SPRING 2016 NEWSLETTER
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THE FRIENDS OF THE NEW JERSEY LIBRARY FOR THE BLIND AND HANDICAPPED, INC. SPRING 2016 NEWSLETTER |
The weather is getting nicer and it should be the premise to a good summer. I hope you will enjoy the summer and find some good books to read.
The next meeting of the Friends will be held on Saturday, June 4, from 10:00 A.M. to noon, followed by lunch from 12:00 to 1:00 P.M. at the Joseph Kohn Training Center (JKTC) located at 130 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, NJ. Directions to the JKTC will appear at the end of this newsletter. Anyone wishing to stay for lunch will be asked to contribute $5.00 toward the cost of the food. Please call Mary Jo Partyka at 609 888-5459 by May 30 to advise us of your attendance so we can plan for lunch. I hope you will consider joining us for an informative and important meeting. Since this is our annual meeting, membership dues will be collected at the June meeting. Dues are $10.00 for an individual and $25.00 for a family.
If you cannot attend the meeting we would like to invite you to dial in to the conference call. Please note; this is not a toll free number. On June 4th at 10 AM dial 712 432-0180. Enter the access code 425 373#. You will be asked to press 1 after the access code is repeated correctly.
In this issue, you will find an article about the upcoming New Jersey State Library Talking Book and Braille Center’s (NJSLTBBC) annual golf outing, an interview with Ottilie Lucas concerning her and Bob’s move to Florida and their many years of service to the Library.
This is my last term as president of the Friends. I would like to let you know that I enjoyed serving in this capacity and found it both a joy and a challenge.
Mary Jo Partyka, President
Election of Officers
By Jim Dougherty, Nominating Committee Chairperson
Election of Officers will be held at the June 4th meeting. The Nominating Committee, which is comprised of Gina Grillo, Bill Dougherty and Jim Dougherty, is proposing the following slate of officers: President – Lauren Casey; Vice President – Joan Leonard; Secretary – Mary Jo Partyka and Treasurer – Joyce Sowa. Other members may be nominated from the floor at the time of elections. We do ask that anyone being nominated from the floor be approached in advance of the meeting and he/she must agree to run for the office in question. Please make every attempt to attend this very important meeting.
A Gracious Thank You to Bob and Ottilie Lucas
By Mary Jo Partyka
This past February, Ottilie and Bob Lucas, who have provided innumerable services to the blind and sighted community, decided to move to Florida. Since Ottilie so eloquently expressed hers and Bob’s sentiments during this interview, I will let her speak to you in her own words which will be more meaningful than anything I can say.
According to Ottilie, “we are moving and plan to enjoy a true retirement. During the past 30 years, we have become involved with different organizations to the point where we became enablers by driving people to meetings, sponsoring birthday parties and picnics, running errands for people, and taking on the leadership responsibilities of many of these organizations. I served as secretary of the Friends for several years and Bob read for Audiovision and served on the NJSLTBBC’s golf outing committee. We also became involved in lay ministry endeavors. Although we enjoyed helping everyone and the fellowship which came with helping, we want to be in a place where we won’t have the responsibility of a huge house and so many commitments. The upkeep of our house has taken a disproportionate amount of time, energy, anxiety, care, and expense. We looked at homes in several states and decided to move to Florida because it has a great paratransit system for blind people, great golf courses, a nice warm climate, and a reasonable cost of living. Bob and I appreciated the opportunity to work with the Friends and the Library whose staff accommodated Bob when he needed to record the newsletters. I helped the guides from the Grounds for Sculpture become comfortable working with blind people. Bob and I hope that the Friends will be able to continue providing the funds to make cartridges available so that the Library could record books for patrons who don’t have computers. We will miss our friends and intend to keep in touch with the people from New Jersey but we are beginning a new adventure which will be nice for us.”
As president of the Friends and as a personal friend to Bob and Ottilie for the past 40 years, I wish them the happy retirement which they richly deserve.
