Latest / Podcasts By Donna Jodhan / Remarkable World Commentary Episode #73: Interview with Aisling Redican, Communications Director and Fundraising Manager, Xavier Society for the Blind

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Remarkable World Commentary Episode #73: Interview with Aisling Redican, Communications Director and Fundraising Manager, Xavier Society for the Blind · Podcasts By Donna Jodhan

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Podcast Commentator: Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP and MBA invite you to listen to her
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biweekly podcast, Remarkable World Commentary.
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Here, Donna shares some of her innermost thoughts,
1:36
insights, perspectives, and more with her listeners.
1:40
Donna focuses on topics that directly affect the future of kids,
1:44
especially kids with disabilities.
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Donna is a blind advocate, author, sight loss coach,
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dinner mystery producer, writer, entrepreneur,
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law graduate, and podcast commentator.
1:58
She has decades of lived experiences, knowledge,
2:02
skills and expertise in access technology and information.
2:07
As someone who has been internationally recognized for her work and roles,
2:11
she just wants to make things better than possible.
2:16
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary.
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I'm Donna Johnson, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly
2:33
through sound, touch and stubborn optimism.
2:38
I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant,
2:42
author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind.
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You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010,
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I won the Landmark had a case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites
3:02
accessible to every Canadian, not just to cited ones.
3:08
And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen
3:16
disability groups to turn equal access into federal law.
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And most recently, on June 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled by Her Late
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Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers.
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When I'm not in a courtroom or in a committee room or in a pottery studio,
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you will find me coaching kids with vision loss,
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producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their
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gadgets Top back in plain language.
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Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into
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everyday practice, and I invite you to think of the show as your shared
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workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas.
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Now, before we jump into today's conversation,
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let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is every bit as
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remarkable as the world that we are trying to build.
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I'm very pleased and I'm very privileged to welcome Aisling Redican.
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I hope I got this correctly of the Xavier Society.
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Welcome to my podcast Aisling, you and I have been connecting and engaging
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with each other over the last few years.
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So welcome to my podcast.
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Aisling Redican: Thank you so much, Donna, for having me.
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Yes, we've been we've been well connected over the years and I've really enjoyed
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listening. To your your introduction there.
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Very impressive background.
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But thank you for having me.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You're very welcome. So let's get started.
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Aisling, I'd love to start with you personally.
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Could you share a bit about your own background and faith journey and how that
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path eventually led you to the Savior Society for the blind?
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Aisling Redican: Sure. So it's kind of funny.
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You know, I look back and how I ended up at Xavier Society and it's kind of like,
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you know, different, you know, some might say coincidences,
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some might say it was God winks, you know what have you.
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But I grew up a cradle Catholic, so I was raised Catholic.
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I didn't go to Catholic school.
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I went to public school here in the United States.
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So I did religion classes on the weekend and things like that.
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So I wasn't, you know, we went to church on Sundays and things like
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that, but weren't very, you know my parents are Irish,
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like, off the boat. So they're, you know, they're,
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you know, culturally, you know, really Catholic,
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but I wouldn't say religiously, like, super religious.
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So I didn't really grow up, you know, as I, as super religious,
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but I went to college, I went to NYU.
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So it wasn't a religious, you know affiliated university.
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But I kind of, you know, stuck with, you know,
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I kept going to mass, kept, you know, doing that.
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I graduated college with a degree in English.
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So basically, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life.
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And when I left university, I traveled, which I have a huge interest in
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and I did everything kind of I wanted to do.
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And you know, when you're young and free and things like that.
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And when I came back to, to the States I was like,
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all right, I need to get a job.
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So I had as most, you know, young people do in New York City,
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I had quite a, a long background in the service industry in you know,
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waiting tables and bartending and things like that.
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But I got to about 27, and I was like, you know what?
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I'm getting kind of old for this. I need to get a real job.
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Right. And I just kind of stumbled on this, this ad for Xavier Society for the blind.
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They were looking for someone.
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A communications and fundraising person.
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And I didn't know what that what the fundraising part entailed,
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but I was like, you know, I have a background in English, so I can I
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can do the communications part, I think.
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So and they were looking it was funny in the,
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in the job description, they were looking for someone who could carry
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heavy things. And I was like, well, I'm a bartender.
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I carry stuff up and down stairs all the time.
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I can do this. So and I'm Catholic, so let me apply for this job.
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So I applied for it and lo and behold, I got it.
