HEARTBEAT
Newsletter of the Kankakee Heartland Chapter NFBI
Fall edition September, 2005
Questions or comments, contact: Bryan Turner at (815)939-7386 or by e-mail at:
bryan_turner@sbcglobal.net
If you would like to submit to the newsletter you can e-mail it or send it to:
Bryan Turner
1814 E. Maple
Kankakee, IL 60901
CONTENTS:
From the President
Upcoming state convention
Meet the Blind Month-classroom visits
Meet the Blind Month-Walk for Vision, and Beyond Sight
Meet the Blind Month-Northfield Square Mall-Vision Impairment Awareness Day
Metro to University Park-Update
Autobiography- Marjorie Stouffer
Preparing for cold weather
Thanks
Membership birthdays
-From the President-
I would like to give my thanks to all those who have helped build this chapter
again over the last year and a half. As time goes on, we have
built up the presence of the Heartland Chapter in the community and are much
more recognized by the general public as a whole.
Our summer picnic event was a strong showing of the support growing within the
chapter and I hope that these types of events continue to grow.
Our state convention is coming up in less than two months, and I hope to have a
good representation of the Heartland Chapter this year. I have
an article in the newsletter about the convention which will give more details
on the state convention this year.
Please remember that we are the blind speaking for ourselves, and together, we
can make a difference for the visually impaired throughout the
Kankakee area, the state and across the country.
-Upcoming State Convention-
This year's convention, "BLAZING A TRAIL", will take place on November 4th, 5th
and 6th at the Four Points Sheraton in Rock Island. Room reservations
should be made by October 1 in order to guarantee the group rate of $62 per
night plus tax. After that, reservations will be made on a space available
basis only. For reservations, call (309)794-1212.
Advanced registrations made by October 1 will be $5, or $7 if made at the
convention. Registration forms are available in the Examiner state
newsletter, or by going to the state website at:
www.nfbillinois.org.
Registrations and fees should be made by October 15th, 2005 to Kelly Doty, 1433
Ashland Avenue #403, Des Plaines, IL 60016. Make checks and money orders
payable to the NFB of Illinois.
This year's national representative will be Dianne McGeorge, who will also be
making the banquet address as well. The cost for this year's banquet
is $25. If you need to make any menu changes for dietary needs, contact Robert
Gardner at (309) 755-8085 by October 1.
The opening session will begin on Friday November 4 at 1 p.m., don't be late!
There will be an afternoon workshop on Friday for the senior blind
and several other workshops as well. The Resolutions Committee Meeting will take
place on Friday evening. This meeting will direct the causes that the
NFBI will take up in the future.
For those who need financial assistance, contact Bryan Turner by September 30 as
the board will meet after the chapter meeting on October 1.
-Classroom Visits-
This year for October's 'Meet the Blind Month', Kankakee Chapter President Bryan
Turner will again be going to classrooms in Kankakee District
#111 to talk to children about the blind and vision loss. The students will each
receive a note card with their name in Braille, there will be a discussion
about Braille and adaptive equipment, a discussion on how to approach the blind
will take place and each student will be given a chance to use a White
Cane. When this is done, there will be a Q and A session, and then the students
will be given a chance to meet Madison, Bryan's guide dog and local ambassador
for the blind.
Each visit takes approximately one hour and leaves the students with a new
understanding of and for the blind.
-Walk for Vision-
And beyond sight
With October being 'Meet the Blind Month' and October 15 being 'White Cane Day',
Bryan Turner will be raising awareness and funds
at the same time while walking from Momence to Reddick on October 14 and 15.
This walk will cover 34 miles over the two-day period ending west of Kankakee
near Limestone Road the first day. There will be an R.V. as a support vehicle
carrying boxes of brochures and Kernel books with Braille alphabet cards.
The route will start in Momence at the Shell gas station located near the bridge
crossing the Kankakee river and will proceed west on Route
17 to Kankakee down Court Street. The walk will continue across Court Street to
the west end of town following Route 17 west to Limestone road on the first
day. The second day will pick up at this point and continue west to Reddick and
the west county line.
Printed notices will be placed at all businesses along the route as well as most
businesses in the Kankakee, Bradley and Bourbonnais areas and
media coverage will be in all area newspapers and on radio as with the monthly
meetings. This radio PSA will include information on the walk, the affiliate
website and the Imagination fund.
