Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic New Jersey Unit (text)

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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

Reader's Note

November/December 2007
Tony Gruenewald, Editor

Shop at Ten Thousand Villages in the Princeton Shopping Center on December 6th from 5pm to 9pm and help the New Jersey Unit of RFB&D!

15% of net sales between the hours of 5pm to 9pm on the 6th of December will be donated to the unit!

Ten Thousand Villages is a fair trade retailer of artisan-crafted home décor, personal accessories and gift items from across the globe, featuring products from more than 110 artisan groups in some 35 countries.

As one of the world's oldest and largest fair trade organizations, Ten Thousand Villages has spent more than 60 years cultivating trading relationships in which artisans receive a fair price for their work and consumers have access to distinctive handcrafted items. They seek to establish long-term buying relationships in places where skilled artisans are under-or unemployed, and in which they lack other opportunities for income. A founding member of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT), Ten Thousand Villages sees fair trade as an alternative approach to conventional international trade.

Join us for our 50th Anniversary Gala
Thursday, April 17 (see page 4 for more details!)

Volunteer Happenings

Eric Maskin, a Record-A-Thon celebrity volunteer a few years back, was a winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Economics.

The studio recently celebrated Bob Timmerman's 90thbirthday and Phyllis Branin's and Ed Levin's 80ths. Phyllis spent hers on the Atlantic and Caribbean.

Former volunteer and staff member Adina Langer was married in October at Grounds for Sculpture. Marvin Schuldiner also tied the knot, and in keeping with a NJ Unit tradition, our new Director of Development Grace Alparone was recently married.

Manishika Agaskaris a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist. That means she's in the top one percent of all seniors nationwide. The finalists will be announced in February.

Michelle and Rajeev Mohanare expecting twins in March.

Got some news to share with your fellow volunteers? See Tony Gruenewald or e-mail tgruenewald@rfbd.org.

Climb every mountain!

The first snow flakes have fallen, the climbing is only going to get tougher, but we have confidence that with some dedication and a backpack full of chewy cranberry squares, our little student Jessie will get the 9,800 hours she needs to get her diploma in June.

Currently she's made her way 2,921 hours of the way to the top. That's about where we'd expect her to be this far into the year. But we know she's going to need a boost to get her through the rough weather ahead.
2,921 HOURS

The studio will be closed from Sunday, December 23 until Wednesday, January 2.

How Can Your Everyday Shopping Benefit Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic New Jersey Unit?

Toothpaste is one of many things we cannot go without. We're constantly buying it.

Imagine this: buying toothpaste, beauty essentials, books, CDs, and all your everyday items online, only now it makes a difference for your favorite worthy cause. At iGive.com, you can shop for just about anything, from the smallest tube of toothpaste to the biggest flat-panel TV, and a portion of every purchase is donated to Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic New Jersey Unit.

iGive.com is FREE for you and free for our organization. Shop for everyday items at 650+ participating online stores including Vitamin Shoppe.com, Office Depot, Barnes & Noble, drugstore.com, Lands' End, QVC, and PetsMart. Up to 26% of each purchase is donated to your favorite worthy cause.

Though you're likely to find dozens of items more enticing than toothpaste, a simple purchase is a good way to start giving! www.iGive.com/RFBDNJ

For a limited time: get a $5 bonus donation with your 1st purchase at any iGive.com store!*

*First purchase must be made within 45 days of joining iGive.com. eBay bids are not considered for this purpose.

Causes listed at iGive.com have been listed by iGive members for their own and other members' use. Information listed here is subject to change. Please visit www.iGive.com for most current information. [Document created 2/1/06]

Dear Aunt Bea
Aunt Bea reminds everyone that the studio will be closed from Sunday, December 23 until Wednesday, January 2. Because of her dopey editor, she also wants to remind you that liquids and laptops do not mix. (That's why this Reader's Note is not as cool as usual.)

Dear Aunt Bea,
To ellipsis or not to ellipsis...that is the question...whether tis nobler to say ellipsis or just pause... Hamlet

Dear Noble Prince,
Remember why we announce ellipses; they indicate something left out of a quote. For example; “We the people of the United States, in Order to form...establish Justice..."If you remember your Constitution, you know that Aunt Bea left out “a more perfect Union" and a whole bunch of words at the end. THAT'S when you say ellipsis! Now let's say you're reading the script of a play. The book reads: MOTHER. Imagine...I'm beginning to lose my eyesight, too...Strindberg put the ellipses in his play to indicate the actors should pause or not finish the sentence before another actor reads the next dialogue. So, you should pause and not announce the ellipses.

Giving credit where credit's due

Your editor is one of those people who sends poison keyboard e-mails to people who spread urban legends through the Internet. So, it is with great embarrassment that he admits that he has been (inadvertently) spreading an RFB&D urban legend for most of his nine years at this esteemed institution. So, you wonder, what is this horrific thing he is emotionally water boarding himself over? You ARE supposed to mention the photo credits at the end of a photo description and before you say “return to text.”

Mea culpa. Will you (sob, sob) ever believe me again?

Do read the photo credits.

50thAnniversary Update

With the coming of the new year the studio will begin to bloom with 50thAnniversary information. Invitations will go out for the April 17thGala and information about sponsorship opportunities will be available.

If you would like to get involved in the Gala or in the rest of the 50 and Forward 50th Anniversary campaign, please see Executive Director Stephanie Campbell at scampbell@rfbd.org or 609-750-9614 or Director of Development Grace Alparone at galparone@rfbd.org or 609-750-9579. (Or just stop by the Peter Putnam Executive Offices [across from the rest rooms] and say, “hi!”)

Pattie says "goodbye"...Gretchen and Paula say "hello"and Sherry says, "Didjamiss me?"

Pattie Lamb has left the unit to "go home" to North Carolina. She was Administrative Assistant to the unit and did an amazing job in organizing the various data bases the unit uses as well as making sure the bills got paid, the staff got paid and yelling at Comcast when the Internet connection went wonky. We wish Pattie the best at her new home in Cary (one of the nation's safest cities, they say) and thank her for helping us fulfill our mission.

Debbie Passafiume pulled double duty, adding some of Pattie's tasks to her duties in the Educational Outreach Center, (Thanks for making sure I got paid Debbie.) until our new Administrative Assistant Gretchen Orr came on board. When she's not keeping the staff in line, Gretchen's home with her son Connor and daughter Chloe or at one of their sporting events. A recent graduate of Rider University, Gretchen says she's "happy to be here." And we're happy to have her.

Sherry Deutsch missed us so much she's come back as the Educational Outreach Center Project Membership Coordinator. And last, but not least, Paula Roberts-Hansel joins us as an Educational Outreach State Regional Provider.

Get a penny for our cause, every time you search! Try iSearchiGive.com, powered by Yahoo! Search. |