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Raffles,etc |
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Donating |
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Volunteering |
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On-Air Schedule |
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Hearing Us |
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Visiting Us |
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Contacting Us |
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Awards We Give |
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Administration |
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F.A.Q. |
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News About Us |
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Press Room |
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Off-Site Links |
Most
of this page's content provided by the Valley Voice reading service ; material
about Valley Voice Friends activities (if any) will be shown within gold
boxes.
Text-to-speech
software users can read this page's main text column by clicking here.
|
Home |
|
Raffles,etc |
|
Donating |
|
Volunteering |
|
On-Air Schedule |
|
Hearing Us |
|
Visiting Us |
|
Contacting Us |
|
Awards We Give |
|
Administration |
|
F.A.Q. |
|
News About Us |
|
Press Room |
|
Website Info |
|
Off-Site Links |
Most of this page's content provided by the Valley Voice reading service; material about Valley Voice Friends activities (if any) will be shown within gold boxes.
| Top.
About Us. Who
We Serve. Where We Serve. Why It's Important. How You Can Help. Many Thanks. Text-to-speech software users can read this website's sidebar link list by clicking here.
Top. About
Us. Who We
Serve. Where We Serve. Why It's Important. How You Can Help. Many Thanks. Text-to-speech software users can read this website's sidebar link list by clicking here. About Us.
Top. About Us. Who
We Serve. Where
We Serve. Why It's Important. How You Can Help. Many Thanks. Text-to-speech software users can read this website's sidebar link list by clicking here. Who We Serve. Some day --surprise-- maybe someone you know. We help the print-impaired. Since many sight-loss triggers appear during old age, most of our listeners are elderly. Odds are, someone you know (your partner, or sibling, parent, coworker, neighbor, or perhaps even you) will need our help some day. One out-of-six people (16%) over age 45 are considered visually impaired. One out-of-five people over age 70 (20%) have "severe vision loss". Figures climb to a quarter of those over age 80, and a third of those older than 90. The NLS (National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, an arm of the Library of Congress) has statistics showing that at least 3% of the general population (all age groups) qualifies for "audio reading formats" (radio reading services, talking book devices, etc). Valley Voice's signal area (covering several counties, many towns, and a few small cities), had a Spring 1999 population of 240,000 --and growing. Using the NLS' conservative "3% of the general population" figuring, we can estimate at least 7,200 medically-qualified people were in the region in 1999. Sadly, for financial reasons we are not serving everyone who qualifies. Buying individual Subcarrier receivers (at nearly $100 each) and lending them out free of charge to each print-imapired person required a massive flow of donations. The flow was always steady, but small. It took from the years 1983 to 1998 for Valley Voice to reach a little over ten percent of the medically-qualified population. From 1999 to 2002, our first expansions onto Cable-TV (primarily funded by special fundraisers through our "booster" organization, Valley Voice Friends), finally allowed us to reach over 50%. We
hope for a future where any print-impaired Virginian in our signal area
may have access to the printed word through our service. Public-spirited
decisions by corporate and civic leaders --along with financial
support from foundations, businesses, and private contributions-- can
make it possible. Perhaps you too can help make it possible; just as someday,
you or someone you know might be in need of our service. Where We Serve.  Our main signal area covers most of Virginia's Rockingham, Augusta, and Shenandoah counties --and parts of Page county. The area's independent cities (Staunton, Waynesboro, Harrisonburg, etc.) are included. In 2002, our Subcarrier signal into parts of Albemarle and Nelson counties (along with Charlottesville city) was greatly strengthened. Those
without access to Valley Voice thru Cable-TV
(see below) can hear us on our specialized Subcarrier Band radio signal.
