National Braille Press

Although it is their first time participating in Braille Across America, Team Francis has a long history with the National Braille Press (NBP). The team’s leader, Susan Ierardi Clark, is the granddaughter of Francis Ierardi, founder of National Braille Press. The other members are James Kenyon and Corey Kenyon, Francis’s great-grandsons, and Cappy Temple, his granddaughter-in-law.
After receiving an email about Braille Across America, she reached out to family members to put together a team.

As a student, and then as a student teacher, Harriet  Go was told she wasn’t going to be able to become a teacher because of her blindness.  By adapting her classrooms to her abilities, and with the help of braille,  Go has proven them wrong and has been a teacher for 15 years.  This year she and her sister, Heather, formed the team H&H Go for Braille Across America.
Go Attended St. Lucy School for Children with Visual Impairments in Philadelphia when she was a child, before she began taking cl...

Ruben Rincon, Jr. and his team, Dashin’ Dots, are participating in Braille Across America from Texas.  He’s been learning braille since last August with the goal of going back to his job.
Rincon had been a teacher of Spanish and music for eight years across levels from kindergarten to 12thgrade, before diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma rendered him unable to continue. He is legally blind.
“I can read magnified text and inverted colors, but not for very long and not very fast,” Rincon said. “Th...

For the organizations with no volunteer programs, for the groups which are too small to recruit volunteers, for the people who are doing good in the world but aren’t receiving the help they need, there is Lori Tsuruda. For nearly 30 years, she has been not just volunteering, but perfecting the practice of making a difference.Tsuruda’s organization is aptly titled People Making a Difference (PMD), and she founded it in 1992. She focuses on organizations that are less likely to receiv...

Meet Jillian Ricks, the founder of Jillian's Healing Arts Center, TN’s leading holistic center offering wellness for the mind, body, and spirit.
On January 23, she’ll be leading an accessible, virtual yoga fundraiser called Bend for Braille for the National Braille Press.
Jillian is blind, and her style of yoga is like no other. Ricks started dancing when she was just three years old. She has always been drawn to movement-based activity, so when in college, a friend invited her to a yoga class...