Spring 2006 A publication dedicated to our members and the volunteers, staff and supporters of the New Jersey Unit. Providing equal access to the printed word.

Building Confidence...Building Lives...Building Books
New Jersey celebrates Record-A-Thon May 1–6

It’s spring, that time of year when RFB&D’s thoughts turn to...Record-A-Thon. This year, the New Jersey Unit’s R-A-T will be held the week of May 1-6. As always, we ask volunteers for extra time to fill every booth during every session. To make the task more daunting, the studio will be open for more sessions. During those extra hours we will try to record books for the next semester; raise awareness of the organization and its mission among potential members, volunteers and donors; raise a lot of money to keep the unit in electricity, supplies and staff; put on a few pounds from all the delicious donated goodies and have a good time doing it.

This year we are looking for items for the always popular silent auction which will help the unit make its goal of raising $70,000 for the week. On Tuesday, May 2, the unit will host Lions Night, when local Lions Club members can come and tour the unit they have generously supported for many years. Wednesday, May 3 is Corporate Night when we celebrate the many corporate partners that share the unit’s vision. Community Drop-in Day will be held on Thursday, May 4. Many local educators, churches and community organizations have been invited to learn about RFB&D. Steve Montefusco will also host his annual early morning Omelette Jam, the day when volunteers who come for the 8 a.m. session are treated to a delicious omelette breakfast.

R-A-T Special Events
Lions Night Tues., May 2
Corporate Night Wed., May 3
Community Drop-in Day Thurs., May 4

Volunteers are also encouraged to share their favorite recipes with the their fellow volunteers who are bound to be hungry and tired from their additional sessions.

Celebrity guests will lend their voices and talents to the goal of recording 395 hours during the event.

To learn more about event sponsorship opportunities, contact Jessica Lampros at 609-750-9579 or jlampros@rfbd.org.

Record-A-Thon sponsorships are available to individuals, corporations or organizations at the following levels:
Lead Sponsor $15,000
Studio Sponsor $5,000
Booth Sponsor $2,500
Book Sponsor $1,000

There’s never been a better time to GO DIGITAL!

RFB&D is encouraging all of its members to GO DIGITAL! Every member can have the opportunity to experience the best audio opportunities available.

Beginning June 2006, RFB&D will no longer offer cassette players or make books available in cassette installments.

Beginning in June 2007, audiobooks will be available only on CD.

Digital technology makes it easy to take full advantage of RFB&D’s AudioPlus® books on CD. Members will appreciate the convenience and ease that CDs deliver, including:

Instant page-to-page and chapter-to-chapter navigation. NO MORE COUNTING BEEPTONES!

More portability and less bulk–most audio-books fit on one or two CDs so they’re compact and easy to carry. That means a lighter load in your backpack.

More than 25,000 titles are already available on CD...with more available every day!

For the New Jersey Unit, the conversion to digital playback means less expense and better utilization of volunteers and staff. Volunteers will no longer spend hours every week duplicating cassettes for members and can use their time recording, getting books read and to members faster. Digital duplication and distribution occurs at RFB&D’s national headquarters, eliminating that labor and expense from the unit.

For information on current promotions on digital equipment and RFB&D’s AudioPlus
books on CD, visit www.rfbd.org or call RFB&D’s member services group at 800-221-4792

Volunteer Spotlight: For Debbie Faigen, when it comes to RFB&D, no job is too big...or small

When Debbie Faigen showed up to volunteer at the unit for the first time in September 2001, little did she know she would serve in so many capacities. Like most volunteers, Debbie began by checking, directing and then reading.

Always willing to help, Debbie soon learned bookmarking and the technical tasks that have to occur before anyone can read a single word of a book into a microphone. She has pitched in at the educational outreach center, often filing or performing other administrative tasks. Since 2003, Debbie has served on the unit board as a member of the development and executive committees. About the breadth of tasks she performs, Debbie says, “When I come to RFB&D, I come to volunteer. I’ll do whatever anybody asks me to do.”

