NEWS RELEASE
October 23, 2008                       

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE            

Contact Information:
Ron Wudarsky, Director of Development  
E-mail: rwudarsky@rfbd.org

RFB&D Holds First Annual Open House for Potential Volunteers

CAMBRIDGE, MA —Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic’s New England Regional Unit, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing quality educational materials to the visual impaired, held their Annual Open House on Wednesday October 22nd, 2008.

This event allowed existing members and volunteers, as well as potential members and volunteers, to come to the New England Regional Unit to get a better understanding of what RFB&D does to help the community at large. The event attracted many citizens, teachers, and community activists, from the Cambridge area, including the president of the national Braille association.

The Open House provided the potential members and volunteers a chance to explore RFB&D as an organization. They were given a tour of the office by the Regional Executive Director, Christina Raimo and Director of Development, Ron Wudarsky. They explained that there are currently more than 9,000 students in Massachusetts with print disabilities who utilize RFB&D’s educational materials. They also talked about the organization’s history, when the Boston Unit came to be and what it has done in the past.

Then the groups were given a quick demonstration by the Education Outreach Staff on how educational materials reach students in need. The recorded material is put into CD or mp3 format and played through an RFB&D provided media player. These players offer students with the most up-to-date technology, allowing them to navigate by page, chapter or section. Finally, the participants were given a chance to get inside on of RFB&D’s recording booths, allowing them to see how the recording process works.

Ron Wudarsky, the Director of Development, spent weeks preparing for this event. “The Open House was a huge success,” said Wudarsky, “ we had a huge turn out! Over 100 people came, and 20 of those people signed up to volunteer right off the bat! This kind of community involvement and commitment is what makes RFB&D so successful.”

For more information on RFB&D and how to volunteer, please visit their Web site at www.rfbd.org.

Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), a national nonprofit, volunteer organization, has been the leading accessible audiobook library for students with disabilities such as visual impairment or dyslexia that make reading standard print difficult or impossible for the last 60 years. With titles available in every subject area and grade level, RFB&D’s digitally recorded audio textbooks on CD and downloadable audio textbooks help students challenged by the printed page.

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