American Council of the Blind 62nd Annual Conference and Convention
7/6/2023 8:00 PM

CONFIDENTIAL ROUGHLY EDITED REALTIME FILE
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REALTIME FILE

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This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communications Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.
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>> Mic check. One, two. Check, check, mic check, one, two.
Mic check, one, two. Check, check.
Check, check, mic check, one, two.
Check, check. Mic check.
Check, check, mic check, one, two. Check, check, mic check, one, two. Mic check, one, two. Check, check. Check, check, Mic check, one, two. Check, check, Mic check, one, two.
Check, check. Ladies and gentlemen, how you doing today? There we go!
All right, I'll take care of that ring. Let's do this. Take this -- will you have it the whole time?
>> Yes.
>> Okay, take it off.
>> Check, one, two. Check, one, two.
Test, check, one, two.
How's that, Ryan? Check test -- good?
You want a sound check with the guitar?
>> Check, check. Are you playing for me, Louie? Are you playing?
>> Check. Ryan. I can't understand what you're saying.
>> Sorry.
>> There it is.
(Guitar playing.)
>> There we go.
>> Ryan, are we good? Thank you.

>> Herbie, kindly start media 1, please. Check, check. I'm giving it to you. Check, check.
>> Go ahead.
>> Herbie, we'll probably be silent for part of the time because we don't have ambient mics. So don't take the lack of sound as a problem.
>> Check, check. All right.
>> That's surprising. That's live. That's -- that's almost --
>> Check, check. Check, check. Can you hear me, Dennis?
Sure. You're coming out of 5 and 6. Check, check, check. Check, check, check.
Down, down? How's that? Perfect.
>> Could Caitlin please report to the head table as well as Kolby Garrison?
>> We got Kolby; we just need Caitlin. Thank you.
>> Very loud.
>> Hi, Kolby! Oh! Mic here.
>> Folks at the head table, please be aware your mics are open.
>> I think I'm behind you. I'm coming. Okay. I'm sorry.
>> (Away from microphone.)
>> Okay. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! As we get ready to start our banquet this evening, if you would please put your meal ticket out so they know what to feed you -- otherwise you get whatever they decide to hand you. Put your meal ticket out. We'll get started in just a couple of minutes. Thank you!
>> Recording in progress.
>> Do you have a mic? Ray Campbell?
>> Yeah.
>>  Do you have a mic? Okay, good. There's a podium over here. (Away from microphone.) I'll be there in a minute. 
(Away from microphone.)
(Away from microphone.)
>> Is everybody seated, and are we ready to get started? No? Okay. All right, we'll wait another five or ten minutes for everybody to get seated.
>> We will be starting in five minutes! Five minutes, folks. Thank you.
>> I put my power supply under my vest. (Away from microphone.) I'll hit the breaker, and everything goes -- (imitating sound). I must have … (away from microphone). Yeah, it's through the breaker.
>> Ladies and gentlemen, this is your two-minute warning. Two-minute warning. Find your seats, please.
This is an ALD check.
Good, we're up; excellent. I feel like I'm talking to -- I feel like I'm talking to Comiskey Park or Wrigley Field or something.
Ladies and gentlemen! We are SOLD OUT of raffle tickets!
Whoo!
Alan Peterson, ya done it again, sir! And a whole lot of others.
>> Sharon, please come to the high table.
>> I think it's R-A-Y-C-A-M-P-B-E-L-L or K-A-R-Y-N.
>> Hi, Sharon!
>> Okay. One minute and we'll get started.
>> Very good. Thank you, sir. All right. Okay! May I have your attention, please? Let's begin. Welcome to the 2023 ACB Banquet!
(Cheers and applause.)
Whoo! From Schaumburg, Illinois! All right! They actually put a hand in my mic. I'm Ray Campbell, your second president and emcee this evening. We'll have some fun and should be a good time. So before we, uh, get started this evening, I, uh, wanted to, um -- I don't have a good story to tell yet so I will have to think of one, which is probably good. Janet said thank God. Let's start with a moment of reflection, if everyone would like to -- however they would like to do that, a moment of reflection. Let's take that.
>> All right. Thank you, everybody. All right, let me introduce to you your head table. So from my right, I believe your left, we have Mary Ellen Sharp and she is the wife of our banquet speaker, Louie Sharp. Next to Louie Sharp is Karyn Campbell, my wife; and next to her is me. Probably will end up on the couch tonight or need a space to sleep after that, but who cares? After that is, uh, our illustrious coordinator Janice Dickelman.
(Cheers and applause.)
Next to Janet we have our wonderful international guest this weekend, the President of the World Blind Union, Martine Abel-Williamson.
(Cheers and applause.)
Next to Martine is the person who has the interim tag off her able to, Deb Cook Lewis. And next to her we have Denise Colley. And next to Denise, the man that still has the interim title on his name, interim executive director Dan Spoone!
I feel like I'm in a ball game; this is great!
Hitting next we have the wife of the interim executive director, our auction leader,  Leslie Spoone! And next to Leslie we have the chair emeritus -- the ;leader of the multicultural affairs committee and really good gal, Peggy Garrett! And last but certainly not least we have our treasurer from the American Council of the Blind. The man who will handle the money for the next two years. Michael Garrett!
(Cheers and applause.)
That is your head table, ladies and gentlemen, and I know we stand between you and your meal and socializing and everything. However, I will turn the mic over to our interim executive director, Dan Spoone, who has a couple of surprises for us. So Dan?
>> Thank you so much, Ray! I am SO honored tonight to take a moment to give a Big, huge thank you to our own Sharon Lovering, our Braille Forum Editor, who began her journey with ACB in 1993, 30 years ago.
(Cheers and applause)
Our staff and board wanted to take a moment and present this beautiful box of chocolates to Sharon. One of her favorites. She says mmm, chocolate.
>> They said it would never last.
>> Sharon does so much for our organization. She's the person with a smile on her face that answers the phone -- the phone is glued to her face because she's answering it all the time in our Alexandria office, and she does an amazing job of editing our Braille Forum. She also serves on the credentials committee, the awards committee. She does SO many things. In addition to that, she has be?
Our resident historian and serves on the archive and history committee. And as you see, each and every day she's coming up and recovering lost resolutions and lost minutes of our ACB Board of Directors meetings and identifying pictures, and she's the best one to do it because she has 30 years of history with us. So first, I want everybody to give a big hip, hip, hooray to Sharon. Hip, hip --
>> Hooray!
>> Hip, hip --
>> Hooray!
>> Hip, hip!
>> Hooray!
>> Here's Sharon to say a few words.
>> Whoo! 30 years already?
(Laughter.)
Where did it go? It's been a wonderful experience. I'm really enjoying my work with the History and Archives Committee. I guarantee you these chocolates will make it home, but any further than that, there's no guarantees whatsoever. Thank you, and I look forward to continuing my work.
(Cheers and applause.)
>> Yeah, Sharon, thank you!
>> You know, all that was great, okay? But Dan didn't mention Sharon's most important job is my personal escort to the bar.
(Laughter.)
She has done that a few times, and I appreciate it. Congratulations, Sharon. Back to Dan.
