From paulsmith at samobile.net  Tue Sep  1 13:31:06 2015
From: paulsmith at samobile.net (Paul Smith)
Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2015 09:31:06 -0400
Subject: [Nfb-lions] Brief Introduction
Message-ID: <6df6aece.3968.4712.b3c2.2ad56345d7dd@samobile.net>

Hello fellow Lions.  Just joined this group, so I thought that I'd post 
an intro about myself and how I came to join my local Lions Club, so 
that the other list members don't feel that I am a disembodied nonentity.

My name is Paul Smith and I live in Baltimore, Maryland.  My first 
introduction to Lions was as a preteen when our local club in District 
22A, the Overlea Lions Club, sponsored a trip to the circus.  This was 
back in the mid 1950's.  We even had our own audio describer.  Needless 
to say I and my fellow students at the Maryland School for the Blind 
thoroughly enjoyed this Saturday morning activity.

Fast forward to September of 1960.  In that year the same club 
initiated financially a concert band at the above named school.  Among 
those who initially signed up for this extracurricular activity was, 
you guessed it, the undersigned.  The same Lions Club paid for uniforms 
and musical instruments.  Needless to say we had a great time in band 
practice and going out on occasional concert tours.

And finally we fast forward to the summer of 2013 when, along with 
others, mainly from Pennsylvania, I attended a ten-day session at 
Beacon Lodge, located near Mount Union PA and supported by the Lions of 
that state.  This was also very enjoyable.

With what you just read, my interest in joining my local Lions Club was 
piqued and aroused and, so far, I've been a board member of our club; 
in fact this is my second year of a two-year term.  Our club is quite 
small, only about 17 or 18 members, but we do what we can in the 
community.  In November of 2014 we inaugurated an outside pavillion at 
MSB for which I was present, the only blind Lion in attendance.  I even 
have a pin depicting, among other things, an outline of this structure.

Well, enough info about me.  Thanks for Lion Milton for posting joining 
info on SAMNET in the SAMNET Lions forum, a discussion group that I 
created.  Until I read further posts, I wish all the list members, both 
individually and collectively, good success in Lionism, whether in your 
local club or even in a wider sphere.  Lion Paul



From dlaiblcrowe at att.net  Tue Sep  1 15:05:56 2015
From: dlaiblcrowe at att.net (Darlene Laibl-Crowe)
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2015 11:05:56 -0400
Subject: [Nfb-lions] Brief Introduction
In-Reply-To: <6df6aece.3968.4712.b3c2.2ad56345d7dd@samobile.net>
References: <6df6aece.3968.4712.b3c2.2ad56345d7dd@samobile.net>
Message-ID: <004001d0e4c7$b5c92eb0$215b8c10$@att.net>

Nice to meet you, Lion Paul!  And I truly enjoyed your sharing of how you became a Lion.

I don't believe I've ever shared on here before so I will do so now.  The first time I learned of the Lion's Club in our area (Palatka Lion's Club in Florida), I was a young mother and my hearing aid had broken.  I needed it repaired so the Lions gave me a loaner to use since I was also employed at the time until my hearing aid was repaired.  

Now, at this time, I was not visually impaired.  Unsuspecting to me and my family, we found out five years later that I was losing my vision due to Retinitis Pigmentosa.  I had started having problems with things blending into the background.  I had hit shopping carts in the parking lot that seemed to appear out of no where.  Then one day while I was visiting with my mother with my five year old son; I received a phone call from a friend.

Now this was in the mid-80s, the time where no cell phones were thought of; the friend told me that I had pulled out in front of him and he had to avoid hitting me with his vehicle by going into the inside lane of the four lane highway.  At first, I couldn't figure out what he was referring to and then I remembered pulling out of the convenient store.  I didn't remember seeing another vehicle on the road.  

Thank God there were no other vehicles on the road except for this friend.  He was driving a log truck and the reality of not seeing something that big shook me up.  I decided to go and get my eyes checked.  I was told I was going blind and advised to give up driving.  To make a long story short, I went through the emotions did what I could and moved on the best way I could.  

In 2006, I got my first guide dog.  I began experiencing some negative reactions from the community.  People would pet or talk to my guide...distract her and some were totally frightened of her and would literally run screaming out of the store.  Even store associates did not want to assist me.  I knew I needed to begin educating and bringing awareness.

