ASB Visions Newsletter

• March 2004
• December 2003
• September 2003
• June 2003
• February 2003
• October 2002
• June 2002
• March 2002
• November 2001
• July 2001
• November 2000
• June 2000
• July 1999

June 2003:

• Volunteers honored for always caring, always sharing
• Do you have low vision?
• What you should do...Here are some tips for living better with low vision
• At Associated Services for the Blind...Appointed to the Board of Directors

Volunteers honored for always caring, always sharing
The theme of this year's volunteer recognition week was Volunteers, Always Caring, Always Sharing, and at ASB's 20th Annual Volunteer Luncheon, volunteers were recognized for caring enough to give up their time to help enrich the lives of others.

Volunteers, who dedicate more than 33,000 hours of service each year to ASB, serve as trip escorts, home visitors, copyholders, radio and tape narrators, braille transcribers and clerical assistants.

Over one hundred volunteers attended the luncheon, which was held at the DoubleTree Hotel on April 30th.

ASB's Chief Executive Officer and President, Patricia C. Johnson, welcomed volunteers to the event by recognizing their importance to the agency.

"ASB depends on you to help people who are blind and visually impaired gain their self-esteem and guide them toward independence," Johnson said.

Sister Mary Scullion, co-founder of Project H.O.M.E., a nationally recognized organization that provides supportive housing, employment, and education to those less fortunate, was the keynote speaker at the event.  She stressed the vital role volunteers play in realizing each and every person's ability to contribute to society.

"For every human being that exists, there is talent and potential there and we need to develop that, to nurture one another, and to see that talent and potential grow," she said.

Volunteers who have dedicated 25 years of service to ASB were presented with certificates of appreciation.  They include Bette Jane Kleinbard, Cindy Fastman, Robert Gendall, Mary Ann Metzger, Madison Riley and Mally Riley.

ASB Board Chairman, Dr. Roy Fitzgerald, concluded the program by acknowledging volunteers for their positive influence in the lives of people who are blind and visually impaired.

"You are all contributing to turning points for our clients...for people who are going through tough times in their lives," he said.

Do you have low vision?
While wearing prescriptive eye glasses, do you have difficulty:

• Recognizing faces of friends and relatives?
• Doing things that require detail vision, such as reading, cooking, sewing, or fixing things around the house?
• Picking out and matching the color of your clothes?
• Completing tasks, because "the lights just aren't as bright as they used to be?"
• Reading street and bus signs or the names of stores?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you may have low vision. See your eye care professional as soon as possible and consider consulting a low-vision specialist for an evaluation.

What you should do...
Here are some tips for living better with low vision:

• Sort money according to denomination and put each in a different section of your wallet.
• Tactually mark dials and knobs on household appliances to create easy reference points. For example:  Mark 350 F on your oven and 68 F on the thermostat.
• Apply paint, safety tape, or tread strips to the edges of steps to make them more visible.
• Request that your pharmacist use different sized bottles when dispensing similar-shaped pills.
• Wrap rubber bands around each pill bottle equaling the number of daily doses. Remove one each time you take the medication and, after you've taken the day's last dose, replace all of the bands for the following day.

At Associated Services for the Blind...
Appointed to the Board of Directors
Connie Colla has been reporting news in Philadelphia for the past seven years and now anchors the 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts on CN8.  Before CN8, Connie spent five years at NBC10, anchoring the morning show, News 10 Today.  Connie is very active in the community, leading CN8's partnership with the Children's Miracle Network in Philadelphia.  She also devotes time to the Pennsylvania Home for the Sparrow, which helps homeless women and children.

Deborah Groeber was the first person who is deaf-blind to graduate from an American accredited law school, Columbia University School of Law.  She is a former Associate with the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.  She was appointed by President Clinton to serve as a Private Citizen Member on the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled and served on that committee until February 2003.  She is also on the Board of Directors and a volunteer for the Legal Clinic for the Disabled, Inc.

Howard Saul Marcu is a retired partner in the Law Firm of Sand, Gibbs, Marcu, Smilk & Sherman, located in Broomall, PA.  He was formerly the Solicitor of the Delaware County Local Boards of Health Association, Workers Compensation Referee of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Solicitor of the Township of Springfield and its Zoning Hearing Board.  Mr. Marcu is an occasional Host of a Real Estate talk show on WWDB and a lecturer on real estate.

Joseph Munnelly is a Partner with KPMG LLP in Philadelphia.  Prior to joining KPMG, he was a Partner at Arthur Andersen where he had worked for 15 years.  Joe has a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from The Pennsylvania State University and his MBA with concentrations in finance and strategic management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  He is a certified public accountant holding licenses in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.  He has been a member of the Corporate Council of the Pennsylvania Ballet, a Junior Achievement Consultant and a United Way Fundraising Volunteer and is currently actively involved with the Lionville Youth Association.  Joe lives in Exton, PA, with his wife Kristen, and their three children Kaitlin, Michael and Connor (CJ).

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