Louis Braille School

When Louis Braille School students and staff received an invitation from Rosewood Courte marketing director, Sylvana Rinehart, to visit for an afternoon of crafts, the unanimous response was, “Yes, let’s do it!”

Rosewood Courte, a short walk from the Louis Braille School, is a residential facility for people with Alzheimer’s and related disorders. Our first visit to this warm, friendly community was last year when students and residents enjoyed a songfest accompanied by Ginny Burger on her harp.

This time the activity was painting wooden alligators — eight-inch-long articulated wooden alligators whose bodies move back and forth.

Working in teams, and guided by program director Karen Davis, each student was paired with a resident who assisted with the painting project. Paint of yellow, green, blue and red found its way from pot, to brush, to alligator, producing creatures that would surely take first place in any alligator fashion show.

Although the alligators were great fun and a unique treat, the highlights for all ages were the warm conversations and gentle sharing.

The visit ended with an invitation to return each month for another activity. Again, we said, “Let’s do it!”

We are pleased to share with you an invitation from the Everett Central Lions Club to a special concert by the Everett Symphony Orchestra. This performance is especially for people who are visually impaired and their families and friends.

The concert is free. Seating is first come, first choice. “Friends” means all of you who are reading this.

The first Everett Symphony V.I.P. (Visually Impaired Persons) concert, which is for people of all ages, made its debut last year. We know of two elementary school children who were invited on stage during a break to talk with the musicians and examine their instruments, much to the delight of everyone present.

Following is the Everett Central Lions Club invitation:

You are invited to a FREE V.I.P. ‘Pops’ Concert performed by the Everett Symphony Orchestra.

Join Visually Impaired Persons and Lions Clubs along with family and friends for an entertaining evening of popular music from hit ‘Broadway’ musicals.

Thursday, November 5th, at 7 pm
New Life Center – 6830 Highland Drive, Everett
( On the corner of Madison and Highland Dr. )

Driving Instructions
From the south. On northbound I-5, take exit 189 toward Mukilteo Ferry, take Evergreen Way exit and turn right onto Evergreen Way, turn right onto Madison Ave, go to Highland Drive. New Life Center is on your right.

From the north. On southbound I-5, take exit 192, turn right onto 41st Ave Eastbound, turn left on Rucker Ave, turn left on Madison Ave, go to Highland Drive. New life Center is on your right.

Sponsored by Everett Central Lions Club
For information contact Art Ruben
Phone: 425-514-5464
Email: since1965@aol.com

“I’m very excited,” ten-year-old Brett Wheeler exclaimed as he arrived at the Edmonds Lions Club August 17 board meeting.

Brett, blind from birth, was excited because he was about to receive a brand new Perkins brailler, a gift from the Edmonds Lions Club.

Edmonds Lion Red Bingham, who handled the considerable paper work and phone calls it took to fund and obtain the brailler, made the presentation. With Red’s skillful coaching, Brett had to open a big box and remove the packing material before his brailler was finally revealed.

Along with his mother, Jennifer, and his sister, Lyndsey, Brett moved to Edmonds in December of 2008 so he could attend the Louis Braille School. Now in the fifth grade at the Louis Braille School, Brett is happy to have his own brailler so he can practice at home and sharpen his skills. The brailler will serve him well for many years.

The Perkins brailler, sometimes called a “braille typewriter,” is a simple manual machine used to write braille. The brailler has a key corresponding to each of the six dots of the braille code. By simultaneously pressing different combinations of the six keys, users can create any of the characters in the braille code.

Eager to try out his new brailler, Brett brailled the alphabet while the Lions cheered him on.

When asked if he would like to say anything to the Club, Brett replied with heartfelt appreciation, “Thank you for my brailler. I love you, Lions Club.”

Lions Club president Bobby Mills replied “The Lions’ motto is ‘We Serve.’ This is what it is all about.”

Last week, a long-time friend of the Louis Braille School stopped by with a unique gift, a Louis Braille bicentennial silver dollar. The coin commemorates the 200th birthday of Louis Braille, inventor of the raised dot method of reading and writing used by those who are blind.

The “heads” side of the coin features a portrait of Louis Braille and the inscriptions “Liberty,” “In God We Trust,” “Louis Braille,” “1809,” and “2009.”

The “tails” side features a child sitting at a table reading a braille book. The word “Independence” is depicted on a bookshelf behind the child. “BRL,” the braille contraction for the word “braille,” is shown in the upper part of the coin. This side of the coin also has the inscriptions “United States of America,” “One Dollar,” and “E Pluribus Unum.”

The Louis Braille silver dollar is the first US coin to bear readable braille. The Alabama state quarter, issued in 2003, features a portrait of Helen Keller and her name in print and braille, but the braille is too small to discern by touch.

Mintage of the Louis Braille coin, which is 90% silver, is limited to 400,000, and is available in proof and uncirculated versions.

We will be happy to show visitors to the Louis Braille School our bright, shining Louis Braille silver dollar. We think it is quite special.

There are three easy ways you can help the Louis Braille School gain supplies and money to support its educational program, and all it will cost you is a few minutes of time. The three programs are:

Office Depot 5% Back to Schools
Campbell’s Labels for Education
Box Tops 4 Education

Office Depot 5% Back to Schools

Help our school earn free supplies from Office Depot.

The Louis Braille School will earn credits equal to 5% of your qualifying purchases. Every time you shop at any Office Depot store, at check out tell the cashier, “5% Back to Schools” and give the name and location of our school, Louis Braille School in Edmonds. They will ask for the school ID number, 70207722. If you do not have the ID number, they can quickly look it up.

Do not worry about whether your purchases are qualifying purchases. The store’s computer will figure that out from the receipt codes.

