The 2006 Volunteer Luncheon was held on September 28 at Queenship of Mary Catholic Church in Plainsboro. Unit Board Treasurer Dave Grant, also on the Queenship of Mary church council, welcomed the volunteers and started the afternoon’s festivities. Among those being honored were Volunteers of the Year Betsey Butler, Kenn Clark, Jeff Kaplan and Anne and Larry Shultes. Top row, from left: Betsey Butler and Jeff Kaplan; Kenn Clark; Victor Bearg and Ed Barry celebrate. Bottom, from left: Selma Levine and Shelley Sachs enjoy the afternoon; Cathy Brown and Anne Young enjoy the festivities.
Planned giving...ensuring future generations have equal access to the printed word
Would you like to ensure that future generations of people who cannot effectively read standard print have equal access to the printed word?
Including the New Jersey Unit in your estate plans is the best way to make sure RFB&D can continue the work Anne T. Macdonald started in 1948. Anne believed “education is a right, not a privilege.” Fifty years ago, Alma Rotnemand a group of like-minded New Jerseyites founded the New Jersey Unit to spread access to the printed word. Planned giving is your way to add to that 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 say thank you! If you are interested in more information on the benefits of making a deferred contribution to the New Jersey Unit, please contact Jessica Wilson at 609-750-9579 or jswilson@rfbd.org.
Does your current or former employer have a matching gift program?
Your company’s matching gift program can help you double and sometimes triple the impact of your contribution to the New Jersey Unit–at no additional cost to you or the unit
Many companies match dollar for dollar...but did you know that some will also contribute to the New Jersey Unit for the hours you volunteer?
If you have questions about whether your company has a matching gift program or need help submitting your matching gift form, contact Jessica Wilson at 609-750-9579 or jswilson@rfbd.org.
We regret the error
The New Jersey Unit wishes to thank Anonymous (you know who you are!) and Mr. Henry Weiss for their kind support in fiscal year 2006. These generous donors were inadvertently omitted from the Annual Report. We sincerely regret the error.
New faces from Educational Outreach assist NJ schools
New Jersey member schools are seeing two new faces providing in-school support from the unit’s Educational Outreach Center. Trish Jones and Stacey Muschette are the unit’s new regional development providers in the southern and northern parts of the state respectively.
Stacey Muschette
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Stacey has worked for the Cerebral Palsy League of New Jersey and for a charter school in Plainfield. She enjoys “working with the developmentally disabled population” and hopes to continue doing so on weekends. She will receive her BA in English in May. |
| Trish has taught first grade and substituted in grades K through 12 as well as working in the medical business. She is a graduate of Rowan University with a degree in Elementary Education and English. |
Trish Jones
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The unit welcomes Stacey and Trish to the educational outreach team. New Jersey member schools are already benefiting from the efforts of these true professionals.
Remembering Gitti Sinding
The New Jersey Unit helped Gitti Sinding celebrate her 90th birthday in 2005. |
Gitti Sinding donated 25 years of her Tuesday mornings and afternoons to the New Jersey Unit. She passed away in December at 91.
Gitti read German and general texts, as well as directing other readers and acting as an ambassador for RFB&D with the Princeton community. RFB&D was just one of many organizations Gitti where volunteered after her retirement from Opinion Research Corporation. She also worked for The Gallup Poll.
The New Jersey Unit has recorded a German grammar text in honor of her contributions to RFB&D. And Gitti has given us one more contribution–a new volunteer–her son, Rick Sinding.
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Meet the new unit board chair
 Fred A. Horowitz
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Fred A. Horowitz was named New Jersey Unit board chair in January. He replaces Douglas Moore who took a job opportunity out of state.
Horowitz has volunteered with the unit since 2003, recording Mathematics and Science texts and has served on the board since 2006. He retired after working more than 34 years for ExxonMobil Corporation in a variety of managerial positions. He holds a Master’s Degree in Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and serves on Stevens Alumni Association executive board.
The unit congratulates Fred on his new position and thanks Doug for his service to RFB&D and wishes him well in his new endeavor.
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How you can participate in the New Jersey Unit’s Record-A-Thon Internet auction
The New Jersey Unit has partnered with MB Charity Fundraising, LLC for an Internet auction with proceeds benefiting the unit. The auction will take place Record-A-Thon week, April 16-21.
MB Charity Fundraising, LLC has raised money for other organizations including Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, Project Children and Love Our Children USA.
A computer station will be set up at the unit for bidding, but all you need is access to a computer and an ebay® account to bid from your home or office. You may create an account at www.ebay.com by selecting “Register.”
Beginning April 16 you can access the website www.ebay.com/mbcharity. That page will give information about MB Charity Fundraising and will list the RFB&D auctions under “Signed Items for Charity”. Select the item number of the auction of interest. It will bring you to the auction listing. If you have an ebay account, you may bid by selecting “Place Bid” and entering the amount of your bid.
There are more items to come, but currently the items include tickets to Dancing With The Stars, Last Call With Carson Daly, The Ellen Degeneres Show and The Showbiz Show with David Spade, as well as memorabilia autographed by Sheryl Crow, Amy Grant, Cyndi Lauper, Sarah McLachlan, Alyssa Milano, Rod Stewart and Ben Stiller and the casts of Medium, Hannah Montana, The Odd Couple, Spamalot, The Suite Life of Zach and Cody and Wicked.
| The New Jersey Unit would like to recognize and thank Whole Foods, Wild Oats, McCaffrey’s Market, Sodexho & Wegman’s for their in-kind donations during Record-A-Thon 2006. |
Kristen Witucki...Giving back to the organization that inspired her success story
When Kristen Witucki spoke at the New Jersey Unit Volunteer Recognition Luncheon last fall, it was just the latest way she has served RFB&D. Kristen went from simple membership to speaking on behalf of RFB&D before the Joint Budget and Appropriations Subcommittee of the New Jersey State Legislature in1994 when she was in seventh grade.
Since then, Kristen has spoken on behalf of RFB&D to that subcommittee numerous times and helped the organization receive a Reader’s Digest Partners for Sight Foundation grant. At 13, while a student in Pine Hill, NJ, she served as the youngest member of RFB&D’s Consumer Advisory Council and has since spoken, written and done research on behalf of the organization.
Blind since birth, Kristen says, “It didn’t take me long to realize that Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic was my mainstay for achieving my academic dreams and for personal pleasure.” Her academic success includes earning a bachelor of arts degree from Vassar College with a 3.58 GPA and winning a 2004 National Achievement Award from RFB&D.
As part of RFB&D’s outreach program, Kristen has spoken at disability conferences across the country and demonstrated RFB&D’s AudioPlus® digitally recorded books on CD. She has proven to be an invaluable asset by reaching out to fellow students with visual impairments, as well as to their families and teachers.
Kristen’s service goes well beyond RFB&D. She has mentored a blind student and was a peer mentor at Vassar. In addition, she has taught in both New York and Ireland, completed an internship in RFB&D’s marketing and educational outreach departments and holds an MA in the education of gifted students.
Kristen currently resides in Highland Park and works as a member services representative for RFB&D while she completes an MFA at Sarah Lawrence College with a concentration in fiction.
No matter what venture she undertakes, whether teaching, writing a best-seller or attaining another goal, Kristen says, “My relationship with RFB&D will be lifelong.”
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Kristen Witucki spoke about her experience as a RFB&D member at the New Jersey Unit’s 2006 Volunteer Recognition Luncheon.
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