[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 982]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     HONORING THE FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF AGENCIES SERVING THE BLIND

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 28, 2008

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I would like to take this 
opportunity to recognize a wonderful organization in my State of 
Florida, the Florida Association of Agencies Serving the Blind (FAASB).
  FAASB has an honorable mission to serve as a united voice and be the 
organizational support empowering private agencies serving Floridians 
with blindness and visual impairment to provide state of the art 
professional vision rehabilitation services which enhance the quality 
of individual and community life.
  I would like to praise FAASB for its successful initiative to create 
the first-ever state license plate benefiting the blind. Additionally, 
I must commend them for creating a vision caucus in the Florida State 
Legislature, similar to the Congressional Vision Caucus, which I 
cochair. This State Vision Caucus will educate members of the State 
Legislature so they comprehend the scope of eye problems in our country 
and will ensure adequate resources are directed towards the research, 
prevention and treatment of eye disease.
  FAASB has also created an annual Florida Vision Summit, where they 
look to create a statewide vision strategy to raise awareness about the 
increasing number of Americans with vision loss and provide better 
understanding of the importance of necessary steps to preserve and 
protect eyesight.
  Once again, I would like to thank FAASB for their continued 
commitment to prevention, better eye care, and services to those who 
already live with low vision and blindness. I congratulate them on 
their achievement and service to the community.

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