|
The American Red Cross of Northern New Jersey Jane Bente Braille Center is the largest remaining volunteer Braille production center in the world. It was established after World War I to provide an information source for servicemen blinded by mustard gas.
Today, visually impaired school children are the recipients of over 3,000 Braille textbooks distributed annually throughout the United States and four foreign countries.
The American Red Cross of Northern New Jersey’s Jane Bente Braille Center, in partnership with The New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, provides New Jersey Braille readers (K-12) with all their Braille textbooks. These transcribed books encompass every subject required in the classroom, including math, science, foreign languages and others.
Our Chapter trains 10-15 Braille transcribers per year. The average transcriber spends three to four hours daily transcribing Braille. Each year, over 1,300,000 pages of Braille are produced by American Red Cross of Northern New Jersey volunteers.
Over 120 volunteers create disks on computers right from their homes. The disks are sent to the Chapter where 40 volunteers produce and bind the textbooks. The average textbook can translate into more than 1,500 pages of Braille!
Interested in assisting the blind? Become a Braille transcriber. We offer a 20-week course every September in Braille transcribing of printed textbook material for New Jersey’s visually impaired students. The course prepares volunteers for certification at no cost and provides all materials. Weekly course work involves two hours of class work and 12 hours of homework. Prior Braille knowledge is not required to volunteer in the bindery.
For further information on becoming a Braille transcriber or volunteer in the bindery, please contact Braille Director, Sharon Van Hook at 973-797-3337 or send an email.
|
