South Carolina: An Affiliate with Treasures, Traditions, and Targets for Future Accomplishments

South Carolina: An Affiliate with Treasures, Traditions, and Targets for Future Accomplishments

Braille Monitor
April 2015

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South Carolina: An Affiliate with Treasures, Traditions, and Targets for Future Accomplishments

by Gary Wunder
From the Editor: President Riccobono mentioned on a recent release that we would like to highlight programs of our affiliates and asked that information be sent that we could use for this purpose. Here is the first in what we hope will be a series of miniatures and articles that bring to light affiliate treasures that should be shared nationally.
On Thursday, December 11, 2014, I had the pleasure of traveling to Columbia, South Carolina, to visit with members of the National Federation of the Blind. I was met at the airport by Parnell Diggs and his niece and within the hour met two strong Federationists, Frank and Shelley Coppel, who acted as my hosts while in Columbia.
What a pleasure it was to attend the Christmas party celebration of the Columbia Chapter. This was not a unique experience for me since I belong to the Columbia Chapter and have attended many a Christmas party, but my Columbia is in Missouri, and this one was farther south and has traditions that predate the chapter I love in the Middle West.
Not only do tremendous spirit, warmth, and love typify the Christmas season, but these three words accurately sum up what I found at the chapter meeting on this Thursday evening. I was privileged to sit at the head table with President Diggs and the former president of the South Carolina affiliate, Dr. Donald Capps. One cannot help being impressed with the work these two men have done. The record of Dr. Capps's longtime commitment to his affiliate and our Federation is evident in the Federation's Columbia office, in the Rocky Bottom Retreat and Conference Center of the Blind (RBRCCB), and in his tenure over many years on the board of the National Federation of the Blind.
Similarly one cannot but be impressed with the work of President Diggs, whose work to carry on in the tradition of his mentor and teacher is evident, as is his commitment to move the Federation forward in the twenty-first century. President Diggs is now a member of the national board, and his work in supporting the work of our national body philosophically, financially, and legislatively speaks for itself. Not only is this president gifted with political skills, but he is quite the musician, as all who were at the Christmas party can attest. Parnell had attended four chapter meetings in the week that witnessed our dinner meeting. This is all the more amazing given his role as husband, father, and head of his own law firm. No doubt his accomplishments mean that he practices what he preaches, that he is a man of action, and that he is living the life he wants.
But back to the meeting and the genuine love and warmth I felt there: Being a part of this gathering was certainly one of the highlights of my Christmas season and will be an event I will long remember.
On Friday morning members of three important boards were on the road to the RBRCCB. With a meal stop it took us about five hours to make the journey, but that time wasn't wasted in boredom or in counting the passing miles. All of us took turns asking questions about one another, expressing our views about the traditions of the Federation statewide and nationally, teaching one another little tips about our technology, and sharing some of our favorite music thanks to the magic of the internet and our iPhones. I had a captive audience while I shared some of my favorite folk singers and even got people to join with me in celebrating the life and music of Glen Campbell.
Going to Rocky Bottom is a test of one's faith in physics, engineering, and the design of the motor vehicle while van and luggage trailer first climb a mountain and then steeply descend into the valley. Whether this turbulent ride is due to the incline of the terrain or the bumpy ride one would expect in a time machine, I cannot say, but soon we are taken from the twenty-first century and the civilization familiar to those of us who work in the information age as our cell phones read zero bars, our phone service is gone, the internet belongs to the rest of the world, and the familiar chime that indicates a newly received text message goes silent. In their place we find ourselves in a time that permits us to enjoy the silence, engage in reflection, and revisit times in our lives when conversations between human beings sharing a parlor took center-stage and opinion and fact could be uttered without constantly trying to verify them through Bing or Google or by asking Jeeves. It was what my grandparent would have called a typical front porch evening, and it was fantastic.
Saturday morning began with some exercise as we walked from our cabin to the cafeteria. Those hills that tested our brakes the evening before now tested our leg muscles as we climbed our way to the first meal of the day. The volunteers who made our meals did us proud, and no one went away hungry.
Gathered around a conference table, coffee well within reach, we settled in for the first of three board meetings that would occur before the work was over and another party would begin. This meeting was for the board of directors of the Rocky Bottom Retreat and Conference Center of the Blind, and it was chaired by Former President Capps. The Rocky Bottom facility was secured by the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina in 1978 and came as a direct result of a good turn by Dr. Capps for one of his company's insurance customers. This customer suffered a loss while at a mental hospital when someone shut his hand in a door. While technically his policy denied coverage when one was receiving medical care, Dr. Capps reasoned that the accident had nothing to do with being in this hospital and everything to do with an accident that could have happened anywhere. He authorized payment of the claim. He did write a letter noting that, according to the policy, the company assumed no liability but was paying the claim because it was the right thing to do.
