A Success Story From Sunny Florida
Thursday, June 28, 2007
By: Kathy Davis

NFBF President Kathy Davis Sheds Some Light on Her Web Success

    When I first heard about the March for Independence last summer at the 2006 National Convention I thought the concept was pretty cool and certainly had some potential on several fronts. When people began to sign up to march online, I thought “Oh no! I can’t even think of approaching people again for money for the Federation.” I kept putting off signing up even though I knew as a state president I needed to set the standard for Florida. How could I possibly ask members to get involved if I didn’t jump in there with both feet, swallow my pride about asking for money, and well just get on about the business of getting my page set up. Now not being the techy type at all, I had all sorts of challenges from getting my photograph to fit on the page to coming up with just the right message I wanted to share. With the help of my family and most especially the incredible encouragement and support from Kristi Bowman at the National Center, I finally had my own link and the page was in pretty good shape.

Next, I needed to send an e-mail to everyone in my address book whom I thought might just make a donation on my behalf. As I began to write my e-mail message, this too felt pretty good. After all, I thought, all I have to do is write from my heart about how I feel about the Federation, what it has meant to me over the years and why I am so passionate about doing my best to make a positive difference in the lives of blind people of all ages. I couldn’t believe it; my personal page was up there on the web site and I was ready to hit the send button. Now this wasn’t nearly as tough to do as I had thought.

With complete amazement, I began to open one e-mail after another from the online people behind the scenes who notified me every time I received a donation. I had $250. with in 24 hours so I thought, hum, guess I had better up my pledge to $500. or people will think I don’t need any more money. Shockingly enough, the pledges kept coming so I upped my fund raising goal to $1,500 a goal that I was pretty sure to be way too lofty. Soon my children got involved and they sent my e-mail request to sponsor me in the march to their friends. Daily I was blown away at the generosity of so many wonderful supporters. In fact, I am still in aw! What really blew my mind was when one of my pastors at Tomoka Christian Church came up to me after the Sunday morning church service to share some unbelievable news. Mike said that a collection was taken at the Wednesday evening Bible study to support my participation in the March for Independence. When I learned how much money was collected and would be sent to support me, I was in shock with my heart overflowing with gratitude once again. It was at that time that I knew that all of this was a God thing…something He wanted to happen to confirm his plan for me as president of the NFB of Florida.

Trust me! You can do just what I have done and it’s easy. There are so many good people out there who admire and respect what we in the NFB represent. They see us as blind people who are proud and confident and who are dedicated to give freely of ourselves when we walk alone or march together. They respect us, they care and they know that we are taking huge strides to make certain that the organized blind will never lessen our resolve to compete on terms of equality. We are their friends, their family members, their co-workers, their church members, their fellow volunteers and we are willing to do all it takes to set a stellar example for all who know and love us and for all who will get to know us with time. Most of all, we know what we believe about the capabilities of blind people and they know it too. This is precisely why they are please to support us and in many cases, walk along side us in the March for Independence.

Please sign up now to be a marcher. Don’t wait another day to get your personal Web page up there and to get that special e-mail message written and sent out. You’ll never regret it and I am quite certain that you too will be overwhelmed with the response you get in return. Please join me and hundreds of other Federationists, family and friends along with our white canes and guide dogs as we take over the streets of Atlanta Georgia on Tuesday, July 3, 2007 right there in the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. Let’s get out there and march as a tribute to where we have been and to where we are going. The future looks brighter than ever before and let’s be sure to take the time to thank our many supporters who have given so generously to make certain that this exciting initiative will long be remembered.