave. Trenton, NJ 08625. The ceremony will have food, fun & programs that include:

Registration forms and information packets will be sent out to any child registered with NJLBH at the end of June or check out the library's website at www.njlbh.org under Youth Services for more information.

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CHAPTER REPORTS

The ACBCNJ will hold its regular meeting from 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM the second Saturday of September and November at the Joseph Kohn Rehab Center, 130 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick. If you live in Middlesex County, please call David Zulli at (732) 985-3175 to arrange transportation. If you are coming from outside the county, the JKRC is Access Link Accessible, serviced by local busses or a $3 cab ride from the New Brunswick Train Station.

The Garden State Guide Dog Users met after the Friends of the Library meeting on June 10th. GSGDU, in conjunction with The Seeing Eye of Morristown is continuing to make the public aware of the danger of "pet Interference" to guide dog teams. Uncontrolled dogs jeopardize the safety of guide dog teams. Our members have taken this message to the schools, vets and community functions. Did you know that one-third of all guide dog teams are attacked by uncontrolled dogs. Even a playful puppy can interfere with guide dog teams. Our goal is to get the laws improved.

Mercer County Association of the Blind had a presentation by Contact of Mercer at our April meeting. Some of our members are participants in this program. Several of our members attended the quarterly NJCB meeting at the Library in April and the Elks dinner in May. Some of us went to Kean College on Monday, June 5th to testify in favor of CBVI remaining a separate agency serving blind people from cradle to grave. We are looking forward to the picnic at the Lucas' on July 15th. Our members wish everyone a great and enjoyable summer. Hope to see you at Camp Happiness on July 22nd.

Monmouth County Association for the Blind meeting information:

  1. On the second Monday of each month, we meet at 3401 Belmar Blvd in Wall, NJ for our business meetings. We serve dinner to our members at 6pm and the meeting lasts until approximately 8:30pm. These meetings are run from September through June every year. Our June meeting usually takes place at the Wall Municipal Building on New Bedford Road in Wall, NJ.
  2. Every Thursday from 12pm - 2pm we meet at 3401 Belmar Blvd in Wall, NJ for our social gatherings. We provide club members with a nice lunch, and we have fun. We sometimes play games, or listen to movies - or just talk and enjoy each other's company.

Please contact Elizabeth Walzer, whose phone number is 732-492-6927 and e-mail address is todaydreem@yahoo.com.

NJ Blind Citizens Assoc / Camp Happiness. The NJBCA continues to forge ahead with new programs and projects. The exterior painting and repair of the summer vacation home for the blind has been completed. This $7,000 project was completely funded by the Atlantic Highlands Lions Club.

The installation of a handicapped accessible restroom, and renovation of the two other restrooms in the day program building is underway. The accessible restroom will be completed in May. Major funding was provided by the Saddle River Lions Club. The job development program has been so well received that it is now operating on a weekly basis. NJBCA, working with the NJCBVI, now hosts eight blind/visually impaired job-seekers, three with master's degrees.

Financial constraints, and a huge increase in applications for the summer program due to the closing of Diamond Spring Lodge's summer program, will preclude the NJBCA from providing free summer vacations to everyone who has applied. Funding is being sought to address this issue. Please call director Doug Scott with any questions or suggestions at (732) 291-0878.

NJBCA also invites NJCB members to the summer quarterly meeting on July 22nd. See the meeting notice and directions for more information. Call the camp at 732-291-0878 for reservations.

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MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Saturday, July 15, 2006: Mercer CAB Picnic from 12 noon to 5 PM at the Lucas'. See prior article for more details and directions.

Saturday, July 22, 2006: NJCB Quarterly Meeting at Camp Happiness. See prior article for more details and directions.

Saturday, September 9, 2006: ACBCNJ meeting at JKRC. See Chapter Reports for more information.

Thursday, September 21, 2006: Mercer County Association of the Blind monthly meeting at 7:30 PM at the Trinity United Methodist Church at 1985 Pennington Road in Ewing.

Thursday, October 19, 2006: Mercer County Association of the Blind monthly meeting. See above announcement.

Friday & Saturday, October 27 & 28, 2006: NJCB Annual Convention at the Clarion Hotel/Palmer Inn in Princeton. See Prior article and Registration Form at the end of this issue.

Saturday, November 11, 2006: ACBCNJ meeting at JKRC. See Chapter Reports for more information.

Saturday, December 2, 2006: The Friends of the Library meeting at LBH, 2300 Stuyvesant Ave., Trenton from 10 AM to 1 PM.

Saturday, December 2, 2006: Garden State Guide Dog Users meeting at the LBH after the Friend's meeting until 3 PM.

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Remember that the Chronicle is your news bulletin. It can be only as good as you make it. We need information from our chapters, from individuals and from agencies and other outside groups and organizations, which serve the blind and visually impaired. If you have anything to submit, please mail it to Ottilie Lucas, 520 Ewingville Rd., Ewing, NJ 08638 or E-mail to Ottilie@verizon.net by September 1st.

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NOTE: Disclaimer. The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of the New Jersey Council of the Blind officers and/or members. The editor reserves the right to edit articles submitted for both space and content.

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The officers of the New Jersey Council of the Blind are: President-Lauren Casey of 153 Franklin Corner Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, (609) 912-0657; First Vice President- Tom Jackson of 1001 Mariner Ave., Manahawkin, NJ 08050, (609) 597-8965; Second Vice President- Ottilie Lucas of 520 Ewingville Road, Ewing, NJ 08638, (609) 882-2446; Recording Secretary- Barbara Mayo of 59 Soloff Drive, Hamilton, NJ 08610, (609) 888-5702; Corresponding Secretary- April Porter of, 1215 Silver Ct. Hamilton Square, NJ 08690, (609) 586-3689; and Treasurer- Robert Lucas of 520 Ewingville Rd., Ewing, NJ 08638, (609) 882-2446.

 

CONVENTION REGISTRATION FORM

Date: Friday & Saturday October 27 & 28, 2006 on Friday from approximately 6:30 PM to 9 PM and Saturday from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM.

Place: The Clarion Hotel/Palmer Inn at 3499 Route 1 South, Princeton, NJ

Phone: (609) 452-2500.

Cost: $25.00 for Continental Breakfast and Luncheon Banquet and $15.00 for registration

Rooms: Make reservations directly through the hotel. The rates are $79.99 per night. Let them know that you are with NJCB.

Fill out the form below and send before October 10th to Frank Schack ,259 Rossiter Ave., Paterson, NJ 07502 and make check payable to The New Jersey Council of the Blind, Inc.

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Name:

Address:

Phone:

Chapter:

Voting Member___, Non-voting Member ___

or Non-member ___

I would like my program in Braille ___ Large Print ___ or Regular Print ___

Registration: $15.00

Continental Breakfast and Luncheon Banquet: $25.00

Chicken Francaise____ or Beef Sirloin Tips____

Total: $40.00.