>> Thank you, Ray. And one more special moment is last -- earlier this year at our Show Me the Money Rally, our Development Officer, Kolby Garrison, did an amazing rendition of "Respect" the ACB way so I asked for a special privilege if she, tonight, before we get ready to have our meal, just to get us jazzed up, if she could recount that wonderful rendition one more time. So here to sing "Respect" is Kolby Garrison!
(Cheers and applause)
You got one?
>> Good evening, ACB!
(Cheers.)
I will try to do this through my convention voice so bear with me. It's been used a lot this week, but it's okay. So all right, here we go.
What we want
We know you got it
What we need
We know you got it
All we're asking
Is for a little respect for the money
Just show us the money
Hey, baby
We just want to know
What bills we have
We just want to know
What bills we have
All we're askin' is for a little respect for the money
Hey, baby
Show us the money
Yeah
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, let's hear it for A-C-B
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, let's go treasury
R-E-S-P-E- C-T, let's hear for A-C-B
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, let's hear it for treasury!
>> Thank you, Kolby! If I could ask for a volunteer to help her get to her table so she can enjoy her meal. Thank you. I will turn it over to Ray. Thank you so much.
>> Well, everybody, enjoy your dinner, and we will be back with you a little bit later on; but just a couple of quick announcements:  if you have a door prize you have not claimed, please go up and see Janet here at the head table up here after the banquet, please. And the lost and found, we still have a couple of items. Let me let Janet tell you what we have.
>> I'm doing this from memory so I don't know. We still have a pair of sunglasses with black frames. We still have the sunglasses in the case with the gold frames. We still have the black pouch with a keychain and thumb drive in it. We also have a cane. It is a sturdy cane with a marshmallow tip on it. And we have a -- I believe it's a green pill box. And that is everything.
>> All right. And if you don't claim these things,  Leslie will put them into the ACB Media Holiday Auction to be auctioned off. So you might want to claim them if they're yours. Thanks, everybody! We'll be back in a bit!
>> We're gonna start back up in two or three minutes so Koni -- finish up and make your way to the podium once you finish your dessert. That would be great. Thanks. So that would be Koni Sims, the Awards Committee, and whoever is presenting the Board of Publications Awards, that can be good. Can we be heard in Zoom? Hello to our Zoom attendees out there!
>> Yes, we do hear you.
>> NACB Media. Everybody! And Clubhouse! Yeah! We got so many ways for people to listen to this, more fun than a barrel of monkeys. All right, we will be back in a minute.
Okay, Koni, are you up here? So Awards Committee Presenters, start making your way forward, along with BOP awards, and we'll go ahead and get started. While they're making their way up, my way of video description or audio description -- excuse me; get the right title here. I am a white male with brown hair, brown eyes, wearing a gray suit, dark-colored tie, and dark slacks. And sitting here in a chair, finishing my dessert, drinking some coffee, and having a good time.
All right, so now, you know, our President Deb, she was coming here to Schaumburg, and she -- you know, she travels from an interesting place there, Clarkston, Washington. She walked into the airport to travel here, and she said, "Well, I have a unique request."
They said, "What's that?"
She say, "I got a couple of bags here." And she says, "I would like to have one of them --  I would really like to have one going to Chicago and one go to Atlanta." 
And they said, "Well, I can't do that."
Deb said, "Why not? That's what you did last time."
(Laughter.)
She made it here with all her stuff, and we're glad she did.
All right. Do we have our awards committee? They must be still eating their dessert.
Has everybody had a good time this week?
(Audience says yep, scattered applause)
By a clap of hands -- how many people are ready to go home?
(Clapping)
(Chuckling.) How many would like to stay in Schaumburg forever?
(Loud cheers and applause)
Oh, man! (Chuckling.) Well, that's the future ACB members; I like it!
Okay. Let's see. Okay. Somebody give me a cue when we've got the awards folks up here. I think they're coming. They are there -- hey! Thank you, Anne.
Okay. All right. One of the great things that we here in ACB get to do each year at our conventions is to present awards to very special people who have made a difference in the Blind and Visually Impaired Community. So this year I will hand the microphone over to the ACB Awards Committee and the presenters, as I understand it, Koni Sims, and Illinois' own Anne Brash. Koni? You need this mic? Okay. We doing BOP first?
>> We want to do the BOP first, Ray.
>> Okay, let's do BOP first, then. And so the BOP presenters -- who is doing that? If you're doing the BOP Awards, come on down, as they used to say on "The Price Is Right," but I'm no Bob Barker.
All right. Okay, Cheryl and Koni are coming up to do the BOP awards. Very good. I will turn the microphone over to -- I'm not sure which one of you will start this. Ladies and gentlemen, Cheryl and Penny from the Board of Publications.
>> Hi, everyone, can you hear me? It's so exciting to be able to present this award. Let me tell you a little bit about the Freeman Award for Excellent Writing. Can you hear me now? So the Ned E. Freeman Award was created in 1970 so we have been giving it for a number of years, and every year the award honors excellence in writing. Articles that were published in the Braille Forum from April of the preceding year until March of the current year are eligible, and this year we had 62 articles. 
We all read them all; we all had a hard time because so many of them were wonderful. Also, articles from affiliate publications can be nominated by the president of that affiliate or editor of that affiliate and had two submissions in that category as well. This year, I'm so excited to give this award for an article that really made me want to catch a plane and travel to Eastern Europe, and it made me so hungry I had to go look at my freezer to see if I had any shrimp.
The article is "A Glimpse of Croatia" by Maria Kristic. Congratulations!
(Cheers and applause.)
The article was published, I think, in our December issue when the International Relations Committee was kind enough to adopt December to submit a number of wonderful travel articles, and we are so excited and pleased to present the award to Maria. We're giving her a check for $100 and a beautiful plaque.
(Applause.)
>> The award reads: "The Ned E. Freeman Excellence in Writing Award presented to Maria Kristic for her article "Glimpses of Croatia" that gave readers vivid snapshots that brought to life the sounds, smells, and touch of life in another country. Schaumburg, Illinois, July 6, 2023." Maria, are you here?
(Applause.)
>> (Away from microphone.)
>> Come on up!
>> Thank you so much! (Away from microphone.)
>> Congratulations!
>> Thank you so much!
>> We have a pause while we're ... doing something back there. All right, Maria, get on up here!
>> She's already here.
>> Thank you! So that's why Sharon, that's why you sent me those cryptic e-mails about whether I would be coming to convention in person and whether I would be at the banquet. There's a follow-up.
(Laughter.)
Wow, I'm so surprised. I never, never expected this. I had a lot of fun putting that article together. I thought to myself, "Okay, how do I start out this issue of the Forum that International Relations Committee was curating?"
I thought, let's make it personal and write about what type of travel article I want to read as a totally Blind person because so many are focused on "Oh, this is the view;" and “You will see XYZ.” 
I thought, what do we get to experience? I had so much fun putting it together, just so many good memories of my trips, and I hope that I have enticed many of you who read that article to perhaps want to visit a little country that's a built of a hidden gem but from what I understand is becoming less of a hidden gem and is becoming much more well-known in the international tourist case outside of Europe. Thank you so much for this, ACB! It really means a lot! I appreciate it!
