News from Minnesota
The ACB of Minnesota will hold its convention Oct. 20-21, 2001 at the Millennium Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. If you’re coming to the Closing the Gap conference, you might want to stay an extra day or two for the convention. For more information, call Jim Olsen at (800) 866-3242.
NELDS Holds Drawing for Free Transportation to 2002 Convention in Houston
Always thinking ahead, NELDS (National Educational and Legal Defense Services) is selling raffle tickets for use at the 2002 convention in Houston. The first prize is two round trip airfare tickets from your city to Houston. The tickets must cover a Saturday night stay. The second prize is a room at the Adam’s Mark for five nights including applicable taxes; and the third prize is two tickets to the ACB banquet which will be held the last Friday of the convention. The cost of each ticket is just $5.
If you want to buy a ticket, feel free to send your money to me, Donna Seliger, at 3912 SE 5th Street, Des Moines, IA 50315. The drawing will occur at the mid-year meetings in Houston. Just think, one $5 ticket could get you to Houston and back!
New Affiliate!
At this year’s convention, a small but enthusiastic group of folks met over lunch to revitalize and reorganize the social service providers affiliate. As things turned out, it made more sense to create an entirely new affiliate, and so ACB’s newest special interest affiliate will be ACB Human Service Professionals (ACBHSP), and in its new form, we hope we have expanded the scope of the affiliate to include a variety of professions that can loosely be classified as providing “human services.” Represented at our luncheon in Des Moines were teachers, social workers, counselors, psychologists, diversity and ADA coordinators. There are a number of disability service and social service professions which would also fit within this structure.
The focus of our affiliate is to address the issues we face as blind people in these professions. We hope to collaborate with other special interest affiliates such as NABS, NABT and NAPVI to create some good programs for future conventions and to pursue mutual goals.
To learn more about us and to be a part of this new venture, join our listserv by sending a message to majordomo@listserv.olemiss.edu. Leave the subject line blank; in the body of the message type subscribe acbhsp.
You should then receive an automated welcome message with instructions on how to post to the list. If you have any problems subscribing or want to ask more questions, you can contact Donna Smith at: ccddfs@earthlink.net.
Low Country Chapter of VIVA
There’s a new group in South Carolina: the South Carolina Low Country Chapter of Visually Impaired Veterans of America. This is a group of veterans that wants to help other veterans.
In the Charleston area, 40 percent of the homeless people are veterans. SCLC-VIVA makes hygiene kits for these veterans, as well as refurbishes, upgrades and installs programs into older computers donated by people who longer need them, and trains legally blind veterans to use them.
The group has also taken tours of the Charleston Air Force Base and a C-17 cargo plane, visited the South Carolina Aquarium, enjoyed a Riverdog baseball game or two, and enjoyed a picnic at the Air Force base picnic grounds.
SCLC-VIVA and the ACB of South Carolina will hold a convention Nov. 2-4, 2001 at the Airport Holiday Inn in Charleston. SCLC-VIVA holds monthly meetings over breakfast the second Saturday of the month at Nathan’s Deli, Ashley River Road and Sam Rittenberg Boulevard. For more information, write or call Don Kopp, 134 Toura Lane, Charleston, SC 29414; phone (843) 763-0785.