One day, I was approached by a Lion, who invited me to a social with my then 15 year old youngest son.  I went and I began to realize that this was a perfect opportunity for me to join and begin educating about service animals.  I have been doing this ever since.

In 2008, after 22 years of being able to see with my central vision to read print and lips to accomdoate for what I couldn't hear; I began to struggle with additional vision loss.  To make another story short, I began to recognize myself as deaf for the first time in my life and then later deafblind when I met others just like me through a representative from Helen Keller National Center who help me to advocate to have my state send me to New York to train for my dual sensory loss.

In 2011, I began training in New York at HKNC for eight months.  I went there solely to learn how to better advocate for myself and to gain information about how to become gainfully employed again.  I experience so much while there that I came home to florida with confidence that I had never experienced in my life.  I have been advocating and doing all I can to help myself while helping others, too.  

In 2012, I was appointed by the governor to the Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing to represent deafblind Floridians.  I also volunteer my time as the Florida Support Service Providers Program Coordinator for the Florida Deaf Blind Association.  I am also president of the Florida State Wide Chapter of the NFB and a member of several other NFB committees.  

For the Lions, I have served as Secretary for several years.  Our club--Palatka Lion's Club has been serving our community since 1949 and we are a part of District 35-L.  We are a small club, too--we currently have 16 members.  

In 2013, I was asked by state agency to meet with others in my community who are visually impaired to brainstorm of how to bring resources within our community.  I did and we created Eye on Accessibility Focus Group with a mission to alleviate barriers for those who live in our county with vision loss.  As a Lion, I supported this and also for myself; as I know how extremely difficult it is when you don't have the resources or support that you need---it is isolating.  

Last year, I encouraged three of the blind individuals in the EoA group to join the Lions and as a result one of those members had three family members join.  I was also writing articles for the local paper about vision loss and encouraging people to become active in the community in some form to support those with vision loss and hearing loss.  A couple who are visually impaired contacted the Lion president and we met with them and, they, too, joined.  As a result, I was able to have eight new members join our club!  

Now we have a new set of officers and working hard to promote membership and we hope to double the number!  Lionism is much more than being a Lion, it is actively building confidence within our community by serving their needs---especially the vision and hearing needs.  Diverse membership will bring many rewards and supporting one another will help alleviate isolation within our communities; both small and large!  

Today, I serve as Board of Director advising the current officers and supporting acitivites as I continue to advocate in other areas.  I am also pursuing Master's degree in Human Resources Management.  No, I am still not gainfully employed but I know that one day, I will be an amazing asset to an employer who steps out of its comfort zone to take a chance on me OR I could create my own business and become an employer to hire those who are at a disadvantage.  One thing that I've found is that anything is possible!

Diligently serving, encouraging in Lionism!!

? (smile)
Darlene Laibl-Crowe


-----Original Message-----
From: Nfb-lions [mailto:nfb-lions-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Paul Smith via Nfb-lions
Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2015 9:31 AM
To: nfb-lions at nfbnet.org
Cc: Paul Smith <paulsmith at samobile.net>
Subject: [Nfb-lions] Brief Introduction

Hello fellow Lions.  Just joined this group, so I thought that I'd post an intro about myself and how I came to join my local Lions Club, so that the other list members don't feel that I am a disembodied nonentity.

My name is Paul Smith and I live in Baltimore, Maryland.  My first introduction to Lions was as a preteen when our local club in District 22A, the Overlea Lions Club, sponsored a trip to the circus.  This was back in the mid 1950's.  We even had our own audio describer.  Needless to say I and my fellow students at the Maryland School for the Blind thoroughly enjoyed this Saturday morning activity.

Fast forward to September of 1960.  In that year the same club initiated financially a concert band at the above named school.  Among those who initially signed up for this extracurricular activity was, you guessed it, the undersigned.  The same Lions Club paid for uniforms and musical instruments.  Needless to say we had a great time in band practice and going out on occasional concert tours.

And finally we fast forward to the summer of 2013 when, along with others, mainly from Pennsylvania, I attended a ten-day session at Beacon Lodge, located near Mount Union PA and supported by the Lions of that state.  This was also very enjoyable.

