Supporting a worthy cause I am coordinating for people who are blind or partially sighted

Hello to all of my wonderful friends.

Below find the text of a letter I send along seeking donations of equipment or money for a very worth while group I am coordinating.

This is a group helping people who are blind or partially sighted with their accessible technology.

It is one of the most wonderful and rewarding things I have done in quite some time.

We have started a once monthly tech group where we all come together and share tips and devices and laughs too!

Last week with over 20 people ranging in age from 16 to 70s, we shared and taught each other.  The many guide dogs in the room were also very well behaved.

Besides this group, we are also having drop ins where I help people with their equipment as well as workshops and training.

See letter below.

Also, if you can't help with equipment or financially and still want to support us by volunteering, please let me know as well.

We are applying for grants right now to keep the program going and hopefully growing.

Feel free to share this far and wide.

Thank you very much for your friendship and support.

Kim

Hello friends and supporters of the GTT Program,

We have been delighted by the interest in the GTT (Get Together with Technology) Program.

We thank our partners, CCB (Canadian Council of the Blind), and CNIB and our sponsoring organization, the CCCC (Crichton Cultural Community Centre) for their help and support.

We have commenced holding regular monthly Tech User Groups, Drop-in Sessions and One to One Training, and have a need for dedicated equipment for use in the program. This equipment would be used to provide hands-on training and enable users who are blind or have low vision, to become familiar with various kinds of technical equipment.

For people who are blind or have low vision, technology is often very costly and not always completely accessible. People who are blind need to be able to really examine and learn about all of their options before making a choice to purchase. Often retail store staff don't know much about the accessibility of the equipment they sell, so it is important that people  get to explore technology and be able to learn its features from peers or trainers who are blind or have low vision. This equipment may also be used by the GTT coordinators for administrative work for the program.

If you can donate equipment or funds or know someone interested in being a GTT donor, please pass on this message to them on our behalf. Donors will be issued a charitable tax receipt from the CCCC for all financial gifts or equipment.

Equipment requested:

ipods (especially ipod touch,  3rd, 4th, or 5th generation, but also ipod nano or shuffle)

ipads (any model including ipad mini)

iphones (3GS, 4, 4S or 5)

Android devices (running icecream sandwich or jelly bean)

macbooks (mac minis or imacs)

PC laptops

Digital talking book players (Victor models, Booksense or Plextalk)

If you have other equipment, please contact the GTT program gttprogram@rogers.com to discuss this.

Thank you so very much,

Kim Kilpatrick and Ellen Goodman

GTT coordinators 

gttprogram@rogers.com

twitter @gttprogram

Kim Kilpatrick and Ellen Goodman 

GTT Program Coordinators 

Crichton Cultural Community Centre: (613) 745-2742 

E-mail gttprogram@rogers.com