Blind Ambition
St. Timothy’s Volunteers Produce 30 Years Of BrailleBy Dave Emke demke@post-journal.com
Article Photos
BEMUS POINT - Each Monday morning for the past 30 years, a group of faithful volunteers has met in a room at St. Timothy's Lutheran Church.
Printing parts of the Bible, and in more recent years printing the books ''My Father's World'' and ''David and Hosea,'' the group has been creating Braille publications to be read and enjoyed by people around the world since receiving a request for service from Lutheran Braille Workers Inc. headquarters in Yucaipa, Calif., in 1980.
''St. Timothy's is a vibrant, loving ministry, and at the time of that request, members came forward expressing their desire to serve as Braille workers,'' said MajBritt Trainer, one of the original members of the volunteer group. ''St. Timothy's was informed that a retired couple from the center was soon to arrive to help set up the machines need to print the material.''
What Mr. and Mrs. Arvid Joungston started when they visited Bemus Point in a mobile home and dropped off their Braille-producing machinery - Work Center 157, the only one in Western New York - continues to thrive to this day. And though many of the faces who produce the volumes have changed over the course of three decades, the purpose and effort behind the work that happens every Monday morning remains the same.
''The enthusiasm for all who have been a part of this Braille ministry at St. Timothy's Lutheran Church is still very strong,'' Mrs. Trainer said. ''This work really lends itself to the elderly and to the young at heart.''
A LONG HISTORY
Philip Wicklund was the first director of the St. Timothy's Braille center, Mrs. Trainer said. With the exception of a leave of absence following the passing of his wife, Sylvia, he remained the head of the operation until falling ill himself in 1995.
Philip Samuelson - ''an absolute angel,'' Mrs. Trainer said - then took up the post, holding the position until his unexpected death in December 2009. At that time, another original member, Marilyn Erickson, assumed the role of director.
The process of creating the books is very much like an assembly line. Holes are punched in the paper, by which they will eventually be bound. The sheets and then inserted one at a time, between boards, into a press along with Braille plates provided by Lutheran Braille Workers. The plates and the sheets are passed down the line, being pulled in and out of place, until complete books are formulated. At that time, the book is placed on a binding machine and turned into a finished product, ready to be shipped out.
The task is repeated, over and over again, until each week's quota has been reached. Shipping labels are also provided by the headquarters in Yucaipa, and postage - usually to locations such as India and African nations, Mrs. Erickson said - is prepaid.
''It's so interesting to read the names of where we are sending them,'' Mrs. Trainer said.
Mrs. Erickson added that while Braille is not a language many people know, the books that are printed in Bemus Point are not even always printed in the same type of Braille.
''They are often times in different languages,'' she said. ''This one is in English, but last week they were in Amharic.''
According to the Lutheran Braille Workers Inc. website - lbwinc.org - the organization prints Bibles and other materials in 15 languages and hopes to add three more in the next three years. The website also states there are more than 5,000 volunteers working in nearly 200 work centers in the United States and Canada, as well as one in Brazil.
''They say they have a waiting list of Braille centers wanting to do it,'' Mrs. Erickson said.
''And we are probably one of the oldest,'' Mrs. Trainer quickly added.
A WELCOMING ATMOSPHERE
Making about twenty 32-page or ten 64-page books - depending on the assignment from headquarters - each week, the handful of workers who gather pass the time by chit-chatting, catching up on each other's lives and sharing the latest news from the community.
Mimi Lanfear, who became the newest member of the volunteer group earlier in the month, said that she heard about what the center was doing while she was swimming at the Boys and Girls Club in Jamestown. Calling the idea of being involved in making Braille books ''just amazing,'' she showed up one Monday morning - and was welcomed with open arms.
''They just were lovely and said, 'Please join us,''' she said as she punched holes in sheets of paper that would be filled with Braille words just minutes later. ''I'm really honored to be able to help.''
Mrs. Trainer said that over the years, numerous people have entered the group and left again for one reason or another. All have been welcomed the same way, though, she said.
The mission statement of the Lutheran Braille Workers reads that they mean ''to provide the message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ to individuals who are blind or visually impaired throughout the world.'' One can say the first step toward doing that is to provide fellowship for those who print the word itself.
There are eight current members of Work Center 157 at St. Timothy's Lutheran Church. In addition to Mrs. Trainer, Mrs. Erickson and Mrs. Lanfear, there are Dave Spencer, Margaret Bodenschutz, Carolyn Wickerhan, Karen Dawson and Jan Balcom.
And according to Mrs. Lanfear, who has only known them for a few weeks, their spirit shines through in the way they treat each other and the work they do.
''They're just so nice and welcoming,'' Mrs. Lanfear said. ''They said they're glad to have me.''
HEARING FROM A READER
It is one thing to print Braille books every week, but to have the opportunity to watch someone read and deliver enlightenment from one is a real treat.
Parishioners at St. Timothy's had that opportunity last Sunday as Carol Pearson visited to read from a copy of ''My Father's World'' - printed right inside the church - to children in the Sunday School class.
Mrs. Trainer said it was the second time Ms. Pearson had visited the church to read to youngsters, with the last time being about 10 years ago.
''We took a picture of her when she was here the first time with the Sunday School - all the kids came, and Carol was reading parts of the Bible to them in Braille,'' Mrs. Trainer said. ''Do you know what the (caption) said? 'The blind reading to the blind.'''
Ms. Pearson also addressed the congregation at St. Timothy's on Sunday, Mrs. Trainer said, reading to them out of one of her volumes of the King James version of the Holy Bible.
''We were reading along from our Bibles, and she was word-perfect,'' Mrs. Trainer said.
The Braille Bible that Ms. Pearson owns consists of 17 or 18 thick volumes, Mrs. Trainer said. Lutheran Braille Workers, according to its website, produces a Bible that consists of 37 volumes at an estimated production cost of $270 per set. The books produced in Bemus Point at St. Timothy's - and by all LBW centers - are distributed free of charge, thanks to the effort of the volunteers
''I understand it is very expensive if you buy a Braille book,'' Spencer said. ''They are very pricey.''
Anyone who has seen how much effort goes into making one would have no reason to doubt that. But the workers at St. Timothy's keep plugging along, producing more than 600 pages of text each Monday morning. But they've made time in their routine for a break.
''We stop to have coffee when we reach halfway,'' Spencer said.
