The San Antonio Low Vision Club crossed another major threshold in June when we added our 600^th member. This is a far cry from the 20 or so that met with Club Founder and President Bonnie Truax at our first meeting in January 1997. While no records are kept for this, we have been told that we are the largest independent low vision support group in the United States.

But growth brings with it many problems…and challenges! One of the biggest always has been TRANSPORTATION. Unfortunately, our club’s transportation problem took a major hit in June when health problems forced Rock Courtney to resign his role of coordinating rides to our monthly club meetings after years of faithful service.

We are so indebted to him!

Eileen Foley, one of our Radio Reading Service volunteers, has agreed to coordinate this activity, but she needs help. If you feel you can assist, please give her a call at 494-1096.

Eileen especially needs drivers for our monthly Saturday morning meetings. We have a loyal group of drivers who have served for many years, but with our continuing growth, more volunteer drivers are needed. Less than one-fourth of our members come to meetings. There are many reasons for this, but the greatest probably is the difficulty of getting a ride.

Where can you find drivers? Ask at your church. Ask at your community center. Mention it everywhere you go. And be sure to ask your sighted friends.

Transportation Committee

As big as it is, the transportation problem is bigger than just rides to our monthly meetings. That’s why President Bonnie Truax recently established a Transportation Committee, headed by club member Allen Townsend, and called for volunteers. The committee is now hard at work investigating all areas of transportation problems for the visually impaired.

One of the problems being addressed by the Transportation Committee concerns VIAtrans discontinuing service to

addresses outside Loop 410 and more than three-quarters of a mile beyond a bus route. This is the area where VIAtrans formerly added a surcharge. If you will be affected by this cutback, please call Pegie Gonzalez at 493-9272 after July 6^th and give her your name.

Volunteer Coordinator

Speaking of volunteers, we always need more callers for the Low Vision Club and the quarterly Radio Reading Service surveys. These can be done from your home. If you can help, call Hilda Scott, our volunteer coordinator, at 804-1794.

We would like to introduce Arlene Gomez who will be the club’s new Information Resource Specialist. She will have on hand at our club’s monthly meetings such things as brochures, catalogs, and other useful information for members. If you have information you would like to share with club members, or if you need assistance locating information, please see Arlene at the meetings.

Peggy Stradley of the Harlingen Low Vision Club favors a program called "LENS". It is free to download and use. You’ll find it at

www.techtv.com/callforhelp/freefile/story/0,24330,3385844,00.html

"Beautiful young people are acts of nature, but beautiful old people

are works of art."

Sat. July 20--Three Role Models

Club members Irma Claudio, Dallas Fees and Larry Johnson tell us their personal stories of adapting to visual impairment. This is always one of our most inspirational meetings. Don’t miss it!

Sat. Aug. 24 (One week later than usual)

Get Acquainted Time Plus a Talent Show featuring club members. Should be a blast!

Sat. Sept. 21--"How To Meet New People and Make New Friends"--

A presentation by Moderator Leslie Hoy

Sat. Oct. 12 (One week earlier than usual)

Special Medical Panel

Cash donations to the club this quarter came from Hazil Scott, Dallas Fees, Leslie Hoy, Joe Williams and Connie Pressler. We also received substantial donations to the Radio Reading Service from Sonny Melendrez, Rhonda Smith and E. R. Fry. All are greatly appreciated!

The Hadley School for the Blind has developed a new tuition-free course entitled "Introduction to Low Vision". Available in large print and on cassette, it enables you to learn more about vision loss and how to take a more active role in your rehabilitation. If interested, call Hadley Student Services at 1-800-526-9909. Hadley also offers over 90 other tuition-free courses to eligible students.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.

Radio Reading Service

The San Antonio Low Vision Club’s Radio Reading Service is going "great guns" thanks to Volunteer Chairperson Sally Wiskemann and a crew of sighted volunteers who are on the air reading the San Antonio Express-News for two hours every morning. Other hours each day feature articles from national programs provided by satellite.

Currently volunteers (mostly from the Low Vision Club) are surveying 236 persons using our special dedicated radios to find out what they like and don’t like about the programming.

Optelec Reader(2 years old) Lillian Gaines 344-1017

Optelec Reader(3 years old) plus B&W 17"monitor--Denise Schneider

492-9835