Sharing the Vision

Sharing the Vision

Don Capps

Sharing the Vision

by Donald C. Capps

From the Editor: As Monitor readers know, Don Capps is the senior member

of the National Federation of the Blind's Board of Directors. He serves as President

of the NFB of South Carolina, and in recent months he and his wife Betty have

been tireless volunteers working to raise funds for our capital campaign. This

is what he says:

Dr. Kenneth Jernigan was unquestionably

one of the greatest visionaries of the twentieth century. His service spanned

a half century of selfless service to the blind of the nation and the world,

and Dr. Jernigan has left a legacy which includes a myriad of unprecedented

accomplishments. We remember him particularly for his masterful facility development.

Having been blessed by more than four decades of close personal friendship,

I marveled at Dr. Jernigan's ability to transform virtually useless things into

substantive resources. More than forty years ago, when Dr. Jernigan assumed

the leadership of the Iowa Commission for the Blind in 1958, one of his first

major initiatives was successfully to renovate an old YMCA building, converting

it into one of the nation's finest facilities. Twenty years later, in 1978,

Dr. Jernigan continued to demonstrate his uncanny ability when he converted

a building constructed at the turn of the century into what we now know as the

National Center for the Blind, regarded as perhaps the finest facility of its

type in the country.

Most of us would have been willing to

rest upon our laurels, but Dr. Jernigan possessed an incomparable fervor, envisioning

still another needed facility. For most of the decade of the '90's, he discussed

with many of us his dream of designing a much-'needed facility dedicated to

research and training. His dream is now being carried out as we work together

to raise eighteen million dollars to fund the construction of the National Research

and Training Institute for the Blind.

To demonstrate our total commitment to

Dr. Jernigan's dream, Betty and I at the 1999 National Convention deeply felt

that we wanted to make a sacrificial pledge of $25,000. Since that time it has

been my heartfelt pleasure to encourage others to have a meaningful part in

this capital campaign as well. At state conventions which I have attended since

the Atlanta convention, I have strongly encouraged Federationists to do their

fair share in helping to make this capital campaign a success. We've also encouraged

members of the NFB of South Carolina to pitch in making their gifts. Recently,

one officer of the NFB of South Carolina made a sacrificial pledge of $1,000.

We have also had meetings with businesses and foundations as we continue to

convert Dr. Jernigan's dream into reality. Dr. Jernigan enriched the lives of

hundreds of thousands of blind people, and we can honor his lifetime of service

by getting involved in this challenging and meritorious capital campaign to

honor the memory of a great American visionary. Remember that victories in life

are not fashioned in the first mile, but in the last.