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Press Release
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RECORDING
FOR THE BLIND & DYSLEXIC® RECEIVES MORE THAN $3
MILLION
FROM ESBERG TRUST
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February 16, 2005 (Princeton, NJ) - Recording
for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D) is the recipient of a
$3,062,500 endowment from the Ernest and Virginia Esberg Trust.
According to the guidelines of the gift, the money is being shared
by RFB&D headquarters in Princeton, NJ, and the Northern California
Unit in Palo Alto, CA. RFB&D, a nonprofit organization, is
the nation's educational library of recorded textbooks for students
with visual impairment, dyslexia or other physical disabilities
that make reading standard textbooks difficult or impossible.
The Esbergs made their first gift to RFB&D
in 1971 in the form of a $100 direct mail donation. After Ernest's
death in 1987, Virginia continued to make similar gifts regularly
through 1995. A resident of Larkspur, CA, Virginia died in 2002.
Other beneficiaries of the trust include the University of California
Berkeley Foundation and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
"We are very appreciative of the Esberg
gift," states Jackie McLeod, RFB&D senior vice president
for financial development. "Such a generous gift will help
to make textbooks more accessible to thousands of children, teens
and adults who depend on RFB&D to fulfill their educational
potential and pursue their career goals."
Longtime friend Bernie Hoffman describes
the Esbergs as "marvelous people." Hoffman recalls,
"Virginia was very interested in helping people who are blind
because a cousin, to whom she was very close, lost her vision.
For over 50 years, Virginia used to go to the homes of people
who were blind to read to them herself."
RFB&D serves more than 137,000 students
from kindergarten through graduate school and beyond with its
one-of-a-kind collection of more than 104,000 educational titles
on CD or four-track cassette. Students rely on RFB&D's unique
accommodation to access the printed page and to achieve educational
success.
All of RFB&D's accessible titles are
recorded by volunteers working in 29 RFB&D recording studios
nationwide, including Palo Alto, CA.
additional media inquiries:
RFB&D News Desk 1-800-803-7201
media e-mail inquiries
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