Future Reflections Summer 1990, Vol. 9 No. 2
"Since the early days of America--education has been revered as part of every person's means to an equal chance for success in our country of opportunity and hope.
"But for America's blind children and youth, meaningful education, opportunity, and hope are too often still not available....'Miracle' success stories of blind people like Helen Keller help, but they don't solve the problems of day-to- day living and learning that a blind child and her parents face or the needs of a blind teenager wanting to go to college."
With these words the National Federation of the Blind recently issued a special challenge and a special invitation to future members of the Committee of 1000.
What is the Committee of 1000? The Committee is a special group of friends (membership is limited to 1,000) who form a permanent platform for maximizing the education and opportunities of blind children. Through lifetime membership dues of $1,000, members of this committee have accepted the challenge to help the National Federation of the Blind "...establish education as a top priority for the coming blind generations."
Among the special projects the funds from this committee will help support is the National Federation of the Blind scholarship program. This program not only offers a cash award to some 26 blind students each year, it also gives each recipient a chance to spend a week with hundreds of other blind people at our annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind.
This is how one parent of a scholarship winner summed up the benefit of this experience: "Our son returned home on Saturday from your annual meeting with a confidence and feeling of independence that is truly overwhelming. Thank God for the Federation and those whose gifts made this possible."
It is with great pleasure and heartfelt thanks that we recognize those who have joined the Committee of 1,000 as of April 18, 1990. The opportunities for blind children will be so much greater because of the caring generosity of the following members who were first to accept the Committee of 1,000 challenge.
Walsack Associates
Caldwell, New Jersey
Ms. Mildred L. Sheely
Plymouth, Ohio
Ms. Elizabeth C. Smith
Ellicott City, Maryland
M. Eleanor S. Orr
Wyandotte, Michigan
Ms. Cindy Matthew
Hudson, Ohio
Ms. Margaret C. Carmichael
Tucson, Arizona
Mr. Elliot J. Terzi
New York, New York
Mr. Alex Pirus River
Forest, Illinois
Dr. John N. Redwine
Sioux City, Iowa
Mr. Ralph A. McGinnis
Seattle, Washington
Mr. Edward T. Cassidy
Boston, Massachusetts
Mrs. Marianne Dodds
Eggertsville, New York
Mrs. Helen Z. Bunker
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Mr. Charles A. Kacocha
San Francisco, California
Mr. A. F. Washington
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Mr. Dean S. and Adele E. Bowden
Webster City, Iowa
Editor's Note: If you or someone you know would be interested in joining the Committee of 1000, please contact: National Federation of the Blind, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230; (301) 659-9314.
[PICTURE] The Scholarship Program is one of the most important projects of the National Federation of the Blind. Blind scholarship winners, such as those pictured above, need, and deserve, the opportunities these scholarships make possible.