Pueblo: The Little Chapter That Could

By James Beal

Here’s a bit of NFB of Colorado Trivia I bet you don’t know. Next to Denver, what chapter in Colorado has been in continuous operation the longest?



The answer: Pueblo, 37 years.



And there are a lot of good things happening down here, too!



Our chapter is composed of mostly seniors with our youngest member age 43 and our oldest 93, but we’ve been reaching out to new folks in the area.



During our March meeting we worked with area Teachers of the Visually Impaired and Connecting Computers for the Blind, a non-profit organization based in Colorado Springs, to secure two laptops with JAWS 16 for two deserving blind high school students in our area. In addition to the computers, each student received taped instructions on how to use JAWS and NVDA screen reading software, which were pre-installed.



Cole is a sophomore at Pueblo South high School with plans to attend CSU Fort Collins majoring in agriculture. He lives with his family in Beulah, Colorado and is interested in sports. He was unable to attend the recent expo sponsored by the Sports and Recreation division due to the deluge of rain we received here in southern Colorado. Cole is planning to try out for the football team as a kicker. He has the size and the strength for it. We will keep you informed on his progress.



Sara is a senior at Trinidad high School. She applied for state and national scholarships this year and plans to attend Trinidad State Junior College as a pre-law major. Sara is president of the Trinidad high School honor Society, has participated as one of two students from her school in the Colorado Close Up program in Washington D.C., and helps out every year with Vacation Bible School in her local church. She has already asked for Scott LaBarre to keep in touch with her as she wants to know how to best prepare herself for a career as a lawyer. She, her mother, and Kathy Gallena, the Teacher of the Visually Impaired who works with Sara, traveled the 90 miles each way to pick up the computer and to meet with Michael Massey, NFB of Pueblo president, to discuss her scholarship and scholastic ambitions. She is interested in becoming involved in our At Large Chapter.



We have another state and national scholarship applicant. Her name is Sandy Schlike. She is on our board. Sandy is a mother of three, one girl in middle school and two boys in grade school. She is a single parent who, besides being a full time student, has found the time to serve as scout leader for her daughter’s Girl Scout troop at Goodnight Elementary. Sandy is very heavily involved in her sons’ activities as well. She is studying to become either an elementary school math teacher or something related research dealing with epilepsy.



In April the chapter started a fundraiser. We are working with the Mountain man Company to sell their merchandise locally. They provide us with this under the name “River Trails” and even before our first fundraising outing, we already sold enough goodies to pay for our initial investment. Our first fundraising event was a table on Saturday, May 2, at the Big R Ranch Supply store. We raised a little money and met a lot of interesting people. Other fundraisers are planned for other locations.

When Pueblo Chapter Meets

We meet the second Saturday of each month starting at 1 p.m. Our May chapter meeting was scheduled for the same day as the fitness retreat in Littleton and, like Cole, we couldn’t get to the sessions. We also had to cancel the local meeting due to flooding.



Our chapter meets at the Wesley United Methodist Church, 85 Stanford Avenue in Pueblo, and has met there since 1995.



At our June 13 meeting, Pat Manzaneras, the business manager for pueblo Transit will be present to answer questions about changes being made in our fixed route service and in Citi-Lift, the local paratransit service. We have historically had an excellent relationship with City Council, Pueblo Transit, and Senior Resources for the Disabled (SRDA), the people who operate the paratransit.



We are in the process of planning our annual picnic and more details of this will be provided to you as we know them.

Contact the Pueblo Chapter

Michael Massey, President
719-542-3419
massey52@q.com