For those who have concerns about Madison, Bryan's guide dog, she has been
checked out by Dr. Debbie Wagner at the Bradley Animal Hospital,
is in perfect health and will ride in the support vehicle if she shows any signs
of stress.
There will be directions for donations on the notices put out with a phone
number to call to give information. All business donations will be
picked up, and personal will be sent a self-addressed, stamped envelope to mail
in. Arrangements are being made so that businesses donating $50 or more
and personal donations of $25 or more will be recognized in the Kankakee Daily
Journal. Sponsors for this walk will be mentioned on notices and in the
paper as well.
a.. For more information, please contact Bryan Turner at (815)939-7386, or by
e-mail at:
bryan_turner@sbcglobal.net
-Vision Impairment Awareness Day-
The Kankakee Heartland Chapter will take part in the Vision Impairment Awareness
Day held by Options Center for Independent Living at Northfield
Square Mall on September 24 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.
There will be 16 different vendors ranging from HumanWare to Guide Dogs schools
on hand. The focus of the event is to show the adaptive equipment
available for the visually impaired. There will be items on hand ranging from
talking and Braille watches to CCTV's. The Kankakee Heartland Chapter will
be on-hand to represent the NFB with literature and will be handing out Kernel
books and Braille alphabet cards.
-Metro to University Park Update-
The Metro bus service to University Park is still scheduled to start in the
second half of October. An exact date is not available as of yet
due to the unknown arrival of the buses being rehabbed for this new route.
This service will be leaving from and returning to Northfield Square Mall in
Bradley 4 times each day in the a.m. and 4 times daily in the p.m. The cost will be $3 per ride or $60 for a monthly pass which, for the first time
will be able to be used for the ADA bus. This normally costs $2 per ride
and will now be covered with this new monthly pass.
This new service schedule will be set as soon as all of the survey replies have
been evaluated. Thank you to those who did respond to the survey
in an effort to make travel to the suburbs and the city of Chicago easier.
-Autobiography- Marjorie Stouffer-
I was born May 21,1929 in a very small country town named Jewell
in Iowa. That year would become the beginning of the great depression. My
paternal grandparents had a cafe there. I think
that is where my addiction to ice cream began. My maternal
grandparents and my 3 aunts and 6 uncles (my Mom's sisters and
brothers) also lived there. Eventually we moved to Des Moines. My Dad had dog
kennels, did dog grooming and showed dogs on the show circuit all summer. From there we moved to Overland Park, Ks. when I was about seven. We lived in
the country because of the kennels. We had a pony. Every time my sister got
on him he would ride under the lowest branch of the only tree in the meadow and
wipe her right off his back. We lived in Kansas City, Ks.
for a year or two. Then Dad went to work for Nutrena Mills (dog
food) and we moved to Kansas City, Mo. From there we moved to Geneva, IL. where I entered 7th grade. Then we moved to Sterling,
IL. where I entered my sophomore year of high school. After
graduating I entered nurses training at St. Lukes Hospital/Coe
College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I received my cap after six
months. We had a beautiful capping ceremony. Soon after that
my fiance came home from World War II. He wanted to get married
soon. I left school and we were married in June 1948. He was
still in the service. We were stationed in Carlisle, Pa. and
Baltimore, Md. As I was now pregnant, I went home. Bob was
discharged in a few months and he came home. Later we had the first of six
beautiful baby boys. We lived in Rock Falls, IL. Bob was working with a
veterinarian breeding cows artificially.
