[Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] Woodcrafters club makes 1, 000th Braille block kit for the blind

[Shelley L. Rhodes]

La Salle News Tribune, Illinois
Saturday, May 21, 2005

Woodcrafters club makes 1,000th Braille block kit for the blind

By Shannon Crawley-Serpette, ntputnam at ivnet.com

PRINCETON - Since 1999, a local organization has been making a difference in 
the lives of the blind all over the world.

That year, Dave Sawitoski of Woodcrafters Unlimited Association of Princeton 
saw an article in a woodworking magazine that said to contact Hadley School 
for the Blind in Winnetka, Ill., for information concerning Braille blocks.

Once the woodworkers organization was sent specifications for the kits, a 
sample was made and approved by Hadley.

With detailed plans showing how to make the kits, members of the 
organization began using their skills to make and donate the Braille block 
kits.

Once completed, the kits, which can be full-size or mini-size, are donated 
to Hadley, said Woodcrafters Unlimited member Bill Ellena. From there, the 
kits are shipped all over the world and used to help blind people learn the 
alphabet in Braille.

The people who receive the kits are grateful to Woodcrafters Unlimited 
Association.

"We have received letters from all over the world (thanking us)," Ellena 
said.

Several companies have donated wood for the endeavor and since 1999, and the 
association has made 1,020 kits, Ellena said. Members schedule club 
workdays, at which a group of men get together and make 10 to 12 sets in a 
session. Each kit takes about six to eight hours to make, Ellena said.

The goal of the group each year is to exceed the number of kits made the 
year before, Ellena said. In 2002, the group made 166 kits. In 2003, they 
increased that number to 184. That number was upped to 201 in 2004.

Because the U.S. Postal Service ships materials for the blind for free, the 
organization does not incur any expense when shipping the kits to Hadley.

In addition, the association makes tic-tac-toe boards for the blind and they 
are to California and Winnetka, Ellena said.

Woodcrafters Unlimited Association was formed in 1985 when a group of 10 men 
decided to begin a woodworking club to include all phases of woodworking.

The association has approximately 25 members, mostly from Putnam, Bureau and 
La Salle counties. They meet in the basement of the Bureau County Senior 
Center, which has donated the space to the Woodcrafters Unlimited 
Association free of charge.

http://www.newstrib.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&ArticleID=17041&SubSectionID=207




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