The New Jersey Council of the Blind’s mission is to strive for the betterment of the blind and visually impaired community. The purpose of this publication is to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas, opinions and matters that concern blind and visually impaired people.
We thank Audiovision, the Radio Reading Service of the New Jersey State Library Talking Book and Braille Center for the use of their recording studio to produce the cassette and digital formats that are aired on Audiovision and our website http://www.njcounciloftheblind.org. For more information about Audiovision call 1-800-792-8322 or visit their website at http://www.audiovision-nj.org. We thank John Hart of Audiovision and our webmaster, Dave Casterline for their contributions to the Chronicle. The NJCB Chronicle is also available on Newsline. The Chronicle is read by Bob Lucas. Four quarterly newsletters are sent to members free of charge in either large print, audio cassette or E-mail. You may obtain the current and back issues of the Chronicle and other information from our web site.
The New Jersey Council of the Blind (NJCB) is a 501 (c) 3 corporation. Tax deductible donations should be sent to the Treasurer of NJCB.
Articles to be included in the NJCB Chronicle, requests for copies of the newsletter or membership information should be sent to NJCB, 520 Ewingville Road, Ewing, NJ 08638. They may also be e-mailed to njcounciloftheblind@verizon.net or phoned to (609) 882-2446. All information must be received by December 1st to be included in the next issue of the Chronicle.
The NJCB officers are: President, Larry Morgan, 53 Pollman Ave., Hamilton, NJ 08619, (609) 588-5012; First Vice President Frank Schack (973) 595-0116; Second Vice President Joyce Sowa (732) 596-9675; Secretary Ottilie Lucas (609) 882-2446 and Treasurer Bob Lucas, 520 Ewingville Road, Ewing, NJ 08638, (609) 882-2446.
The Biennial Conference of the NJ Council of the Blind will be held on Saturday, October 25, 2014 at The Grace Lutheran Church at 600 New Brunswick Avenue in Perth Amboy, NJ 08861. The cross street is Convery Blvd.
The day will begin with a continental breakfast at 9:30 AM. The morning will consist of a business meeting with election of officers and presentations from Daniel Frye, Executive Director of The Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired and Adam Szczepaniak, Director of the NJ State Library Talking Book and Braille Center. We will have a sandwich and salad luncheon topped off with a presentation by our Keynote Speaker, NJ Assemblyman Daniel Benson, who will explain his part in the passage of Dusty’s Law. The afternoon will have speakers on topics such as identity theft, John Walsh and John Sroczynski on The CBVI Strategic Plan, a discussion on “How do we travel” with an article by Vito DeSantis, Past Executive Director of CBVI and finally a talk by our out-going President, Larry Morgan. The afternoon will be over by 5:00 PM.
A registration form is included in this issue. Get it in by October 15th in order to register. Hope to see you there!
Grace Lutheran Church
600 New Brunswick Ave.
Perth Amboy, NJ 08861
Cross Street: Convery Blvd.
Larry Morgan, President, NJCB
Hello again everyone. Well, summer is behind us and now we need to start thinking about the coming holidays and our Fall Conference. All of you should consider coming to this one. It will be very informative and will cover a good variety of topics. The new Executive Director of CBVI will talk about his first year as Director as well as the new goals set by the agency. The Director of the Talking Book and Braille Center will share with us the latest library updates. A state legislator will discuss Dusty’s Law. Our “How Do You Do It?” discussion topic will be travel for trips, vacations, etc. This is a topic that will be of interest to all of us. As of this writing, we are trying to finalize some additional topics that will be of interest to you. The charge this year’s Conference will be $30. It is $15 for lunch and $15 for registration. Please let us know if you plan to attend and your lunch choice.
During the last two years I have had the opportunity to serve as your President and I would like to thank my fellow officers, the board of directors and committee people who worked so hard to make this association a success. I will surely miss being part of this fine organization. I would like to close out this message with the words Casey Kasem used in closing his radio show, “Keep your feet on the ground and reach for the stars.”
Best to all, Larry Morgan.
In order to make the NJCB Conference on October 25th more fun, donate door prizes. Our chapters always donate cash prizes and we thank them in advance.
Give them to Joyce or Frank Schack when you arrive at the Conference. Names will be drawn through the day at the beginning and end of each section. You must be in the room to win.
Thank you in advance.
It is that time again. Please submit your chapter membership lists including members’ names, addresses, phone numbers, vision status (fully sighted, vision impaired, legally blind or totally blind),format for ACB Braille Forum (E-mail, Braille, half speed 4 track cassette, CD, LP or none), NJCB Chronicle format (E-mail, standard speed cassette, LP or none). The newsletters as well as a great deal of other information are available on their web sites.
www.acb.org and www.njcounciloftheblind.org
The cost remains at $6.50 for each chapter voting member.
We also appreciate all Members at Large $10.00 check for their dues with above information to be sent to our present Treasurer, Bob Lucas at 520 Ewingville Road, Ewing, NJ, 08638.
The E-mail format is very much appreciated by both ACB and NJCB since it is the most cost efficient form of publication.
Consider Newsline for another format since it is accessible by the phone for those who no longer have cassette players and for those who do not have computers and cannot access the web or E-mail. If you do not have a Newsline subscription, contact Reader Services at the New Jersey Talking Book and Braille Center at 1-800-792-8322 to get signed up for a Newsline subscription.
Jean Cannella, chairperson of the nominating Committee gave the slate of proposed officers at our July 26th meeting. Others serving on this committee were Ed Fedush and Doug Heine. The election of officers will be during the business meeting at our biennial conference on October 25th.