Debbie says the mission of RFB&D spoke to her because her father, always an avid reader, was losing his vision to type 2 diabetes. She had used her MBAto benefit a number of area non-profits and was eventually asked to join the New Jersey Unit’s board.

Debbie’s son, Zack, a former RFB&D volunteer, recently graduated from Princeton University and works as an assistant editor at espn.com in Connecticut. Her daughter, Alexa, is director of development and production for the film company IEG in Santa Monica, California.

Debbie’s commitment to RFB&D’s mission is exemplified by the wide variety of roles she plays and the excellence she brings in all aspects of the volunteer experience.

When Debbie Faigen is not in the recording booth, she can be found preparing books for production, filing in the educational outreach center, teaching new volunteers, giving Learning Through Listening tours to potential volunteers and partners or guiding the unit as a member of the board of directors.

Rutgers study shows Learning Through Listening® makes a difference in schools

A 2004-2005 Rutgers University School of Education study conducted in an urban school district with the assistance of the New Jersey educational outreach center and RFB&D national headquarters finds, “Taken as a whole, the use of (RFB&D’s) Learning Through Listening® program in the classroom has a positive effect on reading growth for students with mild to moderate learning disabilities, classroom instruction, student and teacher motivation, and the affective development of the students.”

In this study, conducted by Dr. Melanie Kuhn and graduate assistants Aubrie E. Swan and Carolyn A. Groff, students reported that using RFB&D’s AudioPlus® textbooks helped their reading in general, specifically helping them improve word recognition, reading rate and comprehension.

Teachers also noted:

The program gave students access to materials for independent work;

They (teachers) used the audio textbooks for core curriculum, supplements and as the basis for content review;

As students experienced success with RFB&D’s AudioPlus textbooks, they used the materials more frequently and their skills improved.

Students in the study’s inclusion group demonstrated statistically significant increases in reading accuracy (94.4% per 100 words to 96.3%) and improved their reading rate from 87.8 words per minute to 104 words per minute. The study could not have been conducted without the efforts of New Jersey Unit volunteers who recorded many of the books required by the classes and helped coordinate the ordering and distribution of the materials. The ability of volunteers to record materials needed by school districts allows each district to choose their own curriculum in such classrooms.

Girls Scouts visit the unit Troop 1369 of the East Windsor Area Girl Scouts (EWAGS) toured the New Jersey Unit facility on March 14. At left, Nancy Amick of the Princeton Braillists shows the scouts about how her group produces braille maps for visually impaired individuals. At right, Production Director Jessie Falcone explains how RFB&D volunteers record books for its members.

We’re turning 50! Help us celebrate! In 1957 the launch of Sputnik made dreams of space exploration a reality. That same year Alma Rotnem started making her dream come true. With the help of some like-minded Princetonians, she received a charter to start a New Jersey Unit of what was then known as Recording for the Blind. 2007 will mark the fiftieth year of the founding of the unit and we’re looking for some help in celebrating. Do you have any photos or memorabilia from the early days of the unit? We’d love to borrow them to display at the unit or for use in a 50th anniversary commemorative book of memories, photos and recipes. Photographs will be scanned at the studio and returned. If you have anything you’d like to share, please contact Tony Gruenewald at tgruenewald@rfbd.org. There is also a collection box at the studio.

The nifty nineties newest member Jeanne Calo(l.) celebrated her 90th birthday at the New Jersey Unit with Executive Director Stephanie Campbell and fellow volunteers. Jeanne, who has volunteered at the unit for 20 years, was recently preceded in the unit’s Nifty 90s club by Marion Epstein, and Gitti Sinding.

New faces at the New Jersey Unit include (from left) Hope VanCleaf, Jessica Lampros, Michelle Ioselevich, Cathy Wheeler, Pattie Lamb and Ginny Mayer.

The NJ Unit’s new faces are not new to what they do

Jessica Lampros may be new to New Jersey, but not to the world of financial development. Jessica recently joined the staff of the New Jersey Unit as director of development after serving as a development officer at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and WYBE Public Television.