(Applause.)
Yes, of course. (Away from microphone.)
>> All right. Good evening, everyone. This is Cheryl Cummings, and I am here to present the Vernon Henley Award. This award can be given to an organization or an individual who uses media to present positive representations and dispels negative presentations of people who are Blind. So our winner this year is someone I've had the privilege to know for many, many years; and I suppose when somebody builds a studio, a recording studio in their house, this tells you they're committed. I am SO honored to present this award to Steve Dresser.
(Cheers and applause.)
>> The award reads: Vernon Henley Media Award, presented to Steve Dresser in recognition of his more than 15 years of producing, editing, and distributing Bay State Council of the Blind Council Connection. Schaumburg, Illinois, July 6, 2023. Congratulations, Steve!
(Cheers and applause.)
>> Yes! Is Steve here?
>> No, he is not here.
>> Yes, he is on Zoom.
>> Yes, Steve's on Zoom.
>> Yes!
>> All right.
>> I just sent him the prompt to unmute.
>> All right.
>> (Away from microphone)
>> Can we get Steve unmuted so we can hear from him?
>> Yes, I just sent him the prompt to unmute; he will need to respond to that. Steve, if you can press Alt-A or hold the space bar or command-shift-A on your Mac.
>> All right. Steve?
>> I don't know whether I'm -- am I there?
>>  There you are, Steve!
(Cheers and applause.)
>>  Ah! What a relief! (Chuckling.) You know, it's a little embarrassing to get an award like this and then realize that you can't unmute your microphone.
First of all, let me thank you, all of you, in ACB. I was totally surprised by this. I have been, as Sharon said, I have been working on “Council Connection” since 2006, August of 2006; and it started out kind of as a joint project Marcia and I did. Marcia was the voice, the talent as they say in the business. I was the guy behind the voice, pushing the buttons, and that's kind of what I wanted to do. 
And back at that time, we didn't have any kind of a studio here at all. In fact, there were times when I had to cancel interviews because a neighbor was out mowing the lawn, and I couldn't get them to stop. So we've come a long way since then. We have a studio now. Of course Marcia is no longer here, and I have become, for better or for worse, the voice AND the guy who pushes the buttons; and hopefully I don't do them both at the same time because that can lead to chaos.
But I would like to think that somehow Marcia seeing this (voice breaks) from on high, and I hope she knows that if it weren't for her, this probably wouldn't be happening. Thank you all SO much for this honor.
(Applause.)
>> Steve, we all know that Marcia's looking down with a big smile on her face and congratulating you for this. So we all know she's up there watching.
All right. What do we have next? Now that we've done Board of Publications awards, let's go over to Koni Sims to give some ACB awards.
>> Thanks, Ray. So I am honored to be up here with Ann Brash, one of our long-time committee members who actually lives in Illinois, Chicago area. (Cheers.) I asked her to present with me. We will start with the Affiliate Growth Awards. This year's award winners are CCLVI for the largest number of new members, which they had 38 new members.
(Applause)
Patty Cox, are you here to accept?
>> The award reads: Affiliate Growth Award presented to Council of Citizens with Low Vision International in recognition of the largest number of new members in 2023. Schaumburg, Illinois, July 6, 2023.
(Applause.)
>> Congratulations!
>> Thank you, and we're looking for another 50 members. We added 50 this year so we're looking for another 50.
>> All right. The other Growth Award is Ivy for the largest percentage of growth with 52.63. Is Carly Hays or Artist Basan (phonetic) here to accept this? All right, Artist, come on up.
>> The award reads: Affiliate Growth Award presented to Independent Visually Impaired Entrepreneurs in recognition of the largest percentage of membership increase in 2023. Schaumburg, Illinois, July 6, 2023.
(Applause.)
>> Well, thank you! You know, we would have -- we almost got two votes. We were two shy, two people paid a week late, ha-ha!
>> Congratulations!
>> Thank you!
(Applause.)
>> Keep growin'.
>> All right. Our next one is gonna be the Robert S. Bray Award and will let Anne talk about that one.
>> Robert Bray was chief of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, and we are presenting this award today and it's named after Mr. Bray, to a person who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to making applications accessible for use at home, at work, and at play. He has helped ACB with scripting solutions for Zoom, with broadcasting software, with audio editing, and with Windows usage. 
He also provides top-notch technical support in training by demystifying the most complex topics, turning them into easily bite-sized pieces so people can be effective in whatever they're doing. This include everything from surfing the web with multiple browsers, document creation, and Zoom and Teams solutions. His decades of work have fundamentally changed the lives of numerous people. So we are, therefore, awarding the Robert S. Bray Award to one of our members joining us on Zoom, Brian Hartgen.
(Applause.)
>> All right, congratulations, Brian!
>> Thank you. Can you hear me?
>> Yes, we can.
>> Good. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, ACB members, I hope you can all hear me clearly in the audience. I'm not only truly honored but also extremely shocked and surprised to receive the Robert S. Bray award. I'm grateful for the recognition that I've received for my work because I'm very sure that every nominee for this award was as capable, if not more, of winning it. Like many of us who are Blind, I have faced several challenges on my way here. At each one of them, it has only strengthened me, I hope, to make me the person I am today. 
Hopefully a thorough professional who knows exactly what he wants, someone who sets a goal, and doesn't lose sight of it unless it is achieved. I hope in a small way I have been able to make a contribution to Blind people, whether that be by training them to build confidence and broaden their skills in terms of computing; through to creating product to make life that little bit easier. I would particularly like to thank the American Council of the Blind for presenting the award to me today. 
I would like to thank my wife Lulu, who has, for a long time, provided me with a tremendous amount of love and support; but I'd also like to thank Blind people themselves. When you are small business owner, you face many challenges, and it's not always easy to tell people about what it is that you offer and how you can improve what you have. So I'm grateful to many Blind individuals, especially in the United States, for helping in lots of different ways and have provided a tremendous amount of input. 
In closing, I sincerely thank each of you for helping me reach a stage where I can proudly hold up this award as a mark of my achievement. We're coming close to the end of this wonderful event, and on behalf of us all, may I thank everyone involved within the ACB for providing a splendid conference this year. Whether you have attended virtually or in person, I'm sure you'll agree with me that it has been, once again, of a very high standard. Thank you very much, indeed.
(Applause.)
>> The plaque reads: Robert S. Bray awarded to Brian Hartgen in recognition of his outstanding commitment to making technology more accessible through training and scripting. Schaumburg, Illinois, July 6, 2023.
>> All right, congratulations, Brian. Back over to you guys.
>> Thank you, Sharon. All right. Sorry. Next one -- George Card Award. This individual facilitates a peer support community call. They ask questions. This call is geared towards the elderly who have lost sight later in life. They facilitate sight loss later in life, sponsored by AAVL. We are happy to present Sandra Troiano with the George Card Award. She is by Zoom.
(Cheers and applause.)
