|
Home
Services
About Us
Press
Photos
Archives
Inside SB
Search
Clients
Contact
| |
For Immediate Release
Press Contact: Maureen McFadden
Note new #:(805)689-5053
momcfadden@aol.com
April 20 through 25 for the 14th Annual Record-A-Thon for the Santa Barbara Unit
of the Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D)
(April 10, 2009) Everyone from Nobel Laureates, famous newsmen, award-winning
vintners & filmmakers to authors, actors, chefs, secretaries, tech support teams
& students – all have been volunteer readers for past Record-A-Thons. You can
come in for as little as 30 minutes and help Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
(RFB&D) accomplish its goal for 2009. Lots of famous people have some form of
dyslexia – Jay Leno, Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, Walt Disney,
Ted Turner, Tom Cruise, Keira Knightley, Pablo Picasso, even Thomas Edison and
Einstein. The Santa Barbara unit of RFB&D is producing the annual Record-A-Thon,
set for Monday through Friday, April 20 – 24 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and
Saturday, April 25 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, at the offices/studios located at
5638 Hollister Avenue in Goleta. Record-A-Thon helps RFB&D recruit volunteers to
read school texts and pleasure books and raise money for its audio book
production and educational outreach program. RFB&D is seeking sponsors to
underwrite parts of the multi-leveled Record-A-Thon. Please go to the website:
http://www.rfbd.org/sb/ or call (805)681.0531 and discover how you can get
involved.
Executive Director Tim Owens stated, “The continued success of the
Record-A-Thon’s has brought an increase in volunteers, number of books read and
new faces introduced to the organization. This is a tremendous help to meeting
the goals we have set. This year we hope to raise $65,000 and give out $5,000 in
scholarships to students in the counties we serve – Santa Barbara, San Luis
Obispo, Ventura and Kern Counties.”
Starting Monday, April 20 the weeklong event kicks off with a Tribute to Santa
Barbara’s Firefighters – at the City, County and Federal levels. Since the
Summer of 2007 when the Zaca Fire raged for months in the backcountry to the
recent Tea Fire, saluting these brave men and women was an easy choice. Chief of
SB City Fire, Ron Prince; County Fire Chief Tom Franklin; and Los Padres Nat’l
Forest Chief Anthony Escobar, will be reading along with some of their staff,
who work overtime in this community to keep us safe and sound. A reception for
the brigades happens from noon to 1 p.m. where we’ll have a Chili themed lunch
reception. Fire house chili anyone? They have chosen the book “Fire Officer:
Principle & Practice” by the Int’l Association of Fire Chiefs. Westmont College
President Dr. Gayle Beebe will also be on hand to say a few words about the
firefighters. The public is welcome to join the firefighters in reading this
volume anytime during the week.
Cass Warner, who recently screened her feature documentary – “The Brothers
Warner” to full houses at the film festival joins RFB&D for the first time. The
film evolved out of her book by the same name published in the early 90s--a look
at the history of the studio and her family but from a unique vantage point as
the granddaughter of Harry Warner, the President and one of the founders of
Warner Bros. studios. Cass has lived in Santa Barbara for many years. In her
documentary she interviews, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. who confirmed he will be
reading Cass Warner’s book on Tuesday, April 21st, along with author & actor
Darryl Hickman. A reception at noon will have other notable names to be
announced upon confirmation.
Well-known writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell, for the first time, will be a
part of this year’s event on Wednesday, April 22 at 2pm. Cannell, who is
dyslexic, will be reading his latest book called “On The Grind.” Local authors
Jane Heller (Monday, April 20, 2pm), T.C. Boyle (Tuesday, April 21, 2pm) and
Selden Edwards (Thursday, April 23rd, 6pm) also plan to participate in reading
their most recent books. Gloria Arenson (Tuesday, April 21, 2pm) has her book,
“Procrastination Nation” on the list to be read – a first for the SB unit to
have an author as volunteer.
Wednesday is set aside for area musicians for a reading of “Delta Blues” by
writer Ted Goija. The Santa Barbara Blues Society will participate, along with
local musicians. Later that afternoon will be a salute to Louis Braille, on the
200th anniversary of his birth with the book by Russell Freedman, “Out of
Darkness; The Story of Louis Braille.” Blind readers reading the Braille version
of the book will participate, along with the board and staff of the Braille
Institute. As of today, other participants throughout the weeklong event include
the Rotary Club of Santa Barbara, Odd Fellows, and employees from Yardi Systems,
Decker’s Outdoors, Raytheon, Horny Toad Apparel and Santa Barbara Bank & Trust.
A partial list of the book titles scheduled to be read include: Jane Heller’s
“Confessions of a She-Fan,” Joe Torre’s “The Yankee Years,” Michael Kater’s
“Never Sang for Hitler: The Story of Lotte Lehman,” and Bill Morgan’s book on
the life of Alan Ginsberg “I Celebrate Myself.” Six titles are off the New York
times Top 100 list including: “Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle
East” by Robin Wright; “The Forever War,” Dexter Filkins tome on Iraq,
“Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life,” by John Adams, Julian Barnes’
“Nothing To Be Frightened Of,” “The House at Sugar Beach,” by Helene Cooper and
“Freedom’s Battle: The Origins of Humanitarian Intervention,” by Gary J. Bass.
More titles can be found on the website and volunteers are encouraged to gather
a group of friends/family to come and read one or several titles.
Your business or group could sponsor a book, a recording booth, scholarship(s)
or a reception for as little as $250 or as much as $10,000. Find out how you can
get involved!
Call RFB&D now at (805) 681-0531 to set a date and time for you, your family,
business or group to participate in this wonderful week of sharing the gift of
learning through listening. We only need a half-hour of your time to provide the
help we need now. www.rfbd.org/sb
www.rfbd.org/sb www.mcfaddenpr.com
Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D) is the nation’s leading educational
library serving people who cannot effectively read standard print because of a
visual impairment, dyslexia or other physical disability. Our mission is to
create opportunities for individual success by providing and promoting the
effective use of accessible educational materials such as audio textbooks. RFB&D’s
vision is to give everyone equal access to the printed word.
2009 Record-A-Thon Sponsors include:
The Towbes Foundation, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, Ann Jackson Family
Foundation, Cox Communications, Venoco, Elks Lodge of Santa Barbara, Rotary Club
of Santa Barbara, Frederic E. Steck Family Foundation, Citrix Online, Rabobank,
Reicker, Pfau, Pyle & McRoy, Anderson Financial Solutions, Jerry Woolf, DDS,
Chaucer’s Bookstore, and Peebles-Sheen Foundation. Media Sponsors: Santa Barbara
Independent, Noozhawk, Daily Sound, KCLU and KCBX.
|