For your convenience, we have wallet-size cards showing the school name and ID number. We will be happy to send you one at your request.

Remember, every time you shop at Office Depot say:

5% Back to Schools
Louis Braille School, Edmonds, WA
ID# 70207722 (or ask them to look it up)

For more information about Office Depot’s 5% Back to Schools, check out their website and scroll down to 5% Back to Schools.

Campbell’s Labels for Education

For more than thirty years, Campbell’s has been awarding free educational equipment to schools in exchange for proofs of purchase from the Campbell’s family of products. Simply save proofs of purchase from participating Campbell’s products and send or bring them to the Louis Braille School, 10130 Edmonds Way, Edmonds, WA 98020.

Look for the Campbell’s Labels for Education logo on the product packaging. We must have the bar code; for beverages we need the bottle cap.

Points accumulate to the school’s credit as the labels are redeemed. When we have enough points, we can select from a wide array of items in a colorful on-line catalog. Points required for items vary with the value of the item.

Some of the products eligible for redemption include: Campbell’s soups, SpaghettiOs, Prego, Swanson, Pepperidge Farm, and V8.

See the Campbell’s website for more information about Campbell’s Labels for Education, and a list of the many qualifying products.

Box Tops 4 Education

General Mills launched its Box Tops 4 Education program in 1996 as a way to help schools gain extra cash by redeeming product box tops. The program has expanded to include Pillsbury, Kimberley Clark, Hefty, and Ziplock with products such as Betty Crocker, Gold Medal, Green Giant, Kleenex, Scott, Progresso, and others.

Please look for the Box Top 4 Education labels on your food products and send the labels to the school. Each Box Top 4 Education label currently is worth ten cents to the school, some are worth more, and there are “bonus point specials.”

See the Box Top website for information.

On December 12, 2007, KIRO Radio reporter Heather Bosch arrived at the Louis Braille School. She came to do a holiday story about children who are blind or visually impaired and how they experience Christmas.

Heather began her interview with staff member Janie Kimber and her guide dog Tammy. Janie shared childhood Christmas memories. She eloquently explained that she doesn’t miss out because she can’t see with her eyes, that she can see in other ways; she can smell things, she can hear things, she can feel things, and she can see with her spirit.

Heather then turned her attention to the students and found them making Christmas gifts for their parents. The children were intrigued with her big microphone. When they learned she was from a radio station, a young boy exclaimed, “I love the radio!”

The piece aired December 21 on KIRO’s morning and evening newscasts and is currently a podcast on the radio station’s website, www.KIRO710.com, as well as at the end of this post.

710 KIRO Radio, an affiliate of CBS Radio News, is based in Seattle, Washington. It is heard around the world via its network satellite facility and internet audio streaming capability.

Click to listen to “Seeing Christmas”
This is a 2.97 MB mp3 file of about 2 minutes.

I was delighted when publisher Cathy Feldman telephoned to tell me about Blue Point Books’ latest release, The Blind Doctor: The Jacob Bolotin Story. I was even more pleased when she offered to send me a complimentary copy. I was looking for a good read for the weekend, and the excitement in Cathy’s voice made the book seem irresistible.

The Blind Doctor tells the remarkable story of the man believed to be the world’s first totally blind physician fully licensed to practice medicine. Born to poor parents in Chicago in 1888, he worked as a door-to-door salesman to pay for his medical school tuition. He graduated with honors from the Chicago College of Medicine and became one of the top heart and lung specialists in the city.

Dr. Bolotin, a contemporary of Helen Keller, was among the first to raise public awareness that blindness need not deprive a person of a full and rewarding life.

For more information about The Blind Doctor, visit www.bluepointbooks.com

The Blind Doctor: The Jacob Bolotin Story by Rosalind Perlman, copyright 2007, is published by Blue Point Books, Santa Barbara, California

ISBN-13: 978-1-8834213-1, 256 pages, $19.95

Large Type Edition: ISBN-13: 978-1-8834214-8, 416 pages, $24.95

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic is taping a cassette edition. The US Library of Congress, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, is preparing a braille edition.

Kara Dyko, president of the Seattle Area Delta Gamma Alumnae Group, paid an October visit to the Louis Braille School to present three unique tactile pictures. Created especially for the Louis Braille School by the alumnae group, the pictures are made from items that can be readily found around the house and at craft stores. The items are arranged on 20 x 30 inch foam board to form lovely tactile creations. Each picture contains a few words of raised braille.

Delta Gamma’s primary philanthropy is “Sight Conservation and Aid to the Blind.” www.seattledg.com

When a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, adult new reader book club selected Out of Darkness, Russell Freedman’s biography of Louis Braille, to read little did they know the subject would lead to a study of the braille alphabet. Eager to learn more, members went online, discovered louisbrailleschool.org and our offer of a free braille alphabet card in exchange for a self-addressed, stamped envelope. We were pleased to fill their request and even more pleased to learn that the book club members studied the braille alphabet and translated some simple braille sentences. Hooray for Braille!

If you would like to receive a free braille alphabet card, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Louis Braille School, 10130 Edmonds Way, Edmonds WA 98020.

When Jesse selected Louis Braille as the subject for a school report, his parents visited the Louis Braille School for assistance. We were happy to give him a braille alphabet card and a braille calendar to share with his classmates. Jesse presented his report to the class but did not mention Louis Braille’s name. It was up to the students to figure that out. The class was puzzled until Jesse spoke of the six-dot system of reading that is read with the fingertips. That was the clue that brought the correct answer: Louis Braille.

The Louis Braille School website has information about Mr. Braille and the braille code especially for students working on school reports. Go to louisbrailleschool.org and click on Resources to explore FAQ about braille and Louis Braille, pictures of where Mr. Braille was born, and a braille alphabet chart.