>> I'm very honored and humbled to receive this award. I appreciate it VERY much. I started the call ins and outs of sight loss later in life or as I think about it, the Tuesday support group call, as a way of paying forward all the help and support I received from Blind and visually impaired people when I lost my sight later in life. I wasn't trained to be an empathetic group facilitator -- I'm a lawyer by profession -- I know my own experience the best way to adjust to losing sight is to talk to someone who's gone through it before you. 
So I would like to thank ACB, the person who nominated me for this award, and awards committee for this award and the Alliance on Aging and Vision Loss for sponsoring the Tuesday call and allowing me to facilitate it; Community ACB for all its wonderful calls, which present so many positive role models for people losing sight, and all the great hosts it's provided for the call and especially I'd like to thank all the participants in the call. They are truly a terrific and courageous group of people whom we look forward to seeing every Tuesday.
(Applause.)
>> Congratulations, Sandra!
>> The award reads: George Card Award presented to Sandra Troiano in recognition of her commitment to those adults who are losing their sight later in life. Schaumburg, Illinois, July 6, 2023.
(Applause.)

All right, we're not done yet, so I am so happy that we have this many awards to give out. We have a few more. So the next one is the James R. Olsen award. This company has made their website and mobile apps very accessible for the disabled. They accomplished this by working the end user during focus groups at ACB conventions. They have enabled ACB to cultivate 35 rising leaders who are now proudly serving in strategically imported -- important roles at both the national level and in state and special interest affiliates. We are happy to present JPMorgan Chase with the James R. Olsen Distinguished Award.
>> All right!
>> James R. Olsen Distinguished Service award presented to JPMorgan Chase in recognition of their exemplary attention to accessibility in the design of their website and app and their support of ACB Leaders. Schaumburg, Illinois, July 6, 2023.
(Applause.)
>> All right! As a Chase customer, I appreciate their work. Who is speaking on this one?
>> Hello this is --
>> There he is.
>> I'm accepting the award on behalf of JPMorgan Chase, truly one of our valued partner for the American Council of the Blind. What they have done with their JP Morgan leadership fellows program is just been transformative for our organization. Our current ACB President, Deb Cook Lewis, is living testimony of how leaders can be formed through the JPMorgan Chase program along with countless board members, committee chairs, affiliate presidents. Thank you, JPMorgan Chase, for making true difference for our organization.
(Applause.)
>> Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations, JPMorgan Chase. Back to you guys.
>>  all right, thanks, Ray. All right. The next one is always geared dear to all our heart, the Margarine G.  Beaman Volunteer Award. It's always hard and it's always fun -- don't we have fun with this one?
>> Absolutely.
>> All right. This one, the individual is involved with an audio description project and is chair of their subcommittee. They have been involved in community since beginning. They host, facilitate, train, step in wherever needed. A mentor to many. We are happy to present Sheila Young with the Margarine G. Beaman Volunteer Award.
(Loud cheers and applause.)
She's on Zoom and is a huge surprise! We are happy to present this to her.
>> Congratulations, Sheila!
>> Oh, my God! Wow! Ha-ha!
>> She's on Zoom.
>> Can you hear me?
>> Yep. We hear you loud and clear, Sheila! But we wish you were with us.
>> I am -- I am so honored and totally, TOTALLY speechless. I -- would have NEVER, ever, ever expected this. So thank you SO much.
(Loud cheers and applause.)
This is such an honor, and I -- love what I do for the Florida Council and for ACB.
>> And the award reads: Margarine G. Beaman Volunteer Award presented to Sheila Young in recognition for extensive involvement with audio description and ACB community activities. Schaumburg, Illinois, July 6, 2023.
(Cheers and applause.)
 >> Thank you again.
>> I miss you.
>> Many of you know she's been doing a wonderful job, along with others hosting and getting our stuff on Zoom this week so congratulations, Sheila. Back to you guys.
>> All right. We're down to our last one. So this is the Durward K. McDaniel Ambassador Award named after our founder. This is huge. I think this is very deserving, wouldn't you say?
>> I do.
>> It was interesting. We had, you know, really good, you know, nominations throughout the whole committee. So please keep -- if your nomination didn't win this year, PLEASE nominate them again because it was fun. We had a good time, and we nominated.
Here is the last one.
This individual has been paired, has been part of ACB since childhood. They have been involved on multiple positions and continue to serve ACB on many levels. We want us -- they want us to know our past so we can move forward. They demonstrate the understanding of ACB and want everyone they work with to have that same excitement and enthusiasm as they do before the organization. We are happy to present Carla Ruschival with the Durward K. McDaniel Ambassador Award. We know Carla is here.
(Loud cheers and applause.)

>> And the award reads: Durward K. McDaniel Ambassador Award in recognition of life-long improvement to improving the quality of life for Blind people. Schaumburg, Illinois, July 6, 2023.
(Applause.)
>> Oh, my God! I had no clue! What if I hadn't come!
>> This way.
>> Okay. What a surprise! For once I think I'm speechless!
(Laughter.)
>> That's hard to do.
>> It never happens, and now -- I don't know. Thank you SO much! I really appreciate it! ACB is wonderful. Thank you much!
(Cheers and applause)
>> Congratulations, Carla. That -- ha-ha. That all you guys have? All right. Well, thank you, the Awards Committee, and echo Koni's sentiments. If your nominee didn't get in this year, please submit next year. The Awards Committee has tough decisions to make, and I know that it's painstaking and always difficult to find the one best recipient for all these awards and so certainly encourage all of you to continue to seek out and nominate good, deserving people for the awards as we go forward.
Okay! All right! Next it's time to hear from our banquet speaker, and our banquet speaker tonight is someone that comes to us with 14 years of speaking experience. He has spoken to large companies and various organizations over that time. He also served 20 years in the U.S. Marines so thank you for your service. Traveling to over 30 countries. I think he's got a lot to offer; and again, thank you to our wonderful host committee that we're able to bring him to you tonight. It gives me great pleasure to -- let's give an ACB welcome to Louie Sharp!
(Cheers and applause.)
>> Thank you! What I would like everybody to do if you're able is please stand up. If you're unable to stand, you can do this as you're sitting. Put both your arms out in front of you. What we're gonna do is on the count of three, we're gonna clap our hands together. On the count of three, we'll clap our hands together.
Everybody ready? One, two, three.
Now, I want you to hold them there. I want you to pay attention to your thumbs. If your right thumb is over the left thumb, raise your hand.

So about a third of the room has their hands up. Those are all the thinkers. If your left thumb is over your right thumb, I'd like you to raise your hand. Again, about a third of the room has their hand up. Those are all the sexy people.
(Laughter.)
If both your thumbs are straight up next to each other, please raise your hand. About the other third of the room has their hands up; those are all the people that think they're sexy.
(Laughter.)
Go ahead and have a seat.
>> Are we having an audio issue? Okay. Mattie Christianson was born with no arms from the elbow down, and he was born with no legs from the knee down. Now, Mattie Christianson could have used those two things as an excuse to play small, stay home, and not live life to its fullest. Mattie Christianson could have seen himself as disabled. Mattie Christianson could have been angry and cried out to God, "Why me?"