When our oldest son was six or seven, we moved to a farm in Kings, IL. Bob grew up on a farm. By this time we had five sons. Life
on the farm was good. Always had a garden. Canned and froze veggies
and put a pig, a steer and 25 chickens in the freezer. Also baked
our bread and made butter as long as we had a cow. While living
on this farm our two oldest sons, Dale, 12 and Kevin, 10, were
killed in a farm accident. That was the worst time of our lives. But we had three sons to care for and love. Thirteen months later
God blessed us with another son. Later we went to
tenant farming on another farm in the same area. There we had an orchard with
apples, cherries and pears; asparagus that grew wild from the 100 acres of
it to the West of the farm; grapes, gooseberries
and raspberries. Plus, I planted three strawberry patches
and of course, a big garden. During those years I was vice-president of the PTA; on the school board and the Church board;
sang in the choir. I organized, with the help of several wonderful women, a
fund-raising dinner at the school. There were 3 settings. The 7th and 8th grade
children were waitresses and waiter/bus boys. It became the largest fund-raiser for many years thereafter. At
one point I was elected chairperson of the Ogle County Farm Bureau
Women's Committee for a three year term. Our committee took first place for all the northern tier of
counties in Illinois all three years for our
projects. Laminating the driver's license was one of our projects that went
State wide. They were great women to
work with.
When our youngest son was 10 years old, Bob and I divorced. He never really
recovered from the death of our sons. He was pulling away from us. We went to
counseling but it didn't help. The stress was beginning to cause me physical
problems. It was a non-contested divorce and we stayed friends. I became a
secretary for my brother Bob in Palos Hills, If. My son and I had moved there for
the job.
When my brother closed that business, I became a waitress. Later,
I worked in the Post Office and became a union steward. I quit after seven years
because they denied me leave to take care of my mother who was very sick. Soon after that I took a job as caregiver to an elderly man who had had several
strokes. He eventually had to go to a nursing home. I then became a housekeeper
at Riverside Medical Center for the next eight years. I went to school to become
a medical assistant. Worked at that for two years. Then had to have back
surgery. Six months later I got a new left hip. Later I worked for the Kankakee
Chapter of the Alzheimer's organization under the Senior Aide program in Kankakee. When that job ended I started working for Gateway Coalition. While
there, had both knees replaced. After five years there I needed a better paying
job. Now I am working for .Aunt Martha's Health Clinic as an outside marketer.
My church, The Bourbonnais Church of Christ, and the friends I have there, especially Pastor Tare,
have helped me through so many trying times. They are wonderful.
-Preparing for the Cold Weather-
With the end of summer and the start of colder weather just around the corner,
it's time to start thinking about getting furnaces and boilers
ready for the winter season. A well maintained furnace or boiler will certainly
outlast the 20-year guarantee on the heat exchanger that comes standard
with such appliances. One which has not been kept up will cost large amounts to
repair, and seem to always break down during the coldest night of the winter
weather.
For everyone who has a central air-conditioner, it is very important that air
filters have been changed during the summer months, but in most
cases, the air-conditioner has been turned off for a while before the furnace
will be needed, so the first thing to do is change the filter.
The next area to go over will be the blower. If you have a newer furnace, the
motor will be sealed, but an older furnace will have a blower
motor which may require you to check the oil. These motors will have two plastic
caps, one at the front, and one at the rear of the motor and both being
located at the top end of the housing. Using electric motor oil, remove both
caps and give a quick squirt of oil into each port. If the oil starts to back
up, don't worry, just use a paper towel to clean up any excess, and be sure to
replace the caps to each port. If the blower itself, often referred to as
the squirrel cage, is dirty, you can use something like a paint brush to go
around the inside of the blower running the brush parallel to the fins. After
the blower has been cleaned, use a vacuum to clean up any dirt and dust left
behind.
The next item to check is the pilot assembly, which will be one of two types. Be
sure to turn the gas valve off before starting by simply turning
the knob at the top of the gas valve clock-wise until it stops and the pilot
goes out. If you have a unit with an electronic ignition system, you will
need a small piece of emory cloth or fine sandpaper. Carefully clean the
ignition probe paying more attention to the top portion of the probe which
sticks
up slightly higher than the pilot itself. Also clean the edge of the metal where
the flame comes out because this is the ground for the spark ignition.
With both of these surfaces leaned, you should have no problem with the burners
igniting.
If you have a standing pilot assembly, you will first need to remove the
thermo-coupler which senses the flame and allows the gas valve to open. The end at the pilot assembly can be unscrewed by hand, but a 3/8 inch
open-ended wrench will be needed to remove the end attached to the gas valve.