On June 14, 2016, The NJ State Library Talking Book & Braille Center (TBBC) is hosting its 5th Annual Golf Classic at Hopewell Valley Golf Club at 114 Pennington Hopewell Road, in Hopewell, New Jersey. The Friends are pleased to be a sponsor again this year.
The Library staff is looking forward to enjoying a day of golf with you on one of the best conditioned and respected golf clubs while supporting a deserving New Jersey program that helps tens of thousands of residents each year. Proceeds benefit the NJSL TBBC, NJ’s only free public library for the print disabled (anyone who has a physical impairment, a reading disability or a visual impairment). For more information on registration and sponsorship opportunities visit our website at www.njstatelib.org/event/fifth-annual-tbbc-golf-classic/
If you have any questions about the outing, contact Linda Cerce at 800-792-8322 ext. 835 or 802
TBBC Book Club Update
By Karen Carson
Coordinator, Audiovision Broadcast & Volunteer Depts. TBBC hosts a wonderful Book Club facilitated by Karen Carson. The discussion groups meet quarterly both at TBBC and on the phone. Below are some titles that have been recommended and the last two were chosen for book discussions. If interested in participation, call Karen at (800) 792-8322.
For our June 7th meeting, The Get Together Book Club members agreed to read:
DB81118 At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen (as first selection)
DB79197 Coptown (Mary Jo’s suggestion) by Karin Slaughter—12 hrs (as second selection)
As extra selections we chose: DB79878 I Am Malala (Jim’s pick)-4 hrs, and DB66059 People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks-16 hrs 16 mins. (Anne’s pick)
Here are some favorites of my own that you may want to read:
DB69381 South of Broad by Pat Conroy
DB74349 My Lucky Life in and out of Show Business by Dick van Dyke
DB67383 The Prince of Frogtown by Rick Bragg
DB71070 The Tutor by Peter Abrahams
Download the following title that was recorded in our Audiovision studio:
DBC 01883 Cent’Anni: The Sinatra Legend at 100 by Richard Muti
The Friends would like to thank the following people for their very generous donations: Beverly Crane Dubee, Karen P. Clark, Mary Gleason
This is a friendly reminder that our annual dues for FY 2017 should be sent in now. Please send your dues and donations to the Friends mailing address and write your check out to the Friends of the Library for the Blind and Handicapped. The Friends appreciate your efforts and your participation in helping the NJSLTBBC meet its goals. A membership form is attached to this newsletter for those who wish to join the Friends or pay dues. Dues are $10.00 for an individual membership and $25.00 for a family membership. These dues cover the 12 month period from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017.
The newsletter is available in Large Print, E-Mail, on our website friendsnjlibraryfortheblind.org and for those who do not have computers, by telephone on Newsline.. You can access these Newsletters with a Newsline subscription and a touch-tone telephone. 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. If you have a Newsline subscription, but do not remember your login information, contact Christian Riehl at the above number extension 821. Once you have secured your login information, dial in to the service by calling 1-888-882-1629, or the local dial up number provided to you for accessing the service. Follow the prompts for logging in and reading the Newsletters. Choose option 2 off the main menu for your state’s information channel, followed by option for the blindness groups, then the option for the Friends Newsletters. Happy reading.
Please check out our website for information on community services as well as present and past copies of our newsletters at friendsnjlibraryfortheblind.org
Directions to the Next Meeting
Address:
JKTC
130 Livingston Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-2421
Cross Street: Seaman Street
From the North
South on Route 1 to Route 18 heading toward New Brunswick.
Get off Route 18 at the New Street ramp.
Turn slight right onto New Street/ NJ 26.
Take the 2nd left onto Livingston Avenue/NJ 26.
Turn left onto Seaman Street and left into the JKTC parking lot.
From the South
North on Route 1 to Livingston Avenue/NJ 26 toward New Brunswick.
Turn right onto Seaman Street and left into the JKTC parking lot.
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