But Mattie Christianson had a secret weapon. Mattie Christianson's secret weapon was his mom and his dad. As soon as Mattie Christianson could hear and start to make sounds, his mom and dad started telling Mattie Christianson, "Mattie, anything is possible. Mattie, you can do anything you set your mind to. Mattie, we live in a world of infinite possibilities." 
So Mattie Christianson did anything he set his mind to; and as he got bigger and older, he realized his passion was baseball. So his mom and dad got him prosthetic devices for his legs so he could run; and then for his arm they built a prosthetic device that was part of an arm; but at the end of it was like a basket like a little basket he could catch and throw the ball with. But Mattie Christianson wasn't satisfied to just play baseball; Mattie Christianson wanted to be the pitcher. 
Now, I want you to know for those of you that aren't baseball fans that to be a pitcher in baseball, two things are really important: your feet and your hands. On the pitching mound, there's a pitching rubber, and the pitcher puts his foot against that pitching rubber and has to legally be touching that rubber when he lets go of the ball. They also use that pitching rubber as leverage to throw the ball harder and faster. 
The other thing that they have to be able to do as a pitcher is use their hand to feel the seams. The ball is sewn together with threads and the way the pitcher holds the ball is how he throws a curveball versus a fastball versus a slider versus a knuckleball versus a change-up.  But Mattie Christianson could not feel the pitching rubber because he had no feet; and he could not feel the baseball because he had no hands. But Mattie Christianson wanted to be a pitcher and so he was. 
And at the tender young age of 11, Mattie Christianson took his Little League team to the New York State Championships, where they came in second place in the State of New York with him as the pitcher. Mattie Christianson believed anything was possible. And so it was.
Good evening. I'm humbled and excited to be here. This evening I'm going to share with you three powerful principles that you can use, right now today, to build your legacy, to create change. The first powerful principle is take 100% responsibility for everything in your life. I want to repeat that:  take 100% responsibility for everything in your life. This is very difficult. We love to complain.
(Scattered chuckles.)
We love to blame other people. We love to make excuses, and we love to justify; but when you take 100% responsibility, everything in your life will change. When you ask yourself, what's not working in your life?
The only person responsible is you. It's not the government; it's not the economy; it's not your family or friends; it's you. So what is not working in your life to make a long, hard thought about and realize, "I need to make a change; I need to do something different." The on person that can change whatever your struggles and challenges are is you. It will always be that way. 
I'd like everybody to fold your hands like you're going to pray. I want you to notice which little finger is at the bottom. Open your hands -- keep them together -- then rotate them so your other little finger is now at the bottom. Fold your hands again like you're going to pray, but now the other little finger is at the bottom.
How does that feel? Weird. Awkward. Uncomfortable. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why we don't change; because it's way too easy to go to the couch and have another beer instead of exercising. It's too easy to blow money on thing that are fun than saving and investing. It's way too easy to blame somebody else instead of saying "I'm sorry; I apologize." 
If we held our hands this way long enough, it would be the new normal; and if we went to the old way, it would be awkward. The challenges stay there long enough. That will be your new normal. That will be your new habit. I want to share math with you this evening. I will teach you an equation that will change your life. It's simply this: E plus R equals O.
The event plus the response -- your response --  equals the outcome. So I want to -- let me pick a couple of people. What's your name?
>> Ken. Kenneth.
>> Kenneth? So Kenneth and I, we just met. I'm going to give Kenneth $1,000. And Kenneth is going to go "Whoo-hoo!" and tell everybody, "Meet me at the bar tonight; I just got a thousand dollars."
>> I'll be there!
(Laughter.)
>> You and a bunch of other people. Kenneth wakes up tomorrow; he's hung over; and the thousand dollars is gone.
Same event -- I give Kenneth a thousand dollars. But tomorrow morning, he calls his investment guy and says, "I'd like to buy a certificate of deposit or mutual fund," and he invests a thousand dollars. His net worth goes up a thousand dollars. The event was the same. He got a thousand dollar. What he did, his response to the event, changes the outcome. We always have choice of our response.
What's your name? Hema? I literally have been around the world and spoken to tens of thousands of people. You have to be the dumbest person I have ever crossed paths with.
(Laughter.)
Now, Hema could say to myself, “Louie hardly knows me; how did he figure it out so fast?”
(Laughter.)
What's her self-esteem going to do? It's going to go down. Same event; Hema, I have been all over the world and spoken to thousands of people. Excuse me. You still have to be one of the dumbest people I have ever crossed paths with.
(Laughter.)
Now, this time, Hema says to herself, “You know, Louie doesn't know me at all. As a matter of fact, he doesn't know what's going on in my life and I had a great conference. I got here safely. I will get home safely.” At a minimum, her self-esteem will stay the same.
Same event. Hema, I have been all over the world and coach and consult and do all kind of things. You have to be the dumbest person I crossed paths with.
Hema said, “I think Louie's got a thing for me.”
(Laughter.)
“I think Louie's flirting with me.” 
What's her self-esteem going to do? It's going to go up. But here's what I want you to understand: it's not what Louie says to Hema but what Hema says to Hema when Louie is done talking.
(Applause.)
The same thing is true of the news. The same thing is true of all the other information that you take in; none of it matters until you decide what is important to you; you decide what is your reality. Remember, Mattie Christianson live in a world where anything was possible and played baseball with no hands and no feet. What's the world telling you that you're buying into?
Now, I'd like to have -- if it applies to you, close your eyes. I would like to put both your feet flat on the ground. Rest your hands comfortably in your lap. What I would like you to do is breathe in for a count of four and out for a count of eight. I would like you to do that one more time on your own, please. In for a count of four and out for a count of eight. 
Just one of those breaths is all you need because our true power, our true power in life, is the plus sign between the event, the E; plus the R. The plus sign is where all our power lives. The event will be whatever the event is gonna be. As Ray said, I spent 20 years in the marines. I crashed in a helicopter. One reason I survived that helicopter crash is because I practiced crash procedures over and over and over and over again.
And when we were going down, I just automatically started doing what I was supposed to do (snapping fingers), and my point to that is right when the proverbial stuff hits the fan, decide who you want to be in the plus. Do you want to be kind? Do you want to be patient? Do you want to be forgiving? Do you want to be loving? 
But decide now who you want to be and then let the event be whatever the event will be and take that one breath and remember, "I'm going to be kind. I'm going to be forgiving. I'm going to be passionate. I'm going to be understanding." But your power is in the plus sign. And we all still have choice. We get to choose every time something happens to us. We get to choose who we're gonna be in that moment, and I guarantee every time it will change the outcome. Every time, it will change the outcome when you can be; and I believe at this point in my life there's only really two choice in that plus. There's either the choice of fear or choice of love.
Every other emotion is coming down to one of those two choices. We're either afraid of something, or we're choosing love. Going forward, who do you want to be? What price are you paying for not taking 100% responsibility for everything in your life? Why not take 100% responsibility for everything in your life? Why not you; why not now? Second powerful principle I'd like to share with you this evening:  dream big dream
General Wes Moreland said, “It takes as much energy to dream a small dream as it does a big dream.” 
