On Thursday, March 27th, the current Board of Directors of the Xavier Society for the Blind named me as Chairman of the Board. In the past the Executive Director was always also Chairman. At the moment, the former Director's Assistant (and Financial Officer) is the Acting Director. What I think we are working towards is re-structuring the organization along the lines of our Jesuit high schools, where we have a Principal, who runs the school on a day to day basis, and a President, who is a member of or works with the Board, works with long-range planning, does fund-raising (don't you start hiding your checkbooks, now) and public relations - that sort of thing. That would be me.
Over the next several months we'll be figuring out exactly what that means - as we raise the several million dollars we need to keep the doors open (don't you start hiding your checkbooks, now - I know, and I'm going to keep saying it).
The Xavier Society for the Blind was formed in 1900, and today is the only Catholic publishing house and lending library for the blind and partially sighted. We produce books and other materials in Braille, in large type, and audio recordings. We have a lending library of over 15,000 items and we produce audio versions of seven weekly and two monthly periodicals. Although not exclusively Catholic, our orientation is religious and spiritual. We do not charge for our services - anyone who is blind or partially sighted may qualify. Clients do not have to be Catholic - many are not -and there is no charge for any of our services. Postage is free for the blind, so there is one charge saved.
We have a staff of 15, and a building on East 23rd Street. We do our own Braille printing and transcriptions, we record and reproduce audio materials on site and we have over a thousand volunteers who help make what we do possible. But our operating costs are currently about $1.5 million a year - and in the near future, they will be going up as we finish the process of converting to a fully digital audio department. We record everything digitally, but for several reasons, including the age of one section of our client base, we still send our our materials on tape.
So be braced - fund-raising letters will (at some point) be appearing here and perhaps in your email box and maybe even (gasp) a real printed letter. Signed by me. With a teardrop of desperation in the corner.
I will continue to help out at St. Malachy's (The Actors' Chapel) but less than I have. And I have asked St. Ignatius to take me off the Mass schedule there for a while, at least until I get a better handle on this full-time. The people are wonderful and the work is very important - but I confess, it's a little daunting. I find myself humming that line about ("..if you can make it here, you'll make it anywhere.") I will continue as Chaplain for the Notre Dame Alumni CLub here in New York - and I have a couple of small singing things coming up - bored, I ain't.
Of course, one of my father's proudest boasts was not just that he hated Frank SInatra, but that Frank hated him. Great story - remind me to tell it to you sometimes, if I haven't already in an earlier page.
I know I owe a whole lot of stories about life in New York lately - and there are fun things going on. I'm doing some great stuff at the Lamb's Club and at the last meeting Abe Vigoda and I were talking about doing a duet together. Yes, THAT Abe Vigoda. Somewhere in this post I'll stick a picture we had taken of the two of us when we went to the Actors' Home in Englewood to do an afternoon show. (He is NOT living at the home - the Lambs went out as a group.) I've been to the opera and just renewed my subcription for next year - cheap seats but even so, speaking of fund-raising. Yikes. Including the Ring Cycle, the tickets cost twice my monthly allowance. Ah the vow of poverty - pinch, pinch, pinch.
And I was invited to a meeting of the Huckleberry Indians - more on that distinguished group in a later posting, but they are the most fascinating group of men and the club has a tremendous history - and you can smoke a cigar in the club! Last bastion of civilization. I'm going out to Notre Dame for my 40th college reunion this summer (who said I was old? Just older....) and I've been invited to come down for the Annapolis graduation and commissioning. The son of friends from Lagos is getting his commission. I wonder if I would have been invited if ND had beaten Navy last year? We'll never know. There is now a bus route from NY to DC that charges between $1 (yes, one dollar) and up - I got a round trip ticket for $11 including handling. This is good. And the circus is coming to town and spring is coming to town and life is good.
So greetings to all - from now on you may address me as "Father Chairman" - and remember, I'm a Chief so it would be "Father Chairman Chief" - I'm going to have to find a larger business card.
More later - love and hugs and prayers and stuff like that for now.