The slate is as follows: President, Ottilie Lucas; First Vice President, Frank Schack; Second Vice President, Joyce Sowa; Secretary, Bob Lucas and Treasurer, Bernie Zuckerman. The three board Members at Large will be appointed by the newly elected president and announced in the January issue of the NJCB Chronicle.
Nominations may be made from the floor at the time of the election. Anyone who is nominated at this time must be asked in advance and agree to run.
Following are excerpts from NJSLTBBC’s newsletter INSIGHT, Summer, 2014 issue.
Read INSIGHT to get much more information regarding other services. Contact Information:
Toll-Free Phone Number (800) 792-8322
Local Phone Number (609) 406-7179
Email Address: tbbc@njstatelib.org
Web Site Address: http://www.njstatelib.org/tbbc
We had some great ideas shared by our members at our July 26th quarterly meeting at Camp Happiness. Here are the suggestions shared by our members.
Hello, I wanted to compliment you on the terrific article posted on your website about emergency preparedness for the blind. As mentioned in your article, it is crucial to have 72 hours of emergency supplies on hand. This is important because there is no guarantee that help will be readily available immediately after a disaster.
GrabPak manufactures a unique line of emergency preparedness and first aid kits for the blind. Our kits are equipped with Braille labeling on each item and are available in a variety of options. Our Braille and large print kits have been warmly received by the vision impaired community and we work closely with many organizations including associations for the blind and state, county and city emergency services departments. I welcome you to visit our website at www.grabpak.com or call 800-620-4199 for more information.
Thank you,
David Fisher
Director of Operations
Computers for the Blind, formerly known as Texas Center for the Visually Challenged, will provide working Windows 7 computers with usable speech and magnification software for $150. If you are on SSI, the cost is $20. Their web address is
http://www.computersfortheblind.net/index-2.html
Their contact information is:
Computers for the Blind
3101 High Plateau
Garland, Texas 75044
(214) 340-6328
Mercer County Association of the Blind. We had a summer with sadness and fun. A member, Susan Abolins and Karen, the daughter of a member, Pat Marcattilio, passed away in July. Our condolences go to Jon, Susan’s husband and Pat.
We had six members attend the ACB annual Conference and Convention in Las Vegas. We all had a fun time and learned lots. For more details check out www.ACB.org or ACB Radio or The Braille Forum. Eleven of us went to the NJCB Quarterly meeting at Camp Happiness. They served a delicious lunch and we heard important information that keeps us up on blindness issues.
About 55 MCAB members, relatives, friends and Elks enjoyed our annual summer picnic at the Elks Lodge in Ewing. The Elks are gracious hosts and have a fantastic facility for this event.
We also had a birthday picnic at the Lucases on July 5th for the members whose birthdays are between May 1st and October 31st. We enjoyed all of these picnics. One thing we can agree on is that we all enjoy good food.
We hope that you will register for our Biennial Conference at the Grace Lutheran Church on October 25th.
Our nominating committee is hard at work to get a new slate of officers for the election in November to run for the next two years. Our Recording Secretary Susan Yochim has moved to Florida. We also will be losing Larry and Marcia Morgan who will be moving to Delaware in October. Larry is the President of NJCB and the Treasurer of MCAB. Marcia has headed up the Refreshment Committee, been the Corresponding Secretary and volunteered whenever needed. We will miss them very much. Florida’s and Delaware’s gain is New Jersey’s great loss. Until then, keep well! Ottilie Lucas, President.
New Jersey Blind Citizens Association. We have been busy here at New Jersey Blind Citizens Association. For 6 weeks, we have partnered with Meridian Health to bring a Take Control of your Health wellness program. It has been well received. In the near future, we will be having speakers on various topics such as heart disease, diabetes, nutrition and sleep. There are also three therapy dogs visits scheduled.
We will be attending two free concerts at the PNC Arts Center in September, and will have a program on chocolate.
On Saturday, September 20, our Ladies Auxiliary will be having their spaghetti dinner fundraiser, to benefit NJBCA. These ladies work tirelessly, trying to raise funds to support the programs and outings for our participants.
Saturday, October 11, the NJBCA will be co-hosting a Car Show and Motorcycle meet at the Middletown Shopping center.
For those who are unaware, we have a CCTV loan program. To qualify, you must be referred to us by the CBVI, TBBC or a private ophthalmologist with documentation of your visual acuity and need. We also accept donations of new or used CCTV’s, or other visual aid/magnification equipment.
For more information on these or any of our other events, please visit www.njbca.org or our Facebook page- New Jersey Blind Citizens. If you are aware of anyone in the Monmouth County or upper Ocean County area who might be interested in attending our day programs, please have them call the office at 732-291-0878.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014: TBBC open house from 11 AM to 2 PM. Details are in a prior article.
Saturday, October 25, 2014: The Biennial Conference of NJCB will be held at Grace Lutheran Church in Perth Amboy. A registration form is at the end of this newsletter.
Saturday, December 6, 2014: Friends of the Library for the Blind meeting at NJTC in New Brunswick.
Saturday, January 24, 2015: Quarterly meeting of NJCB. Location will be announced in the January issue of the NJCB Chronicle.
Saturday, April 25, 2015: Quarterly meeting of NJCB.
Saturday, June 6, 2015: Friends of the Library for the Blind meeting at NJTC in New Brunswick.
Saturday, July 25, 2015: Quarterly meeting of NJCB.
Saturday, October 24, 2015: Quarterly meeting of NJCB.
Name:
Address:
Phone:
E-mail address:
I would like my program in Braille ___ Large Print ___ or Cassette___
__ Roast Beef Sandwich
__ Turkey Sandwich
__ Italian Hoagie
__ Tuna Salad Sandwich
Any questions? Call (609) 882-2446.