Walt Disney said, "If you can dream it, you can do it." Does anybody know what Walt Disney was talking about on his death bed? He was talking about Disney World. Disney World had not been built yet when Walt Disney was laying on his death bed; but on his death bed, Walt Disney was very eloquently and very clearly describing Disney World because he had a picture of it in his mind. He had dreamed a big dream. 
Are you dreaming dreams? Whatever we focus on, we get more of. There's a thing at the base of your skull in the back of your head called your reticular activating system. Right now, I'd like you to think about your right foot; and before I said anything about your right foot, you weren't thinking about your right foot.
(Laughter.)
But now you're very aware of your right foot. Maybe it's hot; maybe it's cold; maybe your shoe is too tight; maybe your shoe is too loose. Whatever you put into your brain, it's gonna look for. It's gonna find it out in the universe. I had an interesting conversation with Janet. Janet and I had a couple conversations months back at this point, and she was telling me about one of the big challenges for people that have sight challenges is the fact that it's difficult to know how much money you have. 
And I came out to the conference on Sunday. Janet invited me, and I went through the expo and talked to two different women there that were talking about, they now have the readers that you can put a bill in; and it will tell you what the denomination is. And that got me to thinking -- so I asked them, when did this come about? And they said, well, the technology broke in about 2014. Anybody seen the movie "Ray" about Ray Charles?
(Audience saying yeah.)
One of the thing that was surprising to me about that movie -- well, two things, actually. One of them was that Ray Charles became a big pain in the neck for the promoters and the bar owners because he learned pretty quick he had to be paid in only singles. Remember that part of the movie? It's the only way he knew he wasn't gonna get ripped off because he was being paid in singles. The other thing I thought was really interesting about Ray in that movie was the fact that he realized and always wore hard-soled shoes. 
So when he was walking down a sidewalk, he knew by the sound of the echo off the sidewalk from his hard shoe against the wall whether there was a wall there or a door opening. But here's what I want to ask:  Ray Charles started to become famous in the the early to mid-50s. Why did it take over 50 years for somebody to invent that device? And in that same stretch of time, we were able to transplant a heart; we were able to put a man on the moon; we got color TV; we got cell phones and computers. Why was that lagging so far behind? 
I mentor high school kids, and one of the things that I share with them on a regular basis, especially around business, is this:  when you hear somebody say "I wish I had a blank that did blank," you want to go invent it because it's telling you there's a need in the market.
I'd like to ask all of you: what do you need that's not here now? When we talk about dream big dreams, can anybody -- shout this out -- tell me one thing in the universe that didn't first start as a thought. Anybody?
(Laughter.)
I said, in the universe, not THE universe.
(Laughter.)
There's nothing in the universe that didn't start as a thought. Somebody had an idea that was a really painful idea to sit on the floor so they invented a chair. Then they realized "This is a bad idea; it's hard to eat with food in your lap," so they invented a table. Everybody in the room here started as a thought. Even if your mom and dad were just looking for a good time in the back seat of the car, you started as a thought.
(Laughter.)
So my question is: what are you thinking? What are you focused on? What do you want to dream about? What do you want your legacy to be? What dent do you want to leave in the universe? I'd like to go through this little exercise with you. I'm gonna wave a magic wand over each one of you, and my little magic wand will give you all the money you need for the rest of your life. You're not gonna need money for cars, food, clothes, houses, anything. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna give you so much money that it will take care of your children and your children's children; and they will want for nothing so you have no need for money.
And now what I'm going to do is give you a check for $10 million, and I'm gonna be quiet for just a little bit, and I want you to think about who would you go help if you had no need for money and I gave you a check for $10 million.
>> (Away from microphone.)
(Cheers and applause.)
>> That's a good choice.
(Laughter.)
If you had $10 million, would you help orphans? Would you help the homeless? Would you help the hungry? Would you help abused children?
Dream big dreams. When I was 9 years old, I was on a witness stand in a courtroom in downtown Chicago, and they had just asked me, "What's it been like?"
And they were asking about my childhood. My mother and father were divorced when I was in the second grade. As soon as they were divorced, my mother hired a babysitter and took me out in the yard. She made me cut a branch off a tree, and then she made me cut the little branch off that to make a stick. She handed that stick to the babysitter, and she said, "You beat him with this stick if he doesn't behave." 
I'm the oldest of three boys, so I was responsible for getting my brothers and I out of bed in the morning, getting breakfast, getting us ready for school, and going to school. After school, I was responsible to make sure we cleaned the house and I got dinner ready. That babysitter not only beat me with that stick, but she sexually abused myself and my next youngest brother. My mother at the time was having relations with just a parade of men that would come in and out of these cheap apartments we lived in. It was not uncommon for me to be woken up in middle of the night hat 1:30, 2:00 in the morning to loud, violent fights from my mom or loud, violent sex as they're beating each other up and doing all that stuff. That went on for two years. 
And here I am in a courtroom, telling the attorneys and everybody else in the room, that is what happened for the last two years since the divorce. After I testify, the judge takes a recess; and I remember like it was yesterday. I was standing out in the hallway outside the courtroom. I'm next to my father. On the other side of my father is his new wife, who is soon gonna be my stepmom; and my two brothers were to my left. My mother and her attorney walked by us like we didn't exist. It was the last time I ever saw my mother alive. She walk out and never came back -- not a card at Christmas, not a phone call on my birthday, she walked out and never came back. My brothers and I thought, with the well, yahoo, we're free of that.
Little did we know we jumped from the frying pan into the fire. My step mother was certifiably a nut and would work herself up into a frenzy and beat my brothers and I bloody. At one point, they called an ambulance and strapped her to a stretcher and went to a mental institution. She came back, and it started again. And this went on into high school.
Remember, in high school, I didn't get a growth spurt until after I graduated from high school. I can remember in high school my mother beating me and telling me I was useless and never going to amount to anything. I would lie in bed at night and dream. I would dream I was an eagle and I could fly above all that. I would dream I was a pilot and fly a plane above all that and get away. I would dream I was an astronaut and completely leave the planet; but I had a dream, even in the middle of all that. I had a dream. 
As soon as I turned 17, I joined the Marines and never looked back. I traveled the world. As fate would have it, I did get to fly. I flew helicopters. I'm a published author; I'm an international speaker; I started three companies from scratch; I bought and sold companies; I bought and sold real estate. I play the guitar, mandolin, bass, and harmonica. I water ski; I run triathlons. I'm in the middle of writing my next two books. And my greatest accomplishment of all at this point in all sincerity is being my granddaughter's favorite grandpa.
>> Aw.
>> Thank you. And they had six to choose from so there was a competition.
(Laughter.)
I don't tell you that to impress you but to impress UPON you that it doesn't matter what's happened to you and doesn't matter where you've been. 
The only thing that matters is you deciding right now where you're GOING. The ONLY thing that matters is right now, you decide where you're going. What do you want to see different in the world? What if you dreamt big dreams? Why not you; why not now?
The third powerful principle I'd like to share with you is take action. Nothing moves until you do; nothing works until you do. I love the story of the guy sitting on a couch and prays to God. "God, I want to win the lottery. God, I want to win the lottery."
One day the sky parts and this booming voice says, "Go buy a lottery ticket." Nothing will move until you move. When you think about action, I love the quote by Mother Teresa, who said, "You don't change the world by doing great things; you change the world by doing little things with great love." Little things with great love.