Make
sure that when you buy a replacement, that you get one the same length or
slightly longer. When replacing the thermo-coupler, thread in the end attached
to the gas valve first, then the end to the pilot assembly. There is a small
collar which comes in the package with the new thermo-coupler that you will
need to slip onto the copper all the way down as far as it will go. Make sure
that when you slide the new thermo-coupler into the pilot assembly that the
old collar came out with the old thermo-coupler, if not, a small push down with
a thumb or index finger will pop it out of place. Be sure that when you
slip the replacement in that you feel a few small clicks just before it stops,
this will assure that the thermo-coupler is all the way in and will not
fall out. The end of the thermo-coupler should be slightly higher than the rest
of the pilot assembly when complete.
When finished, turn the gas valve counter-clockwise until you are able to push
down the thumb-button. Hold this for about 5 to 10 seconds before
lighting the pilot. When the flame has started, hold the button down for
approximately 30 seconds, then release the thumb-button slowly and the pilot
should
remain on, and then turn the knob on the gas valve counter-clockwise until it
stops.
It is important that a sighted person look at the pilot to make sure that the
flame is burning blue and has no more than just a red tip to the
flame. If there is more red or orange to the pilot, or if the flame does not hit
the thermo-coupler directly wrapping around both sides, you may need to
remove and clean the pilot assembly before using the furnace. This is a more
detailed task, but I am more than happy to talk you through this if necessary.
My contact information is at the beginning of this newsletter.
In some cases if the furnace is older, or in a dusty area, you may also need to
remove the burners and clean them. Again, this is something
that I will be willing to help out with as well.
Boilers are not difficult to prepare either. Newer ones may have a sealed
circulating pump, which do not require any maintenance. Older ones,
however, may have a Bell and Gossett pump which is larger, and require some
maintenance.
You will first need to check to find out if the motor has a reservoir for oil.
Some will have a square cap which can be removed to fill the
oil, or there may be two oil fill spouts where the straw on the bottle of
electric motor oil can be placed. These can be filled by giving the bottle a
good squeeze while upside down.
This type of circulating motor also has a coupler which connects the motor to
the impeller which circulates the water through the system. At
start up, it should start up without any slapping or snapping sounds, if there
are such noises, you will want to contact someone such as myself to help
you in replacing the coupler. Because there is no life expectancy on these
couplers, do not be overly surprised if you hear a boiler heating up with no
heat radiating out of the system. This does happen on occasion.
The pilot assembly on boilers is the same as on furnaces and the same steps may
be taken to prepare them as for furnaces.
These are the basic steps to take in making sure your climate control system is
prepared for winter. There are of course other situations which
can occur at any time such as a pilot going out on a furnace when it is running,
hearing the water going through the pipes on a boiler which should not
be heard, all parts of a boiler operating properly with no heat radiating, or
certain radiators not putting out heat while others are. Please feel free
to contact me if any of these or dozens of other possible situations occur. I
was in the heating and air-conditioning business for several years, am HVAC
certified, and am very aware of the fear that people have when their system goes
out in the middle of the night, leaving them chilled to the core wondering
how they will pay for that dreadful call to a technician. If you should call at
an odd hour, please leave a message as I may have stumbled over a cat and
or dog on the way to the phone!
-Thanks-
The Heartland Chapter would like to say thank you to the following for helping
out at the WAL/Mart fundraiser in June. Those individuals are: Bryan Turner, Frank and Ann Einfeldt, Bill and Ruth Isaacs, Marjorie Stouffer,
Marcia Beck, Joan Simon Rogers and Mark Manning.
We would also like to recognize donations made to the chapter by Ray Flesher,
Jack Heisner, Don Bivens and family and the family of Sue Eash.
These donations whether large or regular keep the Heartland Chapter running
smoothly and help those with visual acuities of all types.
-Membership Birthdays-
September:
1-Lily Ayoub
2-Jerry Gulley
7-Adeline Loudy
10-Lillian Salzman
October:
3-Carol Denault
10-Ann Einfeldt
16-Valerie Negri
17-Marcia Beck
19-Frank Isaacs
20-John Salvatore
November:
3-Larry Friedeck
7-Ola Mae Chobar
11- Gloria Lippold
12- Dorothy Enrietta
20-Bob Davis
21-Mary Jo Seiler
26-Barbara Carson
27-Jon Heiman
27-Dan Boudreau
28-Bill Isaacs
28-Jerry DeWitt
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