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And then I realized they needed someone to carry heavy things because there was a
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hundred Braille Bibles that needed to be transported from one office to another on a
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different floor. So that was my first week at Xavier Society was moving Braille boxes,
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Braille Bibles, and as I'm sure you know, Donna the Braille Bible is 45 volumes long.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.
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Aisling Redican: So that was a lot of up and down stairs.
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But anyway, that's kind of my background with Xavier Society.
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It's evolved over the years.
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I'm more I started off kind of with a client services end of things.
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I was kind of helping out with that with the woman who used to to be the coordinator at
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Xavier Society Christine Moore.
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But she retired, and we had someone else come in and fill the role,
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and I kind of moved away from the client services end of things and more into
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fundraising and communication where I am now.
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But I I supervise the client services department.
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So I still have you know, a little bit of my foot in the door there.
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Yeah.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So for listeners who may be hearing about the Xavier Society for the blind for the very
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first time, How would you describe its mission and what makes it unique within the
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Catholic Church, church and the wider blindness community?
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Aisling Redican: Well, quite simply, I would just say Xavier Society's mission is to provide the word of
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God in accessible formats at no charge to people all over the world in in whatever
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format that they need.
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So we provide braille, large print talking books,
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which are audio books that play on the talking book machines provided by the Library
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of Congress here in the United States.
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Yeah. And we also have some downloadable audiobooks because a lot of our clients are
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outside the United States as well, and they don't have access to those machines.
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That's great. Yeah. So I mean, we're kind of the only rodeo in town in terms
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of what we provide one of our largest lines of service is the propers of the Sunday mass,
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right. Which are essentially, you know, people are kind of like,
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what is that? So we like to say they're the missals for mass.
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And they include the monthly readings, prayers,
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and responses to the mass on Sundays and special feast days.
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So those are available in Braille, BRF electronic Braille and large print.
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And we send those out to just over a thousand people all over the world every single month.
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And we did a back of the envelope calculation on how many pages that amounted to.
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So if I'm getting my figures correct, I believe it's 750,000 Braille pages every
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year. And let me get this right now, 125,000 large print pages.
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So it's a lot. It's a lot.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.
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Aisling Redican: So And we do this all free of charge.
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And. Yeah, like I said, we're it's pretty much the the only rodeo in
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town doing this. We've been doing it for 126 years now.
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We just celebrated our 125th anniversary last year.
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But we're just the biggest issue for us is just kind of,
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you know, letting people know that we're here and that we've been here and we're going to
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be here and just getting the word out.
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So we appreciate opportunities like this.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Great. So you've been with the Xavier Society for the blind for about a decade now.
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And from my perspective, and as a blind person,
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that kind of continuity really matters.
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How has your role evolved over the years And what does your day to day work as a
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communications director and fundraising manager look like now?
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Aisling Redican: That's a great question.
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So when I first started as I as I mentioned previously,
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I had no background in fundraising.
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I had no idea what that entailed, what to do?
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You know, there was this database we were using for finances and you know,
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lodging donations and things like that. And I had no experience using this.
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I was like, oh my God, I was thrown in the deep end.
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But it was it was great because I've definitely learned a lot and evolved since
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then, but I kind of started off as I as I said,
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more on the client services end of things.
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So if Christine couldn't answer the phone, I would pick it up.
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I'd be talking to clients, taking orders.
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Different things like that.
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I helped in the mail room, so getting packages out to patrons getting
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things in that was that were being sent back to us.
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So that was kind of when I first started the first few years.
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That's kind of what I was doing.
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And our executive director at the time, he was a Jesuit priest,
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Father John Sheehan he, he kind of handled the fundraising end of
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things. He liked to write the appeal letters.
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He liked to do the newsletters.
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And so, yeah, the communication ended things,
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too. He was kind of handling so when his term as executive director ended we had our new
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executive director and current executive director, Malachy Fallon, come on board.
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And he was kind of like, all right, you know what? I'm delegating now.
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So, Aisling, you got to do the newsletters.
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You got to write the appeal letters.
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You've got to do the fundraising. So he he pretty much threw me in the deep end,
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which was great because I needed to be challenged.
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And it was it was nice to have that.
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So as time has moved on I, as I, as I talked about,
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I write the appeal letters, I mail them out,
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I coordinate the mailings with the mailing houses and things like that.
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I schedule social media posts.
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I run the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube I send out monthly media
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blasts and newsletters, things like that.
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I take all the donations coming in and I have to kind of scan the checks.
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I have to lodge the donations into our donor management system.
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So all the boring kind of stuff that you can imagine goes along with the job.
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So when I, when I talk to people about what I do,
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I say, oh, I work for a library for the blind.