I want you to realize that you can dream big dreams. But also understand that if your dream is to run a marathon and haven't been exercising, you won't go out this weekend and run a marathon. But I can tell you if you start running around the block, in a week or two you can run around the block, twice. You can run around the block three times. You can run around the block four times. I often share with people if there was a redwood tree here at the front of the stage that was ten step across and I gave you an ax and told you to cut it down, you certainly wouldn't be able to cut it down in a day.
But if you came up to that tree every day and took five swings at it, it's not a question of if the tree is coming down; it's simply a matter of when. So what can you be doing to take action on your dream? What could you do between now and the end of the day? Who could you call tonight before you go to bed and tell them that you love them or that you miss them or maybe that you're sorry? Who could you appreciate in the room before you go up to your room tonight? 
This is how we change the world. We're kind to each other. We're kind to each other every day. We love each other every day. We're passionate every day. And if you do that on a regular basis, it becomes your new habit. If you take action and give up complaining, it becomes your new habit. And what are you waiting for? Whatever you need as a population, as an organization, as an individual, don't wait another 50 years for somebody else to make it for you. We are all powerful beyond our wildest dreams. One of my other favorite quotes is, "Don't die with your music still in you." 
I’d like to share a story about taking action. Cliff Young, at the tender, young age of 62, was an Australian sheep farmer. Cliff Young showed up at a foot race. Every year in Australia, they run a foot race from Melbourne to Sidney; so over 600 miles. So when Cliff Young shows up to run this race, the organizers say, "You know, you're 62 years old. Everybody that runs this are world-class athlete. What makes you think you can run this race?"
And Cliff Young said, "Well, you know, I'm a sheep farmer, and we don't have much equipment on the farm, so it's not uncommon for me to run for a day or two with my sheep dog to get the sheep in to either trim their wool or to get them in if there's going to be bad weather." So this goes back and forth a little bit, and the event organizers finally say, "Okay, we'll let the old guy run the race," they knew in the back of their brain there was no way he would finish it, but they just said, "We're gonna let you run."
So the big day runs; they start the race. All these world-class athletes show up with expensive, fancy, running suit and shoes on; and Cliff Young shows up in a pair of bib overalls with a T-shirt, a baseball hat on, and his work boots, and galoshes because there's the possibility it might rain. What happened was they take off. All these world-class runners start running really fast. 
Cliff Young starts to shuffle along. He's going JUST fast enough that he's not walking but at this little shuffle of a run. Now, Cliff Young didn't know how they start or how they ran the race; and what the routine was they would run for 18 hours, sleep for six hours, get up again, and run for another 18 hours. And they would do this day in and day out until they completed over 600 miles. Well, Cliff Young didn't read Sports Illustrated or Runner's World. He didn't have a TV and didn't watch the TV and didn't have a radio. So on the first night when everybody breaks to sleep, Cliff Young had not gotten to where the camp was. 
He ran through the night. The next night, the same thing happens. They all take a break; Cliff Young keeps running through the night. The event organizers thought Cliff Young had probably dropped out of the race because they lost all track of him. But Cliff hadn't dropped out of the race, and on the last night when all the runners took a break to sleep for their six hours, Cliff Young shuffled by. Cliff Young broke the world record for that race by over six hours. He had said that he just showed up to see if he could do it. He didn't realize there was $10,000 of prize money. 
So what he did was he took the prize money and he divided it five ways -- $2,000 each -- and he gave that $2,000 each to the five guys that came in closest to him because he felt so bad for beating them so horribly. In that one move, Cliff Young, overnight, became a hero in Australia because he had run over 600 miles nonstop because he didn't know there was any other way to do it, and he took action because he was curious to see if he could do it. Before I close, I'd like to give you a gift.
(Laughter.)
Yeah, your check is in the mail. It's a third-party, out-of-state check.
(Strumming guitar.)
The gift I would like to give you, before I close this evening, is the gift of music. I believe the gift of music is one of the most powerful ways we have to express ourself.
(Applause.)
Thank you. As a young boy, one of the things I found refuge in was a transistor radio. What I want to share with you this everyone that in music, there's chords, and there's the keys that songs written in. Either one of them are either major or minor. The thing that changes a chord is the third note.
(Playing notes)
It's the Mi -- do-re-mi. If you move that down one step,  it flats the third; so when we take this E major chord (playing chord), it's nice; it's bright; it's happy. If we lower the third (playing minor chord), it becomes dark, sad, even haunting. It will do it to the entire chord; it will do it to the entire chord progression, making the song either happy or sad.
(Playing chords)
So I would like to play a piece called "Romance." This piece starts in the key of E minor; and then it modulates, simply meaning it will change keys -- to E major. I would like you to listen for the change.
(Music playing.)
(Applause.)
>> Thank you. You have the power of that one note. You are part of the song of life. You have the ability to turn sad to happy, dark to light. I do not believe that God would let you dream a dream that you could not make come true. THAT would be hell. If an 11-year-old boy with no hands and no feet can take his Little League team to the state championships; if a little boy that was badly abused could be your keynote speaker tonight; and if a 62-year-old man could run over 600 miles nonstop, what's not possible? If you take 100% responsibility, if you dream big dreams, and if you take action, you can create a legacy. You can put a dent in the universe. Why not you? Why not now? Thank you.
(Applause.)
>> Yea! Whoo! Thank you very much.
>> Thank you. Thank you so much. I certainly think all of us in ACB would agree there's a lot to think about and taking a lot into account of what you said tonight -- let's just give him another hand!
(Cheers and applause.)
>> You're welcome.
>> Thanks for coming.
>> Appreciate it.
>> All right. Okay. Now, who wants to win some money?
(Cheers and applause.)
I hear this here rumor that there just might be some money to give away, and it's all gonna benefit the ACB Braille Forum -- I'm talking like David Trott now; I have been hanging around him too long, you know. To give out the -- to draw the winners for the Braille ACB Braille Forum raffle, it gives me great pleasure to bring up our Chief Financial Officer, Nancy Becker.
(Applause)
(Chuckling.) All right, here you go.
>> I got one. (Away from microphone.)
>> Folks, the pandemic brought us a lot; but what it did bring us is the first $25,000 raffle.
(Applause.)
Oh, wait; hold up, hold up, hold up. It brought us the second $25,000 raffle.
(Applause.)
Oh, not yet; not yet; not yet. It brought us the third $24,000 raffle; and by god, tonight it brought us the fourth $25,000 raffle! Four years in a row, $100,000 gross you raised for the American Council of the Blind. There's a lot of great people that made that happen but ultimately it was you who bought the tickets that made that happen. But let's talk about the people who got the tickets out to you. You know, I'm always bragging on my buddy. Looking at 250 for your goal next year -- just gonna give it to you now.
(Laughter.)
You know you've got Nancy Marks Becker, Nancy, Caitlin in there this time selling tickets. The Minneapolis staff processes the credit cards and does the work for the things; and y'all have made it what it is today because before the pandemic, you know, we'd have $14,000, $17,000; but we never hit $20,000. Well, the pandemic gave us $25,000. And that's because we reached more people than we'd ever reached before. So it really, really makes me feel good to have been a part of it this long and know that we are at a level right now that we never thought we would be with Dan Spoone. You asleep, Dan?
