SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: The Regional Unit of the Virginias and Carolinas and the Tennessee Unit have merged together to become the Regional Unit of the Upper Southeast!

Sharpen your pencils! Yes, it's that time of year again and the yellow school buses are back on the road. Our dedicated staff is poised and ready as we begin to roll into peak season. As our membership increases so does the responsibility of more students to serve than ever before; more books to record than ever before; more teachers to train than ever before; more tests to ace than ever before and more confidence to build than ever before.

Now, doesn't that get you excited about the new school year? I loved school and you may have loved your school years too. I loved nothing more than getting my new textbooks and of course the new school supplies. But I find myself wondering as I meet more and more of our students and learn of their frustrations; just how excited would I have been if those textbooks were nothing but closed pages to me. How excited would I have been if I looked at the pages of my textbooks and only saw what looked like a foreign language? How excited would I have been if I knew I were to be tested on these pages I couldn't even read or possibly not see at all. My guess is that all of a sudden I wouldn't be quite so anxious to jump on that school bus. Instead of being the obnoxious child who waved their hand in the air convulsively until called upon (yes, you all know the type!) I would be the child shrinking at my desk hoping to go unnoticed; dreading to be called on or singled out because I couldn't access the information much less come up with the right answers. Doesn't paint a very pretty picture does it?

And for many of our students school is not a pretty picture. These students despite their print disabilities are so determined to learn but many times the odds are just insurmountable. They leave the classroom feeling downtrodden, disenchanted, frustrated and totally deflated. And yet they have to go back day in and day out to the same situation. I can only imagine that they must feel like they are banging their heads against the wall. These students are the reason I continue to love back to school time! I may not need new textbooks anymore but you can bet that all of us here at RFB&D are going to make sure that each and every one of our students will have the textbooks they need. The catch is that their textbooks will be on shiny new CDs or through AudioAccess; our new downloadable format (see article on page 3). I get, in a sense, to go back to school with them. Not technically, but you can bet I feel a part of their school year when we get letters from our members telling us of their new found academic success. These kids are amazing; they don't give up and we can't give up on them either.

So whatever form your support of our mission comes in; time, talent, treasure, please know that we thank you on behalf of all the RFB&D students. Just think you too get to go back to school with our members. For without your support they wouldn't have their new textbooks in the recorded format they so desperately need. So this year as you spot those big yellow school buses around your community you can smile and know that one of our kids is on that bus and you are seated right next to them; they don't have to go it alone.

For all the students,

Christine S. Eure
Regional Executive Director

Our History

Volunteers in the state of Tennessee have been working to contribute to RFB&D's students with print disabilities since our unit's inception in 1952 in Oak Ridge. At that time, two physicists who were employed by the Department of Energy's nuclear energy program, Francis Pleasanton and Robert Kernohan, began recruiting other like-minded friends. The large number of highly educated scientists made this area a perfect fit for the organization and our program has thrived. At this time we have more than 300 volunteers on our roster.