mark james
IAP Collection, Curator
The IAP Community has a new project: Assisting with the Programs for Visually Impaired Woodturners,
established by Andi Sullivan
established by Andi Sullivan
Briefly, Andi has in conjunction with annual AAW Symposiums established Woodturning Programs at host cities, at local agencies that serve Blind and Visually Impaired clients. Currently there are programs in Tampa, Atlanta, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Portland and Phoenix (led by our very own sbwertz).
Each program, while independently operated, relies on some organizational assistance from Andi. The IAP Membership will not be taking on a leadership role, but will be strictly serving to assist in several helpful ways.
1. Ordering woodturning kits in bulks amounts to save individual groups' expenses.
2. Obtaining blanks through donations or direct purchase.
3. Complete blank preparation (cut, drill, tube and mill) for each kit.
4. Mailing the paired blanks/kits to Andi for dispersal to the programs as needed.
Other options to assist:
1. Members can purchase kits and mail to myself or Andi (We would like to stay with specific kits that the programs are currently familiar with; I can supply the ordering codes).
2. Members can purchase kits/blanks, do the complete preparation and send the paired kits to a supplied address.
3. Members can volunteer to do the blank preparation - I would send you tubes and blanks, send back to me and after a bulk amount is organized, forward to Andi.
4. If members have extra kits/blanks that the schools currently use, that is also fine.
At this time, I will be the IAP Contact and will handle the bulk purchases, mailing out materials, accepting prepped blanks, organizing and forwarding to Andi, or where she prefers the materials to be sent. This sounds like a lot of work, but I actually expect this to be pretty "low maintenance" once up and running. I just want to avoid Andi receiving boxes of very nice, but random materials from all different sources. A bit of organization will be helpful to her.
So, this can be a nice way for individual members to assist if they so choose, or even a nice Chapter Activity.
After my initial thread announcing that this was in the works I have been contacted by a few IAP members who already have pledged support, so this is up-and-running. The first bulk order will go out later this week, and when received, I can begin the blank-prep chores with assistance.
Anyone wishing to assist can PM me: Mark James
Andi and Sharon - Feel free to amend/correct/add any comments or information I missed!
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