New Jersey Recorder Fall 2007 (text)

A publication dedicated to our members and the volunteers, staff and supporters of the New Jersey Unit.

The New Jersey Unit’s 50th Anniversary dinner has been rescheduled and will be held Thursday, April 17, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Princeton. The celebration will take place from 6 to 10 p.m.

The unit will honor individuals and organizations that have made unique contributions to the growth of the New Jersey Unit and its ability to fulfill RFB&D’s vision for all people to have equal access to the printed word.

Vice President of the ETS Social Investment Fund Eleanor Horne will accept for ETS. Its founder Henry Chauncey was a member of the unit board’s initial executive committee. ETS continues to support the unit with several of its employees volunteering in the recording studio and its Vice President of Administration Bruce Gilbertson currently serving on the unit’s board.

Dr. James and Margaret (Peg) Hastings are long time volunteers and have served on the unit board. Peg has volunteered since 1971 and is responsible for the recruitment of another honoree, Anne Young. Jim, a retired surgeon, began his volunteer career in 1981. Both have been superb ambassadors for RFB&D in the community.

Anne Young has served the unit in numerous capacities. She began her involvement with the unit as a volunteer in 1976. In 1982, she became studio director and was named the unit’s first executive director in 1997. Since her retirement in 1999, she resumed volunteering in the recording studio and has served on a number of ad hoc committees. Anne was crucial in the development of the unit as it exists today and created standards and practices adopted nationally by RFB&D.

Catherine D. (Cathy) Brown has volunteered since 1990, served on the unit board and has long been one of the unit’s most generous supporters. She has also served on national committees that have selected National Achievement Award winners.

The event is part of a two year Fifty and Forward campaign celebrating the unit’s golden anniversary. It was chartered in 1957 by a group of “21 prominent Princetonians” spearheaded by Alma Rotnem. The unit’s first recordings were made the following April in space donated by the Princeton Theological Seminary.
If you would like more information about the event or how you can participate in the unit’s Fifty and Forward campaign, please contact Executive Director Stephanie Campbell at 609-750-9614 or scampbell@rfbd.org.

Four Photos:
(From left) Marston Morse records one of the New Jersey Unit’s first texts on reel-to-reel tape in 1958. Bill Kastan directs Harry Pinch recording digitally in 2007. Alison Hankinson holds a 1950s SoundScriber disk which held one hour of recorded text and was played at 16 2/3 rpm. Stephanie Mosey holds an AudioPlus® disk which holds up to 40 hours of recorded text and is navigable by page and chapter by students who can listen on portable players or on computers.

Fifty years! What an incredible benchmark! I am elated that we are celebrating fifty years of enriching the lives of students locally and across the country with our accessible educational materials. The success and longevity of RFB&D New Jersey could not have been accomplished without you.

Thanks to your dedication to our mission throughout these many years, we are still relevant in the lives of students with print disabilities. The importance of our work continues to be reflected in the academic successes and bright futures of our members.

This fiscal year begins with many new opportunities and challenges. After exceeding our unit’s fiscal year 2007 goals in numbers of hours recorded and members served, we are striving for even greater achievement in fiscal year 2008. RFB&D’s national goal is to serve one million members by the end of the decade. To do this, we have increased our outreach staff; set higher studio recording targets; employed new tools, such as a teacher training website; and added six members to our Board, bringing with them diverse backgrounds. Additionally, we are looking at new, challenging ways to integrate our volunteers into our mission.

As Board Chair, I speak for the entire board in acknowledging the achievements of our dedicated staff, volunteers, members, and supporters in working to meet our common goals. Our Fifty and Forward multi-year campaign gives us a unique opportunity to celebrate our heritage of service and commitment to students by developing scholarship opportunities and building our endowment. We look forward to you joining and supporting this campaign through a host of sponsorship activities that will allow us to build upon the solid foundation we’ve made over fifty years. Let’s continue to work together, so that our members will enjoy a future full of even greater successes.

Five Photos:
Record-A-Thon (R-A-T) 2007 included a wide range of celebrity volunteers including, (top, from left): Children’s author Janet S. Wong signs a copy of her book Twist: Yoga Poems for Executive Director Stephanie Campbell; Unit Board Chair Fred Horowitz with Pulitzer Prize winner James M. McPherson, author of This Mighty Scourge; Institute for Advanced Study Professor Emeritus Freeman Dyson, author of Scientist as Rebel with Phyllis Branin. (Bottom row, from left) Bill Zellers and Ray Olson check recordings before they go to members; Pete Genovese (r.) of The Star Ledger and author of Jersey Diners with Record-A-Thon King Clif Giddings and Stephanie Campbell. Despite a flood that closed the unit for a day, volunteers rescheduled their sessions and donated 1,032 hours, producing 430 hours of recordings during the weeklong celebration. Corporate sponsors ETS, Glenmede, Bloomberg and CB VATAmerica led the way raising significant funds for the unit.

Would you like to ensure that the future generations of people who cannot effectively read standard print have access to the educational material they need to succeed?

Planned giving, also called deferred gifts or bequest is a way to support the New Jersey Unit through your will or estate. Planned giving is your way to add to our 50 year legacy of building confident and successful lives.

If you have already designated the New Jersey Unit as a beneficiary in your estate plans we’d like to know so we can thank you for your generosity. If you would like more information on how to set up your planned gift, please contact Stephanie Campbell, Executive Director at 609-750-9614 or scampbell@rfbd.org.

Legislators and writers discover how the New Jersey Unit helps Garden State students

Two Photos:
New Jersey Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance visited the unit to learn more about RFB&D’s work in Garden State schools. Director of Educational Outreach Christine Ranaghan explains how the unit records and distributes books for New Jersey school districts. Local author Margery Cuyler recorded her book The Battlefield Ghost which had been requested by the Union City School District.

Staff
Stephanie Campbell, Executive Director
Graciela Zotter, Director of Development
Pattie Lamb, Administrative Assistant

Studio
Michelle Ioselevich, Production Director
Tony Gruenewald, Communications Coordinator/Assistant Production Director
Lauren Markley, Assistant Production Director
Ginny Mayer, Production Assistant
Cathy Wheeler, Production Assistant
Judy Wilson-Smith, Production Assistant

Educational Outreach Center
Christine Ranaghan, Director
Deborah Passafiume, Manager
Trish Jones, State Regional Provider
Stecian Muschette, State Regional Provider

Sandra Shapiro, Webmaster

Board of Directors

Officers
Fred A. Horowitz, Chair
Thomas K. Brown, Secretary
David Grant, Treasurer

Board Members
Edward Barry
Debra Faigen
Richard Flamini
Jerome K. Freedman, M.D.
Bruce M. Gilbertson
Herb Greenberg, Ph.D.
Madolyn Nagley Greve
Winston Kirton
Keith Latimer
Joseph Maida
Mari Molenaar, Ed.D.
Janet Nagourney
James Peters
Gary Plescia, Ph.D.
Joseph Plotnick
Christopher Tarr
James D. Walker