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That's amazing. I'm like, yeah, I don't do any of the cool stuff like
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the Braille or the recording the books, but I do,
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you know, the necessary behind the scenes kind of things.
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And then I manage a team of two client services coordinators,
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Saul Buckhalter and Tiffany Edmonds.
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So they're great. They, you know, if you call Xavier,
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you're most likely to get Saul.
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But if he's on another call, you'll get Tiffany.
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And they kind of do. Now, what I was doing when I first started.
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So client services, you know, mail intake and sending stuff out to clients
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and things like that. And our transcriber, Terence McCafferty he was with us for 19
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years. He just retired last month.
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And so I'm kind of we're trying to kind of figure out where we're going to go next in
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terms like, are we going to get an in-house transcriber or is it going to be something
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that we outsource to different transcribers across the country?
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What are we going to do? So I'm kind of helping with that end of things while,
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you know, while we figure that out.
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So, as you can imagine, with, with most nonprofits,
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everyone wears multiple hats.
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And that definitely rings true for me as well.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Sounds like a very busy person.
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Are you?
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Aisling Redican: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Keeps me out of trouble.
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Yeah.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And you also supervise the client services team,
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which is really and truly the front line for patrons.
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Can you walk us through how a a typical blind or low vision patron connects with you?
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And what is the process looking like to get them the braille or the audio or the large
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print materials that they need?
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Aisling Redican: Sure. So typically patrons will call us with requests.
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That tends to be the most popular way of getting in touch.
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And I can I can give you our phone numbers if anyone wants to call us toll free.
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It's (800) 637-9193. And then we have A212 number as well.
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So (212) 473-7800. So that tends to be the most popular form of communication with our
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clients. We also get a lot of emails and people can email us at info at society for
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the Blind and Xavier's.
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So those tend to be the most popular ways that people can call and request materials
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from us. We also have a lot of patrons who connect with us on social media.
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So they'll send us a message on Facebook or Instagram and say,
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oh, I saw this book that you listed on your page.
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Can you send it to me?
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So there's a number of ways that people can get in touch.
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We do only send materials to people who are registered with us,
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and it's super easy if you're not registered to get registered.
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So there's a number of ways to do it. You can call us up if you receive materials from your
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local kind of state library for the blind.
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I know Canada has its Cnib.
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Is that. Yep. Yeah. Correct.
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So if if someone receives materials from Cnib or another kind of organization serving the
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blind and visually impaired, we just need you know,
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a name, phone number, date of birth and address just to verify
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that, you know, that they are patrons of those organizations.
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If if a person is not.
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Which you know, some people aren't aware that these materials are available from you know,
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other, you know, organizations.
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It's it's very easy to register with us.
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We have a one page application that's on our website and that's Xavier Society for the
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blind. Org. And again Xavier's Xavier.
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And that application can be filled out online and emailed to us or snail mails,
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whatever, whatever is easiest.
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We also have the application available in Braille that we can mail to you.
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So yeah, a lot of, you know, Braille readers are interested to know what
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what's on the application, what are we asking for? But it's pretty
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simple. It's a name, date of birth, phone number,
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address, email if you have one.
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And at the bottom there's a certification section.
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So a doctor a diocesan representative or parish priest some other medical
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professional, social worker, librarian, what have you, someone that can
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just sign it and say yes.
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Ashton has has a visual impairment, yada, yada.
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Or if they, if the person has a form from their doctor or some sort of documentation
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stating that will take a copy of it.
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So it's just for our audit purposes that we need that.
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And then once you know someone's registered with us,
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they can request their hearts away.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. That's very you know, concise and very easy to follow,
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right?
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Aisling Redican: Yeah. We try to make it as easy as possible to register,
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you know, like everything's free. We just we're trying to get it out to who needs it.
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So. But we do require that the person is registered with us in order to,
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to do that.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, I know that the Xavier Society for the blind serves thousands of patrons in the
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United States and in many other countries.
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From where you sit. What does that global reach actually look like in practice?
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And what kinds of needs needs are you hearing about from around the globe?
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Aisling Redican: That's a great question, I think.
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So every December on December 13th, we celebrate the feast of Saint Lucy and
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patron saint of the blind.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.
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Aisling Redican: And we got an email a couple years ago from a gentleman in Singapore.
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And he sent me a photo of him lecturing, using our braille mass propers in in his
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parish on the feast of Saint Lucy, his parish celebrated,
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you know, an identical mass that we were celebrating.