After living in Philadelphia for several years, Jessica recently moved to Bloomfield where she lives with her fiance Sean and their two year old Rottweiler, Sadie. In fact, Jessica and Sean will be married in May and she will then be known as Jessica Wilson.

Jessica has taken the place of Sandi Wilson who is moving to Florida to be closer to her parents and enjoy the warmer weather. The unit is forever grateful to Sandi for her incredible effort to raise the funds for its new facilities in St. Joseph’s Seminary and her tireless work to raise awareness throughout the state.

Hope VanCleaf brings five years of experience at RFB&D’s national headquarters and her contagious spirit to the position of professional development provider. Hope is working with teachers and students from member schools throughout the state.

Cathy Wheeler has made the leap from volunteer to part time production assistant. Cathy holds an MSW from Rutgers University and worked with unit board member Dr. Herb Greenberg at his company, Caliper.

Pattie Lamb was on the RFB&D website, ordering a book for her son Ryan, an RFB&D member, when she saw an opening for the administrative assistant position at the New Jersey Unit. Pattie is an avid weaver and does wonderful work with cameras and computers.

Ginny Mayer was a long time volunteer, starting in the 1970s and continuing after her retirement from the Philosophy department at Rutgers University in 1991. She came out of retirement to serve the unit as a part time production assistant. Her husband Bill has interviewed former Executive Director Anne Young on his radio show on WCTC-AM.

Michelle Ioselevich is putting her degree in Audio Production from William Paterson College to good use as the unit’s new assistant production director. She is excited by the variety of people she meets at the unit, noting, “You can find experts in just about any field here.”

Lions dedicate a booth

On December 10, the unit celebrated the unveiling of plaques commemorating the donation of a recording booth by Lions Clubs of New Jersey Districts A, B, D and E, the Lions Club of Hammonton and the Lions Club International Foundation. Shown at left are Robert W. Moore, director of the International Association of Lions Clubs, Elspeth Moore of the West Milford Lions, New Jersey Unit Executive Director Stephanie Campbell, former unit board member Earl Groendyke of the Hightstown-East Windsor Lions and current unit board member Janet Nagourney of the Hightstown-East Windsor Lions. At right, unit volunteer and Lions Club member Karen Checchio records in the booth which will provide almost 900 hours of material in the coming year alone. The Lions Clubs of New Jersey have long been active supporters of RFB&D’s mission to provide equal access to the printed word and are recognized worldwide for their service to the visually impaired.

Staff Stephanie Campbell, Executive Director Jessica Lampros, Director of Development Jessie Falcone, Production Director Margaret Breidenthal, Assistant Production Director Tony Gruenewald, Communications Coordinator/Assistant Production Director Michelle Ioselevich, Assistant Production Director Judy Wilson-Smith, Production Assistant Ginny Mayer, Production Assistant Cathy Wheeler, Production Assistant Pattie Lamb, Administrative Assistant Educational Outreach Center Christine Ranaghan, Director Sherry Deutsch, Curriculum Specialist Deborah Passafiume, Member Service Coordinator Hope VanCleaf, Professional Development Provider Sandra Shapiro, Webmaster

Board of Directors Officers Cynthia Hillas, Chair David Grant, Vice-chair Douglas Moore, Treasurer James D. Walker, Secretary Peter Gibson, Past Co-chair Board Members Catherine D. Brown Thomas K. Brown Debra Faigen Jerome K. Freedman, M.D. Marjorie Freeman Herb Greenberg, Ph.D. Lynne Long Mari Molenaar, Ed.D. Janet Nagourney Rose Marie Proietti Amy Regan Sandra Shapiro

©2006 Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
©, ™, ^SM, "Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic," "RFB&D," "Learning Through Listening," the Heart and Headphones design, and all trademarks, service mars and trade names are proprietary to Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, Incorporated.

Spring 2006 Recorder in pdf format

New Jersey Recorder Archives