If you or someone you know needs to borrow a Valley Voice receiver unit, click here. Private donations keep the Valley Voice going. Broadcast equipment, Subcarrier Band receivers, and other electronics are not cheap. Several area Cable-TV community bulletin board channels use Valley Voice as their background audio, including:
*
Indicates Cable-TV channels where Valley Voice sometimes might be interrupted
for official government broadcasts (city council meetings, school instructional
programs, etc.) Why It's Important.  Too often, those who lose their sight (and thus lose their access to print and to easy transportation) rapidly withdraw from the community. They become shut-ins. Giving the blind and other print-impaired people access to time-sensitive print information is not just a "quality of life" issue. It's not just entertainment. From editorials to town meeting notices and even obituaries, much data essential for full participation in community life is only available in print. Our elderly who have lost their sight deserve the same access to civic information as their fellow (sighted) citizens. Modifying an existing quote, Valley Voice's Rob Munro (himself blind) summed up the printed word's world of ideas this way, "what I can read, I can think about; what I can think about, I can DO about." Valley
Voice is a reading service; it broadcasts time-sensitive print matter.
Our colleagues at other nearby audio information services have related
specialties: the Staunton Talking Book Center records books onto tape,
while Charlottesville's Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic specializes
in scholastic textbooks. Together, we strive to reopen the world of print
to those with medical print-impairments. How You Can Help. You can give time, give money, give other valuables, and give thought. Also, you might advertise with us. More info follows. GIVE TIME. You can volunteer to be a reader, --or an office helper, grantwriter, or "special event" helper. Click here for detail (on our Volunteering page). GIVE MONEY. You can donate by sending a check or a credit card contribution. Click here for detail (on our Donating page). GIVE OTHER ITEMS OF VALUE. You can donate property: vehicles, aircraft, antiques, collectables, jewelry, minerals, stocks, bonds, industrial equipment, boats, ships, buildings, land, rolling stock, computers --you name it. Click here for detail (on our Donating page). GIVE THOUGHT. Think --about people you know who might be of use as a donor or decision-maker. Then "make an introduction": tell them about us. Perhaps your co-worker, golf partner, or carpool-mate is in charge of a business' charitable giving, surplus property, advertising, or corporate volunteer team. Maybe you know a celebrity who could could donate memorbilia, record a promotional announcment, or could contribute some proceeds. Perhaps you know civic leaders who could be of assistance. Maybe you have a friend who's pondering giving a vehicle or some real estate to charity. Tell them about us. ADVERTISE
WITH US. Businesses
may air "underwriting" messages which sound like typical "public
broadcasting" style sponsor announcments. Also individuals
or organizations may
sponsor programming --sometimes in honor of others. Feel free to ask about
underwriting
rates and procedures --you can click here for the Contacting Us page.
Feel
free to ask about underwriting
rates and procedures --you can click here for the Contacting Us page. Many Thanks. While private donations fund our efforts to serve the greatest-possible number of our area's medically-qualified people, our very existence depends on the graceful humanitarianism of JMU and WMRA. On behalf of the present and future print-impaired citizens of Virginia's central Shenandoah Valley, the Valley Voice thanks James Madison University for providing office space in the Anthony Seeger Building. The material and technical support of Public Radio WMRA is critical. WMRA generously provides broadcast space on the "hidden" Subcarrier channel next to its own broadcast signal. Valley Voice could not exist in its present form without WMRA and JMU. Thanks also to the government of Staunton, the City Council of Harrisonburg, and the School Board of Waynesboro, for their help and support in our expansion onto local government Cable-TV channels. Special thanks to ShenTel for volunteering to place a special Valley Voice TV channel on their cable system in Shenandoah county. More thanks go to the technical staff and administrators of the retirement communities now airing Valley Voice on their own in-house Cable-TV systems. Thanks in advance to the technicians who will assist us in the near future. Most of our Cable-TV expansion required funding from the Valley Voice Friends --and also specialized help from the Valley Voice Friends "Fearless Roof-Climbing Squad". Thanks
to the hundreds of Volunteers who have contributed countless hours of skilled
time over the past twenty years. Thanks also to the people, businesses,
service groups, and foundations who have contributed financial support.
By helping us, you are helping your print-impaired neighbors in the Shenandoah
Valley. |
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Preceding
item/story/comment by Valley Voice Friends.
It
is not available on regular radios. We purchase factory-pretuned Subcarrier
radio receivers and then lend them free of charge to the medically-qualified
as long as they need (and want) our service. 
