From Eileen Long, Executive Director, Newsreel, Columbus, OH:

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell the readers of the Ziegler about Newsreel, which is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Newsreel was founded by Stanley Doran in 1957 in the basement of his home in Columbus, OH, as a way for Pilot Dog graduates to communicate with one another. He used three-inch open-reel tapes. By 1971, Newsreel was recorded on cassettes and had nearly 1,000 blind and visually impaired members. In 1986 Doran moved Newsreel from his home to downtown Columbus and established it as a not-for-profit corporation.

Newsreel is an exciting monthly audio magazine on cassette, produced by and for visually impaired people. It contains news, supportive articles, information and entertainment. Our subscribers submit the various articles that are heard on the three-hour cassette. A subscription introduces members to a wonderful new extended family on tape as well as a caring support group. Newly blind subscribers learn how to cope in a sighted world from those who have learned to live with loss of sight.

Our goals are to strengthen daily life skills, to be a source of information, to provide a forum to discuss blindness issues, to link people with similar experiences, and to provide encouragement and entertainment. A read-and-return annual subscription costs $30, a $50 annual subscription allows you to keep any or all issues. Currently, we offer a $20 subscription on a read-and-return basis for one year for first-time subscribers.

We'll be glad to send a sample of Newsreel to any Ziegler reader if you send your name, address, daytime phone number and disability to Newsreel Inc., 8 E. Long St. #420, Columbus, OH 43215.