With what you just read, my interest in joining my local Lions Club was piqued and aroused and, so far, I've been a board member of our club; in fact this is my second year of a two-year term.  Our club is quite small, only about 17 or 18 members, but we do what we can in the community.  In November of 2014 we inaugurated an outside pavillion at MSB for which I was present, the only blind Lion in attendance.  I even have a pin depicting, among other things, an outline of this structure.

Well, enough info about me.  Thanks for Lion Milton for posting joining info on SAMNET in the SAMNET Lions forum, a discussion group that I created.  Until I read further posts, I wish all the list members, both individually and collectively, good success in Lionism, whether in your local club or even in a wider sphere.  Lion Paul

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To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfb-lions:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-lions_nfbnet.org/dlaiblcrowe%40att.net




From paulsmith at samobile.net  Thu Sep  3 02:52:12 2015
From: paulsmith at samobile.net (Paul Smith)
Date: Wed, 02 Sep 2015 22:52:12 -0400
Subject: [Nfb-lions] Members On Out of Sight
Message-ID: <13f88d6e.cd59.4335.a564.6a382e1dd6cb@samobile.net>

Hello my fellow Lions.  Was wondering if any of you are members of the 
audio chat community and email list known as Out of Sight
(http://www.out-of-sight.net)?
If so, maybe we can schedule an informal get-together at a time of day 
and day of the week that would be most convenient.  I understand there 
are 1500 members of Out of Sight, and if any of you are members over 
there you undoubtedly saw my article several months ago on how I became 
a Lion.  Anyway looking for any responses here.  Please post them here, 
although you can post them to the main OOS chat list.  Thanks for your 
responses.  Lion Paul



From mota1252 at gmail.com  Thu Sep  3 03:30:19 2015
From: mota1252 at gmail.com (Milton Ota)
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2015 22:30:19 -0500
Subject: [Nfb-lions] Members On Out of Sight
In-Reply-To: <13f88d6e.cd59.4335.a564.6a382e1dd6cb@samobile.net>
References: <13f88d6e.cd59.4335.a564.6a382e1dd6cb@samobile.net>
Message-ID: <002601d0e5f8$dc17ecf0$9447c6d0$@gmail.com>

Hi Paul,

I know I had setup an account with Out of sight a long while ago so I don't
know if my login information is still good.

I can try it out if we do have enough people to join a chat.


-----Original Message-----
From: Nfb-lions [mailto:nfb-lions-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Paul
Smith via Nfb-lions
Sent: Wednesday, September 2, 2015 9:52 PM
To: nfb-lions at nfbnet.org
Cc: Paul Smith <paulsmith at samobile.net>
Subject: [Nfb-lions] Members On Out of Sight

Hello my fellow Lions.  Was wondering if any of you are members of the audio
chat community and email list known as Out of Sight
(http://www.out-of-sight.net)?
If so, maybe we can schedule an informal get-together at a time of day and
day of the week that would be most convenient.  I understand there are 1500
members of Out of Sight, and if any of you are members over there you
undoubtedly saw my article several months ago on how I became a Lion.
Anyway looking for any responses here.  Please post them here, although you
can post them to the main OOS chat list.  Thanks for your responses.  Lion
Paul

_______________________________________________
Nfb-lions mailing list
Nfb-lions at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-lions_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Nfb-lions:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-lions_nfbnet.org/mota1252%40gmail.com




From paulsmith at samobile.net  Thu Sep  3 15:01:02 2015
From: paulsmith at samobile.net (Paul Smith)
Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2015 11:01:02 -0400
Subject: [Nfb-lions] September Lion Magazine on NFB Newsline and a Request
Message-ID: <30ae6b1c.8d7b.4ad5.872e.a5ba52571932@samobile.net>

Hello fellow Lions.  Am happy to report that the September 2015 issue 
of "The Lion Magazine" is up on NFB Newsline, so read to your heart's content.

One more thing:  For those of you who can contact them, I think it 
would be a good idea to contact the Athens, Georgia Lions Club and 
specifically those who read "The Lion" in Athens' Learning Ally studio. 
I realize that the Lion from NFB Newsline comes much sooner than the 
issue read from Learning Ally, but I think it would be very nice to 
write the particular club to thank them for their voluntary service.  
Too often we blind just take the things we get for granted, and not 
show appreciation for things done for us, not only in the reading of 
the Lion, but in other areas such as those who read for radio reading 
and/or information services.  I know about the latter because I was 
asked to fill a vacancy on the board of our local RRS, which I was glad 
to do, if only to represent Lions International.

