December newsletter The TAPING RECORDER December 2007 News from & about Taping For The Blind, Inc. http://www.tapingfortheblind.org Celebrating 40 years of Turning Sight Into Sound! NEW OFFICERS & DIRECTORS FOR 2008 Our Board of Directors met on November 15, 2007, and among other items of business the following officers were elected for 2008: President, Randy de La Garza; Vice President Planning & Technology, Bob Bartlett (who also serves as immediate Past President); Vice President Development, Philamena Baird; Vice President Client Services, David Gillmore; Secretary, Janet Parisi; and Treasurer, Ulyesse LeGrange. Our best wishes to these volunteers for their work in the challenging year ahead. We also welcome brand-new Directors Steve O'Rourke, Janet Walker, Gary Randazzo, Anita Simpson, and K. C. Jobe. We look forward to your good work for our agency. Congratulations to Marie Roberts and Michael Garrett who were elected to a second two-year term each. And welcome to the following new Advisory Directors: Mary Pedersen, Bill Canning, Scott Ward, and Michelle Colvard. We look forward to your talents in making our agency better. We also offer our sincere thanks to our Nominating Committee, capably chaired by Janet Parisi, with members Randy de La Garza, Jerry Hanlon, Philamena Baird, David Nelson, Lindsay Buchanan, Anita Simpson, Scott Burman, and K. C. Jobe. This is neither easy nor simple duty, so we are grateful for your excellent work. HOLIDAY HOURS We will be on holiday hours for Monday, December 24, Tuesday, December 25, Monday, December 31, and Tuesday, January 1, 2008. We thank those of you that will bring our programs to our clients over these holidays as well as staff members supporting operations. Our very best to all of you and your families for a wonderful holiday season, as well as a tremendous New Year! LIGHT THE CANDLES December is always a difficult time for celebrating birthdays as some folks just keep wanting to combine birthday recognition with celebration of the holidays, but not so with the RECORDER. We are extremely proud to wish a hearty "Happy Birthday" to the following volunteers who celebrate birthdays in December: 12/04 Susan Allen; 12/05 Marie Roberts, Sarah Roush; 12/10 Bill Kreps; 12/13 Joanne Vacek; 12/15 Doug Miller; 12/16 Pat Shannon; 12/23 Jeri Herbsleb; and 12/28 Bill Canning. If you have a December birthday and your name is not in this list, please let any staff member know. THANKS FOR HELPING We say a big "Thank You" to the following volunteers who helped with our end-of-year mail stuffing: Fred Dawson, Kathy Osman, Nancy Daly, Laura Upton, Sue Odell, Diana Mitchell, Anna McLean, Patti Swenson, and Cullom Connely. We also are very grateful to the following volunteers who helped so much in making our annual holiday gathering such a success: Marcie Corder, Pat Pilkington, Lyn & Les Schmaltz, and Lisa Roper & her husband (we apologize for not getting his name). If you missed this party you missed another great time. It is always such fun when Taping volunteers come together! THE IMPORTANCE OF SIGNING IN In the event you do not feel compelled to sign in reporting your time as a volunteer to Taping, please know that recording your hours (including transit time to and from your home) is used to show potential benefactors that we are offsetting actual labor hours with volunteer hours. If it were not for your volunteer efforts there would be no Taping For The Blind, so step up and sign in, please! This is just one more way you can help our agency in its effort to serve the print handicapped of our area (as well as the rest of Texas in our Custom Recording division). SUBSCRIBE TO THIS NEWSLETTER We have new volunteers pretty routinely, and upon occasion one may come across this newsletter and not know how to get it. It is very easy! It is published on a Yahoo Group list, so subscribing is all you have to do. Simply send a blank e-mail message to: Tbi-houston-subscribe@yahoogroups.\ com . Shortly after you do that, you will receive a message to confirm that you want to be subscribed. Simply open that message, use the reply function, and send the message and you will become part of the list. The list is very low volume and is not a discussion list--it is outgoing only so do not be concerned with overfilling your electronic mailbox. We look forward to your subscribing, and we wish you the happiest of holidays and a prosperous new year! RLB