Assistance needed for United for Sight: Laura Akers’ trip to Honduras

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Dear colleagues,

 

This January I will be traveling to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with a group called Unite for Sight.  I will work with a partner eye clinic to screen for eye disease, implement education programs, and coordinate sight-restoring surgery for children and adults. I must raise a minimum of $1500 to help the local eye clinic in Honduras pay for surgeries and eye care to those in need. Hopefully I will raise much more to help as many people as possible.

Here is a quick fact: $50 can restore a patient’s sight. $250 can restore sight for five people.

To donate, please visit my Fundraising Page at: https://maestropay.com/uniteforsight/volunteers/ref/897cb902e2b747f3872a8e4b23fcd9b1. 

 

You can also visit and join my fundraising group on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/laura.akers#/group.php?gid=113406809856&ref=mf. 

100% of your donation will provide eye care to patients living in extreme poverty.

Here are some facts on why eye care is an issue:

  • 60-80% of children who become blind die within 1-2 years
  • Unite For Sight not only restores vision, but also empowers patients and their families.
  • Blindness in the developing world has a significant effect on families, employment, income, and on the education of children within the family.
  • Social stigma related to blind patients is commonplace in many communities in the developing world.
  • Those who are blind are oftentimes considered to be a burden to the family because they are not able to contribute to a family’s income.
  • Instead of attending school, children within a family are frequently assigned to the role of the caregiver of blind adults.
  • Blindness and visual impairment impacts employment opportunities and income levels for individuals and families.
  • Reduced employment opportunities and lower income levels negatively impact the local, regional, and country-wide economics.


If you can’t donate monetarily, send me your used prescription eyeglasses or non prescription UV-protected sunglasses! I have to bring 500 pairs of glasses with me to Honduras.  I will be setting out a collection bin in the downstairs break room at HSL if you have any used glasses you can donate. 

Unite for Sight has opened my eyes to the debilitating blindness that affects many parts of the world, I hope it has done the same to you. I would be very grateful for your support and contributions.

 

 

Laura Akers

Graduate Library Assistant

J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library

University of Missouri-Columbia

Columbia, MO 65212

lmdw35@mizzou.edu

Who’s Got Dumb Email Subject Lines?

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Sure, email subject lines are *supposed* to convey something meaningful and preferably, something pretty specific, about the content of the email.  It helps people decide when to read email (this second or later? Ever?) and helps them find the email if they look for it later.  But why show people this minimal consideration when you can dash off an email to hundreds of your colleagues and just call it “FYI” or better yet, leave the subject line blank?  Faster than Jesse Hall can say “hiring freeze,” you can mark yourself as a self-important twit  who thinks your time and effort is worth more than your readers’ time and effort.  Hooray!

So, what annoyingly vague email subject lines have cluttered YOUR inbox lately?  Post them in the comments.  Don’t give the sender.

Congratualtions, Daddy Mike!

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Michael Spears (HSL) is a father (again) as of 9:15 am, May 27th.

Maura Grace Spears (pictured with her two siblings) weighed in at 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 20 inches long.

MauraGraceSpears
MauraGraceSpears

Due to complications with the birth, Maura had to be delivered by C-section, but as of thiw writing mother and baby have been home for nearly two weeks and both are doing fine.

Congratulations, Mike!

Staff Spotlight for May 2009 features Amy Lana & Steve Clayton

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Born in Hinsdale Illinois, Amy Louise Lana has woked for Mizzoue for 4 1/2 years, and at MU Libraries for 3. Amy works in the Acquisitions Department.

Amy holds a BA in Classical Archaeology from the University of Evanston, an MA in Classical Studies with an emphasis on Greek language and literature from Loyola University-Chicago, and is ABD on a PhD in Greej /archaeology at Mizzou.

Amy’s hobbies include reading, sports and gardening. In her leisure time she enjoys reading and watching NFL football.

Three cats allow themselves to be called Amy’s pets: K’Eleyr (18), Pandora (5), and Robin (2-ish–he was a stray).

Amy thinks the coolest place she has ever been is Greece; she spent a summer there on an archaeological dig site at Stymphalos, and a year on a Flubright scholarship which included digging at the site of Ancient Corinth.

Amy would like to have Audrey Hepburn portray her in a movie of her life.

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Stephen Paul Clayton was born in Kansas City Missouri. Steve works at Journalism in the Newspaper Library, and has worked for MU Libraries for 8 years–this time around. He previously worked for MU Libraries for 10 years, from 1986 to 1996.

Steve graduate from Parkwood Centrial High School in St. Louis in 1972, matriculated from Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, TN in 1976, and finished Graduate School at MU in 1986.

Steve has three cats: Mulder, Curby and Hyacinth.

Steve’s hobbies include stamp collecting, opera nd classical music, architecture and the history of the United States presidents. In his leisure time he enjoys reading, cooking, political activities, music and painting.

The coolest place Steve has ever been is Quebec City, Canada, and he thinks either Bob Newhart or Harvey Korman would best portray him in a movie.

Plant exchange

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Gardeners, I can supply someone with starts for zebra grass and penstemon (beardtounge.) I am looking for Irises, if anyone is dividing theirs. Prefer purples and maroon, but will take any and am interested in other plants you may have to share. BTW, penstemon likes sun, can take a little shade, likes a good watering, but not a marshy spot, has lilac flowers in late summer that attract hummingbirds. Terri, HSL

Spring in Rebecca’s garden

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     As the temperature in Missouri ping pongs back and forth between 30° and 70° it’s hard to know what clothes to put on for the day. Well that’s Spring in Missouri. Meanwhile some of us are thinking about our gardens. Mine is mostly to grow good things to eat but I will plant flowers as well.
     First of all I am a person compelled by forces unknown to garden. I just can’t not garden. My brothers and I were taught how to do this by our Dad. I know that both my parents growing up had big vegetable gardens to feed the big family, and my Mom grew up on a cotton farm. Maybe this is where I got it from, however none of my brothers have vegetable gardens. Read more Spring in Rebecca’s garden ›