So, as said previously, if you could individually contact the Georgia 
Lions, your words of appreciation would go a long way, in my opinion.  
Lion Paul



From dlaiblcrowe at att.net  Mon Sep  7 19:14:53 2015
From: dlaiblcrowe at att.net (Darlene Laibl-Crowe)
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2015 15:14:53 -0400
Subject: [Nfb-lions] Book Recommendation
Message-ID: <00b601d0e9a1$7f455100$7dcff300$@att.net>

Book Recommendation!
 
Invisible:  My Journey Through Vision-Hearing Loss
Author:  Ruth Silver
 
Please share this link.
 
Although Ruth was born with the genetics of Usher Syndome, it did not become
apparent until later in life as she lost vision and hearing.  Today, 80
years young, she shares her journey to encourage others and to educate
society of deafblindness.  She is a successful business woman and created an
independence resource center for those who are struggling with dual sensory
loss.  
 
I am honored to have her as a friend and mentor!  
 
http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Journey-Through-Vision-Hearing/dp/1475919476
 
 
(smile)
:)  Darlene Laibl-Crowe 
& Jadee, the Regal Duchess 
 
"Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that
may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will
succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles .
Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever
lost." 
                                           ~ Helen Keller
 


From dandrews at visi.com  Wed Sep  9 00:44:44 2015
From: dandrews at visi.com (David Andrews)
Date: Tue, 08 Sep 2015 19:44:44 -0500
Subject: [Nfb-lions] Process Message 1, Please Ignore
Message-ID: <auto-000036047109@mailfront1.g2host.com>

It is not necessary to respond to this message in any way!  It is 
being sent to all nfbnet.org lists for three purposes:
1. to exercise/test all nfbnet.org plumbing,
2.  to initiate the search function for all low-traffic lists, yes 
find is fixed again,
and 3. to help remove bad addresses from all lists.

David Andrews, List Owner


         David Andrews and long white cane Harry.
E-Mail:  dandrews at visi.com or david.andrews at nfbnet.org




From mota1252 at gmail.com  Tue Sep 22 20:05:37 2015
From: mota1252 at gmail.com (Milton Ota)
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2015 15:05:37 -0500
Subject: [Nfb-lions] Lions Magazine for September 2015
Message-ID: <000001d0f572$0cbfd600$263f8200$@gmail.com>

The September issue of the Lions Magazine is now available for listening or
downloading to your computer at the following URL:

 

http://www.lionsclubs.org/EN/news-media/lion-magazine/audio/2015-09.php

 

Enjoy!

Sincerely,

Milton Ota, President

National Federation of the Blind of North Dakota

Web: http://nfbnd.org/

909 8th Street, South

Fargo, ND 58103-2723

Phone: (701) 212-0154

Cell: (808) 295-2528

E-maiol: mota1252 at gmail.com <mailto:mota1252 at gmail.com> 

 

It's TIME to Eliminate Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities

 <http://www.nfb.org/TIME> http://www.nfb.org/TIME

 

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.

 

 <https://nfb.org/make-gift> Make a gift to the National Federation of the
Blind and help ensure all blind Americans live the lives they wantIt's TIME
to Eliminate Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities

 <http://www.nfb.org/TIME> http://www.nfb.org/TIME

 

 



From mota1252 at gmail.com  Thu Sep 24 20:56:59 2015
From: mota1252 at gmail.com (Milton Ota)
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2015 15:56:59 -0500
Subject: [Nfb-lions] October Lions Magazine Now Available
Message-ID: <000001d0f70b$8e47b770$aad72650$@gmail.com>

The October issue of The Lions Magazine is now available on NFB-Newsline? for Lions members who have NFB-Newsline? access. Enjoy!

 



From paulsmith at samobile.net  Thu Sep 24 21:25:25 2015
From: paulsmith at samobile.net (Paul Smith)
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2015 17:25:25 -0400
Subject: [Nfb-lions] October Lions Magazine Now Available
Message-ID: <474f7a9f.8a6e.4e17.bd5b.a73306dda61c@samobile.net>

It is interesting that today I got the print copy in today's mail, so 
that was fast, in my opinion.  Lion Paul



