The TAPING RECORDER December, 2005
News from and about Taping For The Blind, Inc. www.tapingfortheblind.org

HOLIDAY HOURS--While we continue to deliver our programming during the
holidays, our operating hours will be shortened on Monday, December 26,
2005, and Monday, January 2, 2006. We will operate from 7 a.m. to 12:00
p.m. each of those Mondays. We will have a normal operating schedule on
December 23, 2005, and on December 30, 2005 (from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. each
Friday). Our Saturday and Sunday schedules for both weekends will be our
usual 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. If you will be unable to do your show on HTBR,
please let Radio Manager Jim Martinez know as soon as possible so he can
line up the required substitutes. If you would be able to do substitute
work, please let Jim know that as well.

ANOTHER GREAT PARTY--While bronchitis slowed Ginger Gish, it didn't stop
her from organizing another terrific holiday open house. She did recruit
some truly excellent help, including Sarah & Terry Roush, Lyn & Les
Schmaltz, Janet & Toni Parisi, Deborah Filip, Pat Pilkington, Dianne & Bill
Brown, Cullom Connely, Beverly Hicks, Nancy Daly, Jerri Herbsleb, Laverne
Hokenson, and Marsha Ulaby. Collectively they saw to the set up and clean
up for the open house, donated wine and flowers, donated extra dishes and
utensils, made cookies, did party shopping, ran last minute errands,
decorated and in general made sure the party was a success. Ginger could
not have done it without all of their help. Thanks also go to the staff --
Cynthia, Justin and Jim -- who helped to make sure the building was ready
for our readers the next day. It is unfortunate that we don't have more of
these bonding experiences throughout the year, as they are such fun!

MARATHON COMING--The Houston Marathon will be run on Sunday, January 16,
2006, and we want you to support the Taping team with both your cheers and
your money. You can be a cheerleader by joining the Taping Hoopla Brigade
at the intersection of University and Auden in front of West University
City Hall. We will gather to make noise for the marathon runners and once
again will be next to our friends from KUHF as they broadcast
coverage. This is about the halfway point of the marathon. You will need
to get there early as the runners get going early, and the streets tend to
get shut down for the runners, so join us about 7 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. or
so. We also have a wonderful team of runners including Alex Kopatic, Dan
Krizane, Alan Ping, Ted Pfister, Anita Simpson, Dena Marks Sokolow, and
Skip Williams. Support any or all of our team with a donation--either a
check or by doing a credit card donation via our website (URL given
above). The "Donate" button is a very easy way to make a donation using
your Visa or MasterCard, so please support our marathon team!

LIGHT THE CANDLES--Happy Birthday to the following volunteers who celebrate
in December: 12/03 Avery Bonnee; 12/04 Susan Allen; 12/05 Marie Roberts,
Sarah Roush; 12/10 Bill Kreps, Robert Rice, R.J. "Skip" Williams; 12/15
Doug Miller; 12/16 Pat Shannon; 12/18 Pat Arthur; 12/22 John Borrowman,
Floy Crutchfield; 12/23 Jeri Herbsleb; 12/24 Julie Burks; 12/28 Bill
Canning; 12/29 Betsey Sevy; and 12/30 Donna Wilkins. If you have a
December birthday and your name isn't on this list, please notify Ginger so
she can update our records.

NOT JUST FOR LUNCH ANYMORE--We are talking about brown paper bags, and no,
they are not just for toting your lunch anymore (we are talking about the
big bags from your friendly grocery store, so possibly you haven't used
them as lunch bags). Taping uses the bags for packing up and recycling all
the newspapers we get. Now, thanks to a very efficient cleaning crew, we
find ourselves really short of brown bags so if you can donate some to
Taping, we'll use them wisely (and hopefully, keep them away from the
cleaning crew!).

OUR SYMPATHY--The sympathy of the entire Taping family is extended to
volunteer Otto Schlamme whose brother-in-law, George Schnitzer, passed away
recently.

THANK YOU--As we wrap up another year, we want to say "Thank You" for the
volunteer service you have given and will continue to give to Taping For
The Blind, Inc. It is our volunteer corps that "Turns Sight Into Sound"
and brings our excellent services to our clients. We couldn't do it
without you! We extend our warmest wishes for whatever holidays you
celebrate and a most joyous new year. On to 2006!

CONSIDER A GIFT OF SECURITIES--This is a good time to do gift and tax
planning, and our incoming Vice President of Development, Jerry Hanlon, has
prepared information for your consideration:

Hello, Friends. The U.S. stock market is up by 63% since the bottom of the
bear market in October of 2003. Besides the obvious blessings you'll enjoy
from appreciated stock, there is another very practical and generous
benefit you can receive from such good fortune. If you've held the
marketable security for at least a year and a day, you may donate the
security to Taping For The Blind, Inc. Taping is certified as a tax-exempt
charity by the IRS so you may legally claim as a charitable contribution
deduction the fair market value of the security at the time of its transfer
to the organization. This can result in a significant financial advantage
over a normal cash contribution in the case of a highly appreciated security.

Here's an example of how it works: Assume that Mrs. Smith has owned 100
shares of the common stock of ABC Corporation for many years and has a tax
basis, or cost, in this stock of $1 per share. Further assume that ABC
trades on the New York Stock Exchange and has a current value of $81 per
share. Mrs. Smith wishes to make a charitable donation to Taping, which is
certified as a tax-exempt charitable organization by the IRS. Mrs. Smith
could sell her ABC stock to create cash to make her contribution. In doing
this, she would sell her ABC stock for $8,100 ($81 times 100 shares),
realize a taxable gain of $8,000 (the $81 per share less her $1 per share
cost) and pay a tax of $1,200 (her gain of $8,000 times her tax rate of
15%), leaving her a net of $6,900 to give to Taping. She will deduct the
$6,900 as a charitable contribution on her tax return and, assuming Mrs.
Smith has a marginal tax rate of 25%, she will save $1,725 in
taxes. Alternatively, Mrs. Smith could make her contribution using the
strategy described above. In this case, Taping would receive the full
value of $8,100 and Mrs. Smith would claim the entire $8,100 as a
charitable contribution deduction on her tax return, saving $2,025 in taxes.
In the first instance, Taping received a donation valued at $6,900 and Mrs.
Smith saved taxes in the amount of $1,725. In the second instance, Taping
received the full value of $8,100 and Mrs. Smith saved taxes in the amount
of $2,025. The sum of the increased aggregate benefits to both Mrs. Smith
and Taping totals to $1,500, which is 18.5% of the value of the gift -
quite a nice incremental return created merely by the way the gift was made!

The three things to remember in this strategy are: (1) You must have owned
the security for at least one year and a day; (2) the current value of the
security must be greater than your cost (the strategy will not result in an
incremental benefit to you if the security has a current value less than
your cost), and (3) the receiving charitable organization must be certified
as tax-exempt by the IRS under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

For further information on how you may take advantage of this strategy in
making a donation to Taping For The Blind, Inc., please call Cynthia
Franzetti at 713-622-2767.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Thank you, Jerry, for this excellent article. We hope it is useful to our
readers. Keep in mind that we are offering this as information only, and
you should consult your financial planner, CPA, or attorney for
professional advice.

RLB