Leading the Blind to Higher Things

By Pam Knepper

Imagine for a moment what it must be like to be blind. Everything is black, all the time. You can’t look in a mirror and see your reflection or gaze upon the faces of your friends. Driving a car is out of the question. Getting dressed or combing your hair can be a challenge. Everyday activities sighted people take for granted are oftentimes difficult for people who are blind, except when it comes to reading.

Ever since the invention of the Braille alphabet in the early 1800’s, blind people have been able to read books, magazines and other materials like sighted people. The only difference is blind people read with their hands instead of their eyes. And, blind people, like everyone else, crave good reading material.

An insightful Lutheran pastor saw the need to offer good, reading materials for the blind. Over 80 years ago, his insight resulted in the founding of the Lutheran Blind Mission and the Lutheran Library for the Blind, now the largest Christian library serving blind people in North America. Always looking for new reading materials to add to their collection, Lynne Borchelt, manager for the mission and library, was especially intrigued when she received a copy of Higher Things magazine in her mailbox during the summer of 2003.

“I found the content of the magazine to be especially engaging because it is aimed at young Lutherans,” remembered Borchelt. “There are few good Lutheran publications out there targeted specifically for young people and offer the highquality theological articles that Higher Things does.” Borchelt knew that if Higher Things could be translated into Braille, there would be an audience ready and willing to read it. The first thing Borchelt did was contact Rev. Todd Peperkorn, publisher and editor-in-chief of Higher Things magazine.

“When I called Rev. Peperkorn and told him my idea about translating Higher Things into Braille, he was very excited,” recalled Borchelt. “We both thought that if we could get this project off the ground, it would prove to be a wonderful Christian resource for blind young people in the Lutheran church and beyond.” Rev. Peperkorn enthusiastically granted Borchelt’s request. The next step was to find a group of people who would be willing to volunteer their time to put the quarterly magazine into Braille and then assemble it for distribution.

“For the last year, I had been working with a group of home-schooled students who would come to the Mission and help package and send out Braille books our readers had requested. Since all the students were the age Higher Things targets, I thought they might be interested in helping out with this project,” remembered Borchelt.

Borchelt couldn’t have been more correct. In fact, when she approached the students, they already were very familiar with Higher Things. It turned out that several of them had been discussing articles from the magazine and using the accompanying Bible studies in their Sunday school classes at church.

“When the kids found out the project involved putting Higher Things into Braille, they jumped at the chance to help out,” explained Borchelt. “They knew this was an outstanding magazine.They wanted to give blind young people the same opportunity they had of reading a magazine that contains such rich theological articles.” And so the project began. Rev. Peperkorn sent Lynne the magazine articles on disk. Then the disk was sent to a person in Illinois who uses a computer program that changes the written text into Braille. Next, the disk containing the converted copy was sent to California where the Braille text was printed onto both sides of a zinc plate.These zinc plates were then mailed back to Lynne at the Mission. At this point, the homeschooled students got involved.

The students each had a different job to do. Several would take pieces of paper and place page numbers on them. These pages were then put inside the folded zinc plates and placed into a roller pressing the Braille letters into the paper. Once this step was completed, several other students put the magazine pages in order, punched a spiral binding on the pages, and mailed out the magazine. All in all, it takes four volunteers to complete about twelve magazines in an hour.

“It is amazing how much work goes into one Braille Higher Things magazine,” commented Gabe Maichel, a 12-year-old home-schooled student who is part of the volunteer team. “I am so glad I can help out with this important project.”

Borchelt says that so far the spring and summer 2003 issues of Higher Things have been completed and mailed out, with the Fall 2003 issue just completed.

“I think it is great to have kids enthused about volunteering to help other youth,” said Borchelt. “We couldn’t complete this project without them.”

To date, 58 blind people have subscribed to the Braille version of Higher Things. Borchelt says the response has been very positive, and she is confident the subscription number will continue to rise as more people find out Higher Things is now available in Braille.

“Higher Things is a great magazine with excellent articles about what we as Lutherans believe,” said Nathan Maichel, a 14-year-old home-schooled student who is part of the volunteer team that helps convert Higher Things into Braille. “I am glad to be able to put Higher Things into Braille for people who are blind and give them something exciting to read.”

Pam Knepper, of Seattle, Washington, is the wife of Rev. Grant Knepper and the marketing/grants director of Higher Things magazine. She is also a freelance writer and mother to 4-year-old daughter, Renee.

The Lutheran Blind Mission offers a Lutheran Library for the Blind offering Braille and largeprint materials, including more than 3,000 books and periodicals, audiocassettes of books, magazines, and study and devotional materials. All are free of charge. Financial gifts, prayer and the work of 800 volunteers in 60 work centers support this mission. Each month volunteers distribute 2,000 Braille magazines, 6,500 large-type publications, and 1,200 cassettes. They also provide religious-education materials, including VBS resources. All materials allow blind and visually impaired people to read about and share the light of salvation in Jesus Christ.

For more information about volunteering, giving a donation, or to request a free catalog of Library for the Blind materials, call (800) 433-3954, Ext. 1322, e-mail blind.library@lcms.org, or go to www.blindmission.org.