by Susan Glass
[Editor's Note: In the CCB family, the SVCB is by far the largest chapter (other than CCCLV, a statewide affiliate). We can all learn so much from this
supremely successful chapter.]
Writing this profile of the Silicon Valley CCB chapter is the most daunting task that I've attempted as Associate Editor of the BC. I'm writing about my
home chapter, which is like describing members of my family: I feel shy and self conscious. I need to do it right or someone may ask for my head. The chapter
has a rich history dating back to 1987, and several of its founding members are still here, mentoring and guiding us. I've enjoyed interviewing them, and
I hope that in writing this piece, I honor the chapter's history, its present health, and its future.
Back in 1986, there was another blindness organization in the Santa Clara Valley. (That was the valley's original name before the Silicon nomenclature
took over.) Called the Santa Clara County Club of the Adult Blind, this organization functioned primarily as a social and recreational outlet for blind
adults. The Silicon Valley Council of the Blind was founded by Bernice Kandarian, Roger Petersen, and Chris Gray in the fall of 1987. Other founding members
included Judy Barnes, who was responsible for launching the chapter's newsletter, Richard Kendle and Chris Walter (both employees at Telesensory) Greg
Fowler, and Julie Lovins, who produced the newsletter for many years. The chapter held its first meetings in Roger and Bernice's apartment, then moved
on to a number of other locations including Coffee, Tea and Spice (which was a Mountain View coffee shop owned by a woman from India), a Chinese restaurant,
The Mountain View Library, the Mercury Savings and loan at San Antonio shopping center, The Santa Clara Valley Blind Center, and finally its current location:
the dining room of the Monte Vista Terrace Apartments in Mountain View. Perhaps one advantage of this early roaming was the chapter's visibility in the
surrounding community.
Some of SVCB's early members have migrated to other chapters: Margie Donnovan now contributes her excellent advocacy skills to the Capitol Chapter, and
Frank Welte enriches the San Francisco Chapter with his dynamic and diplomatic leadership strategies. Happily, the migration is multi directional, and
Silicon Valley is fortunate in counting Rob Turner in its ranks. We stole Rob from Southern California, and have benefited from his wisdom and quiet sense
of humor ever since. An overriding fact that I have come to appreciate from writing these profile articles is how many talented people we have in our
CCB family.
Currently, the Silicon Valley chapter has 84 members, and of those 84, an average of 30 regularly attend the monthly general membership meetings. The chapter
meets from 10 AM to 1 PM on the third Saturday of every month except in August when we hold our annual picnic, and in December when we have our annual
holiday party. We typically have a program speaker for one hour, followed by our hour-long business meeting, followed by lunch, which we order from a nearby
Eriks Deli. Although we've had a Program Chair for as long as I can remember, members often recruit our best speakers, or they give presentations themselves.
Dawn Wilcox, who has been in our chapter since 1991, gave a fabulous talk about her 3 year sailing voyage around the world with her husband and children.
Member Tamara Kearney, told us about the years that she spent in Australia working as a braille transcriber and children's librarian. She also shared the
differences between guide dog training in Australia, and guide dog training here in the US. Diane Harms, who was the first blind court reporter in California,
told us about her career and the education that she undertook to prepare for it. We've had programs featuring local audio describers and theater directors,
speakers from our local paratransit agency, and programs from our League of Women Voters that outline upcoming ballot measures.
I asked several of my colleagues in the chapter to comment on what they see as its strengths.
"We're an inclusive, welcoming group of people," says Bev Clifford, who joined the Silicon Valley chapter in July of 2002. "I was trying to get a low interest
loan so that I could purchase my first Braille Note, and Roger Petersen told me who to call to get such a loan, and he also invited me to a monthly meeting.
I soon discovered that people in the group would help you with all kinds of things like learning about paratransit outreach and Accessible Prescriptions.
I told my husband Victor, `These people know about all of these things that we've never heard of.' I joined the chapter and so did he."
