RFB&D New Jersey Unit: Princeton Magazine Feature

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Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
New Jersey Unit
69 Mapleton Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
Phone 609-750-1830
Fax 609-750-9653

News

Listen and Learn
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic celebrates 50th anniversary

Photo caption: ALL EARS; The Educational Outreach Center of the New Jersey unit of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic provides support and training to more than 450 member schools throughout the state.

So you like to read aloud? Do you have a specialized knowledge in medicine, law, economics, math, foreign languages or education? Would you be interested in sharing that knowledge by recording audio textbooks for pre-K through post-graduate students who have a certified visual, physical or learning disability? If you answered “yes” to all of the above, then the Princeton-based New Jersey unit of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D) has a textbook and recording booth waiting for you.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, RFB&D's New Jersey unit currently serves more than 400 schools and close to 5,000 members. But with an estimated 100,000 students that could benefit from its programs, “we're only scratching the surface,” says Executive Director Stephanie Campbell. By 2010, Campbell says the New Jersey unit, the largest in the country, hopes to reach some 400,000 students through a public awareness campaign, an adopt-a-student program, and its educational outreach center, which helps schools and teachers bring the program into their classrooms. “We want to proactive and say we're here, this is what we do and this is how we can help your student,” says Campbell.

With more than 600 school districts picking their own textbooks (New Jersey doesn't have a state adopted curriculum), the unit has its hands full. “The real need for the organization to grow,” says Campbell, “is for readers who have a backgrounds in early childhood education - teachers who can read pre-K through 12.”

In addition to textbooks, RFB&D records books, such as the popular Harry Potter series, and publications students need in order to take tests, such as the SAT study guide or the state's driver's manual. All recordings become part of the national organization's library, helping students everywhere.

Peg Hastings of Princeton says she has no idea how many books she's worked on over the 35 years she's volunteered with the unit. “If it's a cause you really believe in, you stick with it,” she says. “You see the results in the success of the students that couldn't have done it without this service.” As a former nurse and French major, Hastings is often called upon to read medical books, French grammars and European history texts. She says the volunteers are interesting people with interesting backgrounds who are fun to hang out with between sessions.

A great time to check out the organization is during their annual Record-A-Thon (April 16 to 21), a weeklong event during which the unit hosts an open house and tries to record as many hours as possible before the end of their fiscal year.

For more information on Record-A-Thon, visit www.rfbdnj.org. The New Jersey unit of RFB&D is located at 69 Mapleton Road, Princeton, 609-750-1830.

printed in Princeton Magazine, Spring 2007

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