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And it was just amazing to see, like, the global reach of,
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like, not just our offerings because we're just transcribing,
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you know, the word of God. It's not like we're it's not us,
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you know, coming up with these materials.
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We're just making it accessible.
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Yeah, but it's just it just was so beautiful to see that in practice.
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And we hear, like, all the time, a lot of our clients like,
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this gentleman in Singapore, are lectors at their parishes,
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and, you know, they. It's just amazing to see how something we think is,
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you know, we do this monthly and it kind of goes over your head, but when you hear about
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how much it touches people and how much it means to them to receive these materials each
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and every month so that they can practice and participate in their faith.
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It's it's amazing. And so that for me is that for me brings like that global impact and
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makes it aware, makes me aware of like how much Xavier Society means to our patrons,
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not just here in the States or in Canada, but in Singapore,
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in Ireland, in Australia and all these other,
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you know, far flung places that you wouldn't think,
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you know think would benefit from something like this.
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But so there's that and then there's one of our biggest lines of service is also
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transcribing faith formation textbooks for young children.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh.
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Aisling Redican: So, yeah, so children in CCD and and adults who are,
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you know preparing to enter the faith as well.
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And so we make textbooks available and so and our,
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our foundress, Margaret Coffey, back in 1900,
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the reason that she wanted to establish Savior Society for the blind was that she she
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herself was a blind teacher of blind children,
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and those children did not have access to faith formation materials.
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So she wanted them to, to have, you know, access to the same things
24:40
that decided kids had access to.
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And then 126 years later, we're still doing that.
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All over the globe. So it's just it's we're small,
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but we're mighty. So that's that's what we like to say.
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Yeah.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. 126 years. Isn't that something?
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Aisling Redican: I know, it's amazing. Yeah.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: One of the things that fascinates me is your library of more than 3000 titles.
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How do you and your colleagues decide which books to add in braille or audio,
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and what kinds of spiritual or inspirational works are most in demand from your patrons?
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Aisling Redican: Well, that's a great question as well.
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So over the last couple of years, we've been trying to focus on client
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requests. So a lot of our clients will call or email.
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They'll say, hi, my parish is doing this.
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Books, book club or Bible study.
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And they're reading this book in print.
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Can you make it available in Braille?
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So we try to focus our attention on on doing that,
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especially because those things have tight deadlines.
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So there's that a lot of it is student textbooks,
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as I mentioned. So May is a very busy time for us.
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We're in the middle of, you know, getting textbooks ready for the
26:18
next school year.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay.
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Aisling Redican: Things like that. What else?
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A client might call up and say, hey, I was listening to EWTN,
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and I heard about this great book.
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Can you make it available in audio or Braille or anything like that?
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So that's really been our focus over the last couple of years.
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And then if we find ourselves with a little bit of spare time,
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you know, we might look on the Catholic Publishers Association's website to see,
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you know, what's new or what's popular, what's trending,
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and and make that available in whatever format.
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And then, you know, in terms of what is kind of,
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you know, forever popular with, with our clients is you know,
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anything on the rosary?
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The saints kind of like, tried and tested Catholic,
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you know Catholic books.
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I'm trying to think anything on Mary Marian apparitions.
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Yeah. Any any kind of of those those tried and tested Catholic titles you can think of
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are probably in in our wheelhouse.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I know three books that stand out for me that I have ordered from you.
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One is called lent with the saints and then advent with the saints.
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I also got a book on Mother Teresa on the miraculous medals,
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and I was so pleased when I suggested, you know,
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to the Xavier Society that there is a book called With God All Things Are Possible,
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and you guys brailled it.
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Aisling Redican: Yeah. We taught, you know, if it's in in the past,
28:05
we've been kind of doing things ad hoc and what we think our,
28:09
our clients might like.
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But, you know, we kind of came to the conclusion,
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like, if our clients are asking for these things,
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then we should, you know, that's what we're here for.
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Let's let's make it. Let's make it happen.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That makes sense you know.
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Aisling Redican: Yeah. Yeah. And if you if it's something that you're going to like then most likely it's
28:27
something you know others are going to like right.
28:31
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Now as a blind Catholic myself, I understand how vital accessible mass
28:39
materials are. Could you explain the propers of the mass service that you provide
28:49
and how it works, and what it means for blind and low vision Catholics who want to fully
28:57
participate in Sunday liturgy?
29:02
Aisling Redican: Sure. So the easy answer to that is we refer to the propers of the Sunday Mass as
29:10
essentially the Missal.
29:11
So it includes not just the readings, prayers,
29:14
and responses to the mass on Sundays and feast days,
29:18
but it also has other parts of the mass in there.