(Laughter.)
You see how people pay attention to me, don't you? He knew I wasn't given him any money. I said we never thought we would reach the level we are with these tickets.
>> I completely agree with you, David. I am still thinking of what Louie said. I can't get over the talk that he just gave us because I think of this organization in 2020 when the pandemic hit, right? The event had occurred. And how this organization respond was going to mean to help this organization for decades to come. And how did we respond? We didn't respond by saying, "Oh, no, it's a pandemic; what can we do?"
We said, "We are gonna pull together, and we're gonna have a convention, and we care about our members, and we're gonna start having calls so they can participate and be part of society through the pandemic."
(Applause.)
We couldn't come to this hotel in 2020, but we made plans to come back in 2023; and by God, we're here. We're so much stronger for it because we had a dream that we were gonna get through, and we were gonna include everybody; and ACB, we did it. And so as I was listening to Louie, it kept running around in my mind. We had an event, right.
E plus R equals O. And we took a total lemon, and we made lemonade out of it.
(Applause.)
We made our organization stronger than it's ever been and I just -- I'm so proud of all of us, and Louie's talk resonated with me. David, you're right; we sold out the raffle four years in a row. Let's give somebody some money!
(Cheers and applause.)
>>  All right. Now, the way you guys have always wanted this, we gonna do this, this way. The first ticket drawn will be for the $5,000. However, you will hear the other two tickets first, but we will draw the $5,000 first. Nancy will write it down on the ticket, the winner. When we're ready to announce, we will give you the $500 ticket, the $1,000 ticket, and then the $5,000 winner. But everybody has it in their mind they want a shot at $5,000 so it's the first ticket drawn. I think it would only be right that our new President draw that first ticket.
(Cheers and applause.)
I mean, she needs to find out what it means to be griped from at from everybody by not doing the right thing early, right? Oh, yeah, woman, you have to get up for this to get griped out. We wont 'let you sit there and enjoy it. You know the next guy that will be under the most pressure is Michael Garrett; and I think for the $1,000 prize his wife ought to be the one to do it -- look at him jumping up there! I know you was!
Hey, get your hands out of there, woman; one ticket at a time. Michael said he was treasurer and was going to do it and Peggy wouldn't get to do nothing. Do you want Michael or Peggy to draw?
(Various shouts.)
Uh, just keep quiet if you want Michael.
(Laughter.)
I think Peggy's the winner. Just wait to see what I'm going to do to you in Texas next month. Come on up, Peggy. Yes, ma'am. Peggy Garrett will do the next one.
>> Okay. $1,000?
>> Yes, ma'am. This one Peggy will be drawing will be the $1,000 one.
>> No peeking.
>> Yeah.
>> And you know what I think I will do? I will bring somebody up from the audience. Let me get him; I know where he's at. You know -- this group of four. I want to get to draw for the $500 ticket the oldest President in ACB. Paul Edwards. And if you noticed, everybody I picked is Blind. I did that for a reason. My wife bought a ticket.
(Laughter.)
So, you know, I wanted to be sure and clear you understand that everybody that true these -- drew these are Blind -- no pressure, anybody. If Paul draws his name, I'm changing mine.
(Laughter.)
Since she worked so hard all year on this thing, Nancy's gonna get to tell you who each one of them are, starting the $500.
>> I sold the $500 one. Dan Spoone.
(Cheers and applause.)
>> Oh, you're not supposed to do, right? Paul said the $250 would be comfortable.
>> Alan Peterson drew the $1,000 one. I'm sorry if I say your name long. Woody Rieke? R-I-E-K-E.
>> Oh, a friend of Alan's.
>> And the $5 one was sold by Nancy and is Steven Hisson (phonetic) or Stefan.
(Cheers and applause.)
>> And once again, y'all made us proud. Thank you SO much.
>> All right, you owe me a beer, at least a case. He's a Wisconsin boy, my buddy, so I can say that.
>> (Away from microphone.)
>> Yeah. All right. Okay, well, if you didn't win that, how exciting was that? Thank you, guys. That was great. We have -- we've got just a few door prizes left.
(Cheers and applause.)
I will call Rachel Schroeder here -- did you get the information I sent you about that?
Okay, we're gonna call up Rachel Schroeder to give away the last few door prizes that we have so Rachel, come on up here. All right. Working on it.
(Humming the "Jeopardy!" theme)
All right. All right. You know, I feel like -- a little inside baseball, you guys -- I feel like I'm sitting at Wrigley Field because it's like echoing all around me here. So Rachel's right behind me. Yep.
>> And me.
>> And you. Well, here we go. Here's the mic.
>> Okay. Hello.
>> All right. All right! We have -- bear with me; I'm reading from my phone here. We have $50, a $50 visa card, from ACB Radio Amateurs. I will let Delaney do the honors.
>> Claire Stanley.
(Cheers and applause.)
>> Okay, bear with me a second. Hang on; I'm reading. I didn't know I was going to do this. Okay. I know; I'm hearing the "Jeopardy!" theme now.
(Delaney humming the theme into the microphone.)
(Cheers and applause.)
>> I hold the mic.
>> This phone is going to drive me nuts. Hang on.
>> Bear with us.
>> Almost ready. Okay. All right. Sorry. Doing all this with voiceover. $25 from North Dakota, and that is going to Robin Hughes!
(Cheers and applause.)
>> Let me tell them!
>> We have a few, baby. Okay. We have ... uh ... okay. I know this one. $50 from ICB and Delaney will tell you it goes to --
>> Leslie Spoone!
(Cheers and applause.)
>> Order a lottery ticket, guys!
>> Okay, we have the last door prize, $25 from Wakanda Lions -- Visa card. Thank you, Janet. That one goes to --
>> Brian Dufelmeier!
>> Oh, God!
(Applause.)
>> Why did you say that? Why?
>> Thank you, everybody!
>> Thank you!
(Laughter, applause)
>> All right!
>> Have safe travels back home!
>> All right! Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for giving Illinois a chance to host the 2023 ACB Convention. It was certainly a lot of fun. Thank you for giving me the honor of emceeing tonight. We do have a couple of things. First of all, once again, if you have a door prize that you won that you have not claimed, please see Janet -- up here at the head table -- wherever you find her. Also, for those who have ALDs to turn in, what should they do with them?
>> See Nancy Becker, please.
>> Bring them up to the head table. Bring them up here to the head table. I'm going off the mic when I do that because Ken -- I'm remembering Ken Stewart always saying that.
And we have a couple of lost-and-found item that we would like to send back home to people who own them:  a pair of sunglasses, two pair of sunglasses and a cane. You might have a little trouble traveling out of here.
>> Bags. (Away from microphone.)
>>  A black bag with thumb drive and keychain -- is that all we got?
>> (Away from microphone.) Green pill bottle. You may want that. Again, thank you so much, everybody. Everyone, have safe travels home, as Delaney said! We'll see you next year in Jacksonville, Florida! Thanks very much!