Immediately following our 2007 national convention, the Monthly Monetary Support (MMS) Program Committee announced a new campaign to promote the MMS Program among our ACB membership. The names of all new contributors, and all those existing participants who increased their contributions by at least $5 per month, were placed in a pot for a drawing to win a Victor Reader Stream produced by HumanWare. The promotion ran through the end of the ACB 2008 national convention. After the convention, the winner was selected, using a random number program to ensure total fairness and objectivity. Each eligible contributor was numbered, and the computer program selected the magic number 50. And so, the winner is ... Ken Metz of California!!
Congratulations to Ken, and we certainly hope he gets lots of enjoyment out of his new Victor Reader Stream.
Again, the campaign was very successful, bringing into the MMS Program lots of new participants. We greatly appreciate everyone who contributes to the program. All contributions are important and they all add up to helping ACB and its affiliates.
I want to recognize the efforts of our MMS committee members: Ray Campbell, Donna Seliger, Kathy Brockman, William Benjamin, Ed Bradley, Mike Godino, and Melanie Brunson. I also thank Lane Waters and Dena Wilson for their extraordinary assistance during the convention. Lane has done a wonderful job sending me updates and quarterly reports on the progress of the MMS Program.
Also, I want to recognize the people who either became MMS Program contributors for the first time or increased the amount of their contributions during our 2007-2008 campaign. These people are: Ninetta Garner, Robert Jones, Richard Rueda, Linda Watgen, Charles Hodge, Michael Keithley, Beth Henderson, Debra Turner, James Barnes, John Ross, Morry LaTour, Caitlin Snyder, Christina Saylor, Fred Scheigert, Bryan Dufelmeier, Michael and Peggy Garrett, Lucinda Talkington, Alice Ritchhart, Ann Byington, Annette Carter, Audley Blackburn, Billie Jean Keith, Bonnie Thompson, Cynthia Hirakawa, Dawn Brush, Edythe Huffman, Glenn McCully, James Kracht, James Thompson, Linda Schultz, Mary Haroyan, Melanie Brunson, Naomi Soule, Norman Dalke, Pamela Hill-Metz, Pratik Patel, Rev. George McDermott, Richard Johnson, Sally Benjamin, Steve Bauer, Terrie Arnold, Valorie Stanard, William Benjamin, Barbara and Richard McDonald, Dennis Ameden, Dick (Richard) Kohl, Evelyn Larson, Janet Dickelman, Kathleen Brockman, Ken Metz, Lisa Drzewuski, Lyle Sine, Marcia Dresser, Marilyn Lutter, Michael Malver, Nona Graves, Pam Shaw, Robert (Ottilie) Lucas, Sharon Strzalkowski, Steven Hart, and Dot Taylor!
The total annualized amount of the contributions for our 2007-2008 campaign is $58,200. We are making progress, and I sincerely thank all of you who have made this progress possible.
We will be announcing the details for our next annual MMS Program campaign shortly.