Supporting local charities
Azalea Charities donates $1000 to
Volunteers for the Blind
By Tom Rachele
Azalea Charities, Inc. and the Lions Club of Montclair presented Hollis “Holly” Frisch, President of Volunteers for the Blind, Inc., (VFB) checks in the amount of $1,000 and $500 respectively on Tuesday, January 13, 2009. Holly said that these generous contributions will enable VFB to continue as well as expand shopping and reading assistance to Prince William County residents who are blind.
Holly, who is totally and congenitally blind, has a long history of providing volunteer services. She worked with children, primarily in schools and camps. Her most memorable experience with a child involved helping a terrified adolescent boy in a mental institution who was struggling with his adjustment to recent and totally unexpected blindness.
In addition, Holly spent considerable time visiting elderly residents. Most of them were in nursing homes. One summer, however, she spent several unforgettable afternoons talking with women relegated to a geriatric ward in a state mental hospital.
Holly spent nine enjoyable months performing an entirely different volunteer activity. She was a crafts demonstrator for the Chicago Historical Society. Her assignments were to demonstrate candle making and weaving. This activity also required her to use public speaking skills she acquired as a member of her high school forensics team and later as a Toastmaster.
Holly’s nine years as a journalist include widely varied experiences. She was the features editor of Dialoque, a magazine for the blind, deaf blind and anyone with a disability which precluded reading standard size print. The primary medium was auditory. Volunteers recorded the entire magazine in the Dialoque studio. Holly’s responsibilities included screening, training, coordinating and supervising these volunteers as well as the ones who provided support to other staff editors who were blind.
When Holly moved to Washington, she obtained a position as the writer for the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. She learned to read, understand and summarize legal cases. Assigned to a detail at the Army Engineer Center’s public affairs office, she especially enjoyed writing human interest features about members of the Fort Belvoir military community. The employee who read for her could not accompany her on detail. Consequently she recruited, trained and supervised volunteer readers. Without them, the detail would have been unsuccessful.
Most recently, Holly was the public relations specialist for an organization in Alexandria which helps people with disabilities live and work as independently as possible in their home communities. She and her dog guide shared an office with her friend, the executive director, who did not have time to write. Instead, she dictated her thoughts to Holly who captured them for a monthly newsletter. Holly’s primary responsibility was to coax success stories from reluctant staff members who did not have time to write them.
Holly has a BA, Political Science from Lawrence University, along with MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from S. Illinois University. The skills she acquired while pursuing her MA degree assist her every time she plans and implements a training curriculum for volunteers. Last year, she planned and implemented a training program with two purposes. First, it was to primarily teach high school students who are blind to work appropriately with readers; and secondly, it also helped the sighted volunteers accept a foreign concept; reading to a blind person does not involve making decisions. Instead, it requires following directions from the person who is blind.