News about events and celebrations being planned to mark the 2014 Court Reporting & Captioning Week, Feb. 16 – 22, continues to pour in to NCRA from members, state associations, and court reporting schools, and the ideas being shared often combine showcasing the profession and giving back to the community.
The Realtime Academy of Court Reporting in Houston, Texas reports that in honor of the week, it plans to host an organized collection drive to benefit Operation Gratitude, a nonprofit group that sends more than 100,000 care packages to deployed troops, veterans, wounded warriors, and caregivers. According to Pam Gwin Goder, CSR, director of the academy, faculty members and students will encourage family, friends, and members of the public to donate various toiletries, socks, hand and foot warmers, and razors, in addition to letters, to the program. There will also be refreshments, a tour of the school, a captioning demonstration, and door prizes.
“We have learned that letters of support and encouragement from the public to current and past members of the military are often the most cherished items included in the care packages,” said Goder. “During our event, we will encourage visitors to dictate a letter to a soldier to one of our students and watch as they are turned into machine language. The students will then print the letters in English for the writers so that they can sign them. We will also take care of making sure these precious notes are included in a care package.”
For more information, contact Pam Gwin Coder at racr@netzero.com, or visit the academy’s website at www.realtime-academy.com.
In Canada, President of the Alberta Shorthand Reporters Association Linda Hallworth is working with local broadcasters on three stories set to air during Court Reporting & Captioning Week. One story will focus on how CART services made a difference in the life of an 11th grade high school student both in and out of the classroom, while the other stories will highlight the importance of using verbatim reporters in the court room and the various services that are available to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. For more information, contact Linda Hallworth at lindahallworth@asraonline.com.
Jan Ballman, RPR, CMRS, president and CEO of Paradigm Reporting & Captioning in Minneapolis, Minn., reports that her firm will contact the local high schools where two of her reporters’ children attend and offer to provide a court reporting demonstration during Court Reporting & Captioning Week. In addition, one of the firm’s newest hires will write a blog throughout the week about why she chose the court reporting profession and what she loves most about it. Finally, the firm plans to video record its reporters sharing what they love most about the court reporting profession through an array of identified messages. The videos will then be edited and shared on the company’s Facebook page throughout the week. For more information, contact Jan Ballman at janballman@paradigmreporting.com.
The local public library in Cambridge, Ohio will showcase the court reporting profession with a little help from NCRA member Sally Booth-Bennett, a broadcast captioner. Booth-Bennett is working with the library to mark Court Reporting & Captioning Week by featuring items such as steno machines, books, posters, and other articles in one of the library’s large display cases. For more information, contact Sally Booth-Bennett at captionsbysally@yahoo.com.
To find out how you can celebrate 2014 National Court Reporting & Captioning Week or to find the latest in resources including press release templates, media pitches, power points, and more, please visit NCRA’s Court Reporting & Captioning Week resources page or contact the NCRA communications team at PR@ncra.org.
