Press Release
"The Lady with
the Smiley Voice"
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Los Angeles, CA (July 15, 2002) Imagine the thrill felt by the late Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic® (RFB&D®) volunteer reader Rose Kelber of California when she met an RFB&D student member who was blind. "Oh I know you," exclaimed the student, who used RFB&D's recorded textbooks. "You're the lady with the smiley voice!"
Rose's daughter, Diane, portrays how completely Rose was immersed in her RFB&D "work" for 40 years in Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul book, now available in bookstores. Diane's story is one of 87 selected from 6,000 submissions. RFB&D, the nation's nonprofit educational library for people with print disabilities, is recording an accessible version of the book for its members.
Over the course of four decades of volunteering with RFB&D, which was founded in 1948, Rose served as board chair five times and was a leading fundraiser and star volunteer recruiter.
When cancer invaded her body, Rose's weekly trips to record at the nearby studio became too much for her to endure. At Rose's request, RFB&D staff set up a home recording station for her.
"On her 'good' days," Diane writes, "she would spend an average of 15 minutes recording textbooks in her living room... She actually became embarrassed that was all she could give."
Rose lost her battle with cancer in 1998, and RFB&D lost a beloved volunteer.
For six years, Diane has been on the staff of the Los Angeles unit of RFB&D. "Not a day goes by," she writes, "without hearing echoes of her [mother's] voice saying, 'Oh honey, it's such a wonderful organization. You have to take the job!'"
More than 102,000 students who are blind, have a learning disability or another physical disability, are learning through listening using textbooks recorded by 5,400 dedicated RFB&D volunteers in 32 recording studios nationwide.
The organization needs volunteers with "smiley" voices who are adept in science, finance and other technical areas, and who can devote two or more hours a week to read and record educational materials.
RFB&D also needs volunteers for non-reading positions in all of its locations. For information, call 1-800-803-7201.
Note to editors: Diane Kelber is available for interviews; a high-resolution digital file or a print of mother and daughter are also available.
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additional media inquiries:
RFB&D News Desk 1-800-803-7201, press 6
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