Program for Independent Living Team (PIL)

The Program for Independent Living is our most important service, which we provide for visually challenged people in Brevard County. This training program is for people who are losing sight or are already blind and their caregivers. These services are offered to students free of charge. We need volunteers to support our Program Coordinator and Office Manager. Depending on the demand, these classes are held 3-4 times yearly. Each session is taught on eight consecutive Fridays at our facility in Satellite Beach. You can be an effective volunteer on this team if you are available on Fridays from 8:30 am – 2:30 pm when the course is offered.

Our second service creates audio recordings of popular magazines distributed free of charge nationwide through our partnership with the Library of Congress. This team comprises a narrator (reader) and a monitor (technician). Per the Library of Congress, narrators must not have any regional accents. Both the narrator and monitor must have some basic computer skills. We can pair you with a partner if you are interested in either position. This position requires 2-3 hours per week at our facility in Satellite Beach. Times available to do this work are 9 am-1 pm, Monday through Thursday.

These people must have basic computer skills and will review recordings for accuracy and continuity of articles recorded. The process has specific review points vital to having the magazines approved for distribution. This position requires 2-3 hours per week at our facility in Satellite Beach. Times available to do this work are 9 am-1 pm, Monday through Thursday.

These people need to have more advanced computer skills. They apply a series of filters to improve or enhance the individual recordings from the magazine articles and compile them into a single file to be sent to quality control to meet the requirements of the Library of Congress. This position requires 2-3 hours per week at our facility in Satellite Beach. Times available to do this work are 9 am-1 pm, Monday through Thursday.

BAAB depends upon our fully integrated network of Windows-based PCs, state-of-the-art recording booths, and the hardware and software to record our magazines that must be maintained. The Recording Engineer/Software Team is charged with keeping our recording equipment, software, and hardware up to date and in service. These volunteers must have experience in the recording industry and experience with high-end recording software packages to be effective. You can be an effective member of this team if you can volunteer 2-3 hours per week to maintain the upkeep of our equipment or on an “as required” basis if a problem should arise.

BAAB sponsors a 5K Race every year as our major fund-raising event. That event requires a larger number of volunteers to plan for and to conduct it. Most of the work will be done for two months ending the week after the race. Our races are in the Fall and run through the Running Zone. This is a wonderful opportunity for high school students to obtain service-learning hours, especially on race day.

BAAB aims to develop a much bigger web and social media presence. To do that, we need to identify social media options to help us meet this goal. Once we have identified channels that fit our organization, we must post timely notices on the selected sites. Our postings should raise awareness of our organization, help us attract volunteers, increase contributions, and expand the ranks of our sponsors. Every team operates under the direction of the President or designee. The President or designee must approve any social media post before it can be posted. A volunteer must be familiar with social media channels and posts to be effective on this team. The team must monitor social media sites where we post things. The work of this team can be done entirely remotely. This team has more flexibility than most other teams because the work does not have to be done at our facility or during specific hours.

BAAB aims to reach out to the professional community across the county and is an asset for Satellite High School (SHS) students. Our initial thrust will be focused on medical professionals who work with vision-impaired patients and Satellite High School, as it is the closest high school to our facility. We would visit the professional community to introduce ourselves, tell them about BAAB, request that they distribute our flyers, and ask them to spread the word about our services. We will reach out to SHS to find ways for BAAB to offer Community Service Hours to high school seniors in exchange for work on our behalf. A future goal will be to expand this program to other area high schools.

Many private and governmental organizations nationwide offer grants to worthy charities. To take advantage of these grants, BAAB needs to identify grants that we are eligible for, monitor the due dates and award dates, and complete the application paperwork. Ideally, members of this team should have some level of experience with grant writing, but people willing to learn these skills are also welcome. This team operates autonomously once the Board of Directors has approved the plan of grants that we will submit. Once the plan is approved, the President will prepare and approve the grant applications before submission. If a grant is awarded and requires any sort of reporting or follow-up through the grant period, the Grants Team will provide that.

From time to time, BAAB needs specific things that are one-time activities to be done. We always need volunteers for that type of project. One example of a project like this would be to freshen the sign on the façade of our building. Please join us and help extend this long record of services that are all free of charge to the people we serve.