National Braille Press offers a variety of opportunities for corporate or other volunteer groups to assist in the production of print/braille children's books.
If you are an individual interested in volunteering at NBP, visit www.pmd.org and sign up for upcoming projects organized by People Making a Difference.
| Project |
Potential dates
in order of preference |
| March Club selection (15-20 volunteers) |
Scheduled: March 1 |
| April Club selection (15-20 volunteers) |
Scheduled: March 27 |
| That's Not My Dinosaur (15-20 volunteers) |
Scheduled: April 24 |
| May Club selection (15-20 volunteers) |
Scheduled: May 1 |
| June Club Selection (20 volunteers) |
Scheduled: May 28 |
| July Club Selection (10-15 volunteers) |
Scheduled: June 25 |
| August Club Selection (15-20 volunteers) |
Scheduled: July 30 |
| September Club Selection (15-20 volunteers) |
Scheduled: August 27 |
| October Club selection (15-20 volunteers) |
Scheduled: October 1 |
| November Club selection (15-20 volunteers) |
Scheduled: November 1 |
| December Club selection (15-20 volunteers) |
Scheduled: December 3 |
Times: Weekday projects can be from 1:00-4:00pm or 5:30-9:00pm. Saturday projects are 10:00am-2:00pm.
Contact: Kimberley Ballard, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at kballard@nbp.org or at (617) 266-6160 x37.
Volunteer Need: We need 15-20 volunteers to help collate plastic braille pages with print pages of the children's book, Curious George and the Firefighters, our February selection of the Children's Braille Book Club (CBBC). The CBBC is a monthly club that offers popular children's book in the innovative print/braille format so sighted parents of blind children or blind parents of sighted children can read together.
| Where: | National Braille Press 88 St. Stephen St, Boston
(2 blocks from Symphony Hall) |
When: | Date TBD - Monday - Thursday
5:30 pm - 9:00 pm |
| What to Expect: | The schedule for an evening volunteer project is: |
| 5:30pm |
Volunteers arrive promptly. An overview of National Braille
Press and a brief tour of our braille printing facility is given. |
| 6:00pm | Volunteer project begins. Wear comfortable shoes!
Volunteers will be standing for several hours. |
| 7:30pm | Pizza break (we ask companies to pay for this if possible) |
| 7:50pm | Volunteer project resumes. |
| 9:00pm | Volunteer project is complete. |
"Volunteering at National Braille Press was a mind-opening experience. I had a preconceived idea that braille was an obsolete system. I came away in awe of the possibilities it offers-from kids reading Harry Potter as quickly as anyone, to accessing the Internet in real time. Braille is here to stay."
- Philip, a volunteer from Mellon New England
A number of organizations in the Boston area have volunteered their staff time to help produce
some of our braille books. Here are some examples:
- The attorneys and staff at the law firm of Bingham McCutchen LLP have been volunteer partners for several years, facilitating the collating of several children's print/braille books and Valentine's Day cards, and are now combining their volunteer passion with the financial sponsorship of the children's book, So Many Bunnies.
- District 33K Lions have volunteered with the Press in collating children's print/braille books and will be hosting a volunteer project to collate the August selection of the Children's Braille Book Club, Rumpelstiltskin, at the 89th International Convention of Lions in July.
- The Fidelity Cares volunteer group has helped assemble over 400 braille books bags for NBP's early education family outreach program, ReadBooks! Because Braille Matters. These book bags are given away free of charge to families nationwide to make them aware of the power of braille literacy.
- MIT undergraduate students from Next House helped us place braille labels on 300 books as part of our Bumpy Basics: Board Books for Toddlers program.
For more information, contact Kimberley Ballard, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at kballard@nbp.org or at (617)266-6160 x37.
