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Page 6 - The Wiregrass Farmer, December 16,2015
Society
UDC members meets for Christmas luncheon
Myrtle Harper, Sarah Phillips, Imogene Wells (in front of her is Mary Jane Es
pinosa), Theresa Williamson, Marlyn Nelson, Barbara Bailey, Eulalie Woeltjen, Maria
Denny, Amanda Sparks and Mary Sparks, Catherine Phillips (kneeling)
The Ben Hill Chapter
#1137, United Daughters of
the Confederacy held their
Christmas Luncheon, Wednes
day, Dec. 9 at noon at the First
Presbyterian Church in
Fitzgerald, Georgia.
The guest were welcomed
and served white sparkling
grape juice. Rev. Don Woeltjen
gave the blessing, after which
we enjoyed a delicious meal.
The ladies of the church
catered the meal in the beauti
ful Christmas decorated dining
room. Thanks ladies, we all re
ally enjoyed it. Thanks again.
After lunch we were treated
with Rev. Don Woeltjen telling
about the “Brown Bag Christ
mas”. The story was about
Carrie Fuller’s families early
1930 Christmas during the
Dust Bowl days of Kansas in
the heart of the depression.
(My husband, 92, who is still
living, remembers that time
when the dust bowl dust came
all the way to Georgia from
there and covered everything
here in dust for days.)
The Canaday family con
sisted of her Dad, Mom and
seven children. The children,
having a hard time and was
told there would be no luxuries
at Christmas. But the mother
told them to go get a Christmas
tree. After quite a time they
came back with only a dead
branch, the only thing they
could find. So the children
stood the branch up in a bucket
of sand, decorated it with
pieces of paper and string. The
children worried their mom as
to what they would have under
the Christmas tree. So the Dad
told them that their pantry was
bare and they didn’t have
enough to live on and there
wasn’t any money for gifts.
Mom of great faith told them
to say their prayers. Dad told
them to not get their hopes up.
Mom said “Pray children, tell
Jesus. “And pray they did. On
Christmas Eve they watched
and no one came, later that
night after the lamps were out,
one of the children saw head
lights coming down the road.
They woke their Mom and
Dad. Dad went to see what was
happening when a man called
out for help to carry the bags.
It seems that one of the dea
cons from the church in town
had gone to bed Christmas
Eve, lay there tossing turning
and couldn’t get the Canaday
family off his mind. Later he
stated he didn’t know what
shape the family was in but he
knew those kids. So he got up,
dressed and went around town,
rousing people from their sleep
for contributions. He filled his
car with bags of groceries,
canned goods, toys, and cloth
ing. Little Judy got a rag doll
that she kept for years. So, in
stead of having a feast, Mom
said it lasted for weeks. The
next Sunday, Mrs. Canaday
was in church and she told
what the members and what
one deacon in particular did for
their family and there wasn’t a
dry eye in the house.
The oldest child Eva years
later wrote the story as a class
project. Her statement was
“We were so thrilled by all the
wonderful things in the bags,
for a while we lost sight of the
most special gift. The best gift
that Christmas was not in the
brown bags at all. It was
Mom’s faith, as she taught her
children to bring their needs to
Jesus and trust Him to meet
them. And a Dad’s love that
wanted only to protect his chil
dren from hurt and disappoint
ment.” At the time of her
writing her grandmother Judy
Canaday Dry den lived in San-
gar Texas. We all really en
joyed the story and received a
blessing from it.
Membership certificates
were presented to two new
members, Mary Sparks and
Maria Denny, who was present
and we have one for Christie
Peacock, who was unable to at
tend.
Those present were: Rev.
Don and Eulalie Woeltjen,
Marlyn Nelson, Theresa
Williamson, Mary Jane and
Prudence Espinosa, Martha
Glover, Catherine Phillips,
Sarah Phillips, Myrtle Harper,
Mary Sparks, Amanda Sparks,
Maria Denney, Barbara Bai
ley, Preston and Imogene
Beard Wells.
Catherine Phillips, Maria Denney and Barbara Bailey
Catherine Phillips, Mary Sparks and Barbara Bailey
Library gets tech to help visually disabled people
Librarian JoAnne Brown with a reader. The device scans pages and reads it aloud.
With a set of earphones, a person can listen to the book quietly at the library.
As key component of the
new model for Georgia’s pro
vision of library services to the
blind and others whose physi
cal abilities require the use of
books and magazines in audio
format or braille, Georgia Pub
lic Library Service (GPLS) has
begun supplying a suite of as
sistive technology devices to
every public library system in
the state.
The Victoria Evans Memo
rial Library has a large-type
keyboard at the library and
several other devices can be
borrowed from the regional of
fice as needed.
“We are committed to the
goal that every library will be
come a member of the Georgia
Libraries for Accessible
Statewide Services (GLASS)
network, and that they will be
equipped to make library pro
grams, services and collections
accessible to all users,” said
State Librarian Julie Walker.
“As our model moves from
providing service that was de
livered only through a few sub
regional locations to one with
a more comprehensive and ho
listic approach, furnishing
these essential pieces of assis
tive technology equipment will
reinforce our promise to en
hance and expand the state’s
services in this area.”
The GLASS network of
talking book libraries gives
Georgians ready access to ma
terials from the free national li
brary program that is
supported and administered by
the Library of Congress and
the National Library Service
for the Blind & Physically
Handicapped (NLS).
Eventually, by using all
400-plus public libraries as
community contact points for
NLS service and by ensuring
that staff at every library in
Georgia is trained to make ap
propriate referrals, Walker
said, “GPLS hopes to raise
awareness of GLASS to the
levels enjoyed by other serv
ices, such as GALILEO and
the annual Summer Reading
Program, that are sponsored
and coordinated by the state
but that serve readers in every
community.”
According to Pat Herndon,
director of GLASS, GPLS will
issue to each system one desk
top MagniLinkS video magni
fier, two Mobilux Digital
Touch portable magnifying de
vices and one MagniLink
Voice “reading machine.”
The video magnifiers are
basically cameras that attach to
a computer and convert images
of items placed below its lens
to a magnified image onto the
computer monitor, Herndon
explained. “The magnifier can
be adjusted for size of magni
fication and for color contrast.
This allows a person with low
vision to read books — or their
mail and personal correspon
dence — while on a public-ac
cess computer in the library.”
The LVI MagniLink Voice
reading machines are text-to-
speech devices that use optical-
character readers to translate
print into audio, thus opening
the library’s book collection to
patrons with vision impair
ment. The machines can read
pages one by one or, when
scanned with audio output
saved to a flash drive, can con
vert and store up to 100 pages
of audio that can be listened to
as a single stream.
“GPLS was also able to pur
chase an accessible computer
keyboard for every branch li
brary in Georgia,” Herndon
said. “These keyboards have
large-print, high-contrast,
black-on-yellow type designed
to give users with low vision
an easier and more accurate
way to type.”
The equipment was will be
distributed to Georgia’s public
library systems in November,
Herndon said.
Walker noted that one of the
stated goals of GPLS’s Live
Year Plan for the Library Serv
ices and Technology Act
(LSTA) Grants to States Pro
gram is that Georgia’s public
libraries will provide accessi
ble equipment and software to
make all the resources and pro
grams meet or exceed ADA
standards.
“This equipment purchase,
completed using federal LSTA
funds from the Institute of Mu
seum and Library Services, is
a strong step forward in inclu
siveness for our patrons with
print impairments, not only in
selected locations but in every
library system in Georgia,” she
said.
The giant-type keyboard and a magnifying glass to
help even more.
A different scanner enlarges type and displays on a
laptop screen.
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