The TAPING RECORDER September, 2004
News from & about Taping For The Blind, Inc. www.tapingfortheblind.org

CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY--Twice a year we ask our listeners to send in donations
and that time is here again. We put this together with our updated radio
reading schedule and send an appeal letter, a gift envelope, and a large
print copy of the new schedule to our clients. Our Spring campaign was very
successful and we are hoping the Fall campaign will be at least as
successful, if not more so. Getting this information ready for the post
office requires a considerable amount of people power, and we had a great
turnout at our stuffing party on Monday, August 30. One volunteer said
that this wasn't his favorite work at Taping, but he really liked getting
to hang out with the rest of the crowd doing the work! We offer sincere
thanks to the following volunteers who did the work: Bob Bartlett, Bill
Canning, Margaret Carl, Fred Dawson, Betty & Jim Douglas, Jim Falick, Jane
Freeman, Gordon Guillory, Sylvia Levy, Anna (who stuffed envelopes on her
birthday!) & Tom McLean, Tom Milburn, Kathy Osman, Marie Roberts, Gisela
Sachs, Fran Sanders, Dee & William Weaver, and Betty Woelful. We also say
thanks to Ginger Gish for doing her usual spectacular job getting this
exercise organized and staffed! A job well done and over 2000 envelopes
stuffed, sealed, and labeled! They are now in the hands of our clients and
checks are starting to come in.

SIGN IN, PLEASE--As John Charles Daly used to say to the contestants on
"What's My Line?" oh, so long ago, "Would you sign in, please?" That comes
to mind as we now have a new sign-in procedure. And believe it or not,
this is making our lives easier because this function has been
automated--all the work we have to do with volunteer hours is now done by
those wonderful computers. Our thanks to Ulyesse LeGrange who devised the
new system that went into effect on September 1. The last 4 months of this
year will be done on the new system so we still have to do some manual work
with the first portion of the year, but next year it will be all done on
the new system. Accounting for volunteer hours is VERY important to Taping
as it is now reflected on our financial statements, quantifying all the
work that you do.

Incidentally, the time you report should include time spent
commuting to and from Taping. That is also volunteer time and is perfectly
ethical. Think about the speaker for Taping that travels an hour to give a
five-minute speech and an hour to get back home. That is 2 hours of
volunteer time and needs to be reported as such.

AIR-HOUSTON--Our Web design team is participating in a program put on by
Knowbility.Org for improving accessibility of websites. AIR stands for
Accessibility Internet Rally and design teams are invited to participate
along with not-for-profit organizations. The organizations that do not
have a website but need one can be teamed with professional Web designers;
the final outcome is to build websites for these organizations. Our Web
design team was interested in learning the latest methods to promote
accessibility as well as the latest in available tools to measure this
accessibility. Ginger Gish and Bob Bartlett attended the first session for
the organization side of the equation, and our Web design team will attend
the accessibility classes (we'll report names as soon as we know all of
them -- we don't want to leave anybody out). This is an exciting program
and we feel we will benefit from our participation. It also gives us an
opportunity to expand our thinking about our website as a source of
information for board members, volunteers, medical community
representatives, and clients. You'll be hearing more about this in future
issues of the RECORDER.

RUNNERS GET READY!--It is almost time for the sign-up party for the HP
Houston Marathon so get yourself in shape and sign up to run for Taping--be
a part of a winning team! If you walk or run, join Taping at the Kick-Off
party for the HP Houston Marathon on Monday, September 13, from 5 to 7 p.m.
in Memorial Park. Participants can sign up and begin training for various
events such as the full marathon, the half marathon, the wheelchair race or
the 5K walk. The entire event comprises Houston's largest single-day
sporting event--this year on Sunday, January 16, 2005. Volunteers are
encouraged to join the events, support a Taping Team runner, or come out
and cheer our team at the Taping Hoopla booth on the day of the race! For
more information, contact Ginger Gish.

"OUT IN THE WEST TEXAS TOWN OF EL PASO"--We have come to find out that
there is a very new radio reading service that broadcasts 2 hours of
original programming and 22 hours of In-Touch radio reading service from
New York off the satellite. It turns out that they are going to have to
relocate and will lose their satellite dish. They were casting about for a
solution to their dilemma when they ran across Taping For The Blind on the
Internet. They listened for a bit and noticed how wonderful we are, so
they have talked several times with Radio Manager Jim Martinez about using
our broadcast to replace their satellite feed. We don't have anything
etched in stone yet, but we'll keep you informed about this very big step
for both services.

LIGHT THE CANDLES--Here are the volunteers celebrating birthdays in
September: 09/01 Michael Johnston; 09/04 Janet Parisi; 09/05 Joe Laughlin,
Dena Marks Sokolow; 09/07 Bernard Lewis; 09/09 Betti Saunders; 09/20 Bill
Brown, Anne Chatoney; 09/21 Dran Alessi; 09/22 Carolyn Babb; 09/23 Deborah
Filip; 09/24 Julie Machal; 09/27 Marty Ryan; 09/28 Anne Sharpe; 09/29
Justin Blount; and 09/30 Sam Bertron. If you celebrate your birthday in
September and do not see your name listed, please let Ginger know so your
record can be updated.

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RLB