Later that satisfied customer looked up Dr. Capps, expressed his admiration for what he had done, and offered him an opportunity to take his family to a place Capps had never heard of before, Rocky Bottom. Feeling it would be inappropriate for him to take advantage of a vacation opportunity that came from the settlement of a claim, Capps thanked the customer but said he could not ethically take advantage of the offer. Not easily dissuaded, the man went to the president of the company who, after hearing his story, not only told Capps he should take advantage of the vacation opportunity but commended him on his moral courage and decision-making as one of its senior officers.
Capps fell in love with the facility and visited it for more than a decade. But as fine as the countryside was, little effort was being made to maintain the facilities, and the county found itself on the verge of condemning the property. Seeing an opportunity for the Federation to start a project that would benefit the blind, Capps made a proposal to the county commissioner and later the full commission, committing to restore the buildings if the county would give the property to the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina. This was done in 1978, and the Rocky Bottom Retreat and Conference Center has been serving the blind ever since.
Following a splendid lunch, a meeting of the Federation Center of the Blind board was conducted by Chairman Frank Coppel. The center building is located in Columbia and traditionally was the property of the Columbia chapter. It has for some time been the state office of the Federation, so its board has now been expanded to include members in addition to those living in Columbia.
The Federation Center not only serves as the statewide office for the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina, but is used for various meetings of the blind, including the Columbia Chapter. It also has a contract with the South Carolina Commission for the Blind for the teaching of technology.
Sometime ago the Federation Center for the Blind was damaged, when a vehicle driven by a drunk driver crashed through a wall and destroyed a significant part of the conference room. Some irreplaceable portraits were irreparably damaged and office chairs and tables were destroyed. A good inventory and the legal skills of President Diggs have resulted in a settlement that will cover those things that can be replaced, the loss of revenue in not being able to rent the building for other activities, and the Federation's cost in having to relocate its meetings to other facilities. Determining the true cost to the Federation also had to include the increased cost of utilities during the coldest months of the winter, given that the insulation and one of the walls were destroyed.
The last formal meeting of the day was held by the board of directors of the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina. Much of the agenda was devoted to a discussion of activities surrounding our seventy-fifth anniversary convention and the efforts the affiliate would make to get people to Orlando. Issues to be covered at the Washington Seminar were discussed, as was our work on branding and the messages associated with it. Like every conscientious affiliate, the NFB of South Carolina is concentrating on building its membership, which involves reaching out to new people and then establishing the human connections that make them feel a part of what we do and cement their desire to remain involved.
Since these meetings fell in the middle of the holiday season and Christmas was close at hand, we concluded our evening with a banquet, and those who prepared the food received a rousing round of applause, and many thank-you messages found their way into the evening's festivities.
After three inspiring but long and tiring meetings, many in the group left the banquet and immediately fell into—no, not bed, but party mode. The comradery was wonderful.
No report concerning the NFB of South Carolina would be complete without mentioning the name of David Houck. He works for the affiliate and heads its office. He serves in several capacities on behalf of the Federation Center's board, manages the building, and oversees many of the fundraisers, grant applications, and publications that get distributed for all three entities discussed here. He has worked for the NFB of South Carolina for more than thirty years and, when asked about his job, says, "If I wore any more hats, I'd have to get a set of antlers."
As Parnell Diggs wisely observes, his job as the president of the affiliate is to preserve the traditions that have made the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina what it is, while at the same time ensuring that it has the vision and exercises the judgment to meet the needs of the blind in the second decade of the twenty-first century. "We have many programs that other affiliates don't have, but we can't let this stop us from embracing new ones, especially national ones. We are enthusiastic about BELL, and we want to be a part of every national program sponsored or supported by the national body. Just as the Federation must be an agent for change in work with the blind, I must be an agent for change in our affiliate—treasuring our past, managing our present, and planning for the future—and I am honored that members of the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina have entrusted me with leading our effort. I will do my best to make them proud in the tradition of those who have come before, and I will do my best to see that we remain as vibrant and as relevant as we were when we were founded. I know that, with the help of my brothers and sisters here in South Carolina and across our great nation, we will make life better for the blind than it has ever been before."

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