Both Dawn Wilcox and Greg Fowler cite SVCB's well-designed Constitution as a strength.
"Roger, Bernice and Chris gave us a good foundation when they wrote that constitution," says Dawn. "And from the very start, they modeled recruitment strategies
and mentoring. The first time I attended a meeting in 1991, I felt like I was an impostor. I was just losing my sight, and in denial. I didn't feel blind
yet. But Roger saved me: without Roger, I'd still be stuck in Egypt somewhere in the Nile."
The chapter also benefits from a number of good writers: Mike Keithley, Roger Petersen, Bev Clifford, Michelle McGrew, which means that the monthly newsletter
gets a variety of columns and voices, and its editor doesn't have to work so hard.
Fund-raising efforts that have either educational or community service value are integral to SVCB. One such fundraiser is the Barbara Rhodes Adaptive Technology
Grant, which was established in 2010 in honor of Barbara Rhodes, a long-time member who for years represented the chapter on committees concerned with
transportation, technology, and accessible medications. The program annually awards a grant of up to $1,000 to a blind or visually-impaired person living
in Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz or San Benito Counties who can best demonstrate the need for adaptive technology that will improve his/her quality
of life or advance his/her educational and/or employment opportunities. Our most recent fundraiser for the grant was an afternoon of Old Time Radio hosted
by chapter member John Glass who has a collection of more than 5,000 radio series including such favorites as Gun Smoke, Drag Net, Suspense, Our Miss Brooks,
and The Shadow. John polled chapter friends to see what their favorites were, and on a Saturday afternoon in April, we gathered in our local Blind Center's
auditorium for three hours of radio. We charged a modest admission fee, and we also collected money for refreshments baked by chapter members. We raised
over $400, so we're planning another such afternoon of radio, and this time we'll invite the general public.
In 2007, the chapter published the SVCB 20th anniversary cookbook called Silicon Valley: Twenty Years of Favorite Recipes. All included recipes had been
enjoyed by chapter members at annual picnics and holiday parties, and each contributor included a story of the recipe's origin. These stories revealed
details about the contributor's life and blindness. We formatted the book in braille, large print, cassette and CD in order to reach the widest audience.
Like many other CCB chapters, SVCB has a history of championing braille literacy. Members volunteer as scorers and proctors for the Northern California
Regional Braille Challenge. To honor Louis Braille, we donated print copies of A Touch of Genius to several local libraries. We've designed and sold braille
print T-shirts extolling the virtues of braille and audio literacy: one T-shirt incorporated headphones as part of its design in honor of those who listen
to books.
I asked my colleagues to comment on the challenges our chapter faces. Roger Petersen would like us to increase our advocacy activities where state and
federal legislation is concerned. He'd like our membership to be more familiar with the ADA and its updates. And he'd like us to be even more active than
we are in ACB.
"We need more people to participate," says Bev Clifford. "It's good that 30 people attend meetings, but where are the other 50? Also, the same group of
people tend to do most of the work."
"We need more worker bees," says Dawn Wilcox, who along with Naomi Grubb, has been handling hospitality and coordination of volunteers at our meetings
for more than a decade. "Moving tables, clearing surface space for refreshments, helping totally blind people find seats, and serving food. We need more
physical help, and it would be great if we had more high partials, people with some sight to help us."
As chapter president, I echo Dawn's sentiments. I'd like to recruit more visually-impaired members, and provide programs that meet their needs. Several
in our chapter have disabilities in addition to blindness. Some of us are hearing-impaired, and others face cognitive, mobility, and mental health challenges.
We've focused some of our monthly programs on addressing these additional disabilities as they intersect with blindness, but we can do more. When possible,
we should try to support events sponsored by other chapters in our region: Bayview Chapter's annual fundraiser comes to mind, as well as the San Francisco
Chapter's Education Grant, and the Mutt Strut. We can and should help publicize one another's activities. As prohibitive costs make attending state conventions
more daunting, we may need regional mini conventions. I believe that some discussions of this possibility have already begun.