29:22
Like I'm going to get kind of Catholic on on everyone.
29:25
Now, the collect the entrance antiphon, the prayer after communion.
29:31
Yeah. And other kind of bits of the mass.
29:36
That change from week to week.
29:37
So we serve a lot of priests and they use the propers to celebrate mass.
29:46
A lot of our clients who receive these in Braille or large print lector at,
29:52
at church. So that means they get up and they,
29:54
they read the first reading or the second reading.
29:57
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay.
29:58
Aisling Redican: Or the responsorial psalm, if that's done in their parish.
30:03
And it just we hear all the time how it just the propers are so essential to the faith
30:10
practice of our patrons.
30:12
Yeah. You know, without them, they wouldn't be able to follow along at mass
30:17
or they wouldn't be able to lector. Or if they're a priest, they wouldn't be able to
30:19
celebrate the mass. So they're just it's it's it's it's our biggest line of service.
30:27
Without a doubt. And it just means a lot to the people we serve.
30:31
And I read an article recently on one of our clients in California,
30:36
and she was talking about how she was lecturing at the Easter Vigil.
30:41
And people came up to her after mass and they must not,
30:45
you know, have realized she was blind or whatever. And they said,
30:49
did you memorize the readings?
30:51
And she said, she said, no, because the Easter Vigil is is in the
30:55
dark for those who don't know.
30:57
But so she and she, she kind of laughed.
31:00
She goes, no, I was reading Braille. So she read really,
31:04
really well but yeah, I know the propers are just you know,
31:09
something we've been doing for for decades, and it's not available from any other source
31:14
at any price, and we do it for free.
31:17
So it's it's a blessing to be able to, to make those available to,
31:21
to whoever needs them.
31:24
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I sure need them. And I use them all the time.
31:27
You know, it's just amazing.
31:28
I feel I feel closer to God when when I read these things.
31:32
And I'm very, very thankful and very appreciative.
31:35
Thank you.
31:36
Aisling Redican: No, it's our pleasure.
31:38
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. You've helped to expand Spanish language Spanish language offerings in both
31:46
braille and audio. What prompted that focus and what have you put in place so far,
31:55
and what kinds of responses have you received from Spanish speaking patrons and
32:04
communities? A mouthful there.
32:09
Aisling Redican: Yeah. So, you know the Spanish speaking population is the fastest growing population,
32:16
not just in the United States, but here in the Catholic Church in the United
32:20
States. And it's probably the same in Canada.
32:22
I'm not sure. But so we thought, you know, we thought it would be best to make
32:31
things available in Braille and talking book.
32:34
So we currently we have we have one book available in Braille,
32:41
and we have about 15 available in talking book.
32:46
So we kind of spearheaded this about five years ago,
32:50
thinking there would be quite a large demand.
32:53
And it's been kind of slow, to be honest with you.
32:56
The response and I think it's just kind of just getting the word out and,
33:03
you know, not that we haven't trying to trying to do that,
33:07
but maybe between, you know, Covid and everything that kind of,
33:11
you know, when we initially started doing the Spanish materials,
33:14
maybe that kind of put a damper on things.
33:16
But you know, we serve a lot of people in Puerto Rico,
33:20
in Texas California, Florida kind of states with large Hispanic communities.
33:28
So a lot of them, a lot of people in those states get our materials in Spanish.
33:33
We also provide the lectures.
33:36
So it's not really the proper of the mass.
33:38
It's just the readings.
33:41
For Sundays only. In BRF only as well.
33:47
So we don't do it in hard copy Braille, but it's in BRF for anyone with a Braille
33:51
display. So we, you know, we have maybe 1 or 2 people every month
33:58
registering for Spanish materials, but it's it's been it's been I don't think
34:03
it's been as quick to develop as we originally hoped,
34:07
but hopefully in the future, more people you know that hear about us will
34:11
register.
34:13
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, I think so, yeah.
34:16
Now my clock is starting to wind down.
34:17
But I wanted to ask you this question.
34:20
You led a major redesign of the Xavier Society's website with accessibility
34:29
front and center from your perspective.
34:33
Okay. As a sighted communications professional,
34:39
what did you learn through that process about web accessibility and how did
34:48
feedback from blind users shape the final product?
34:56
Aisling Redican: So that is another great question.
34:58
So our website, when I first came to Xavier Society for the blind,
35:02
was a mess, to put it lightly.
35:06
It it was very hard to use even as a sighted person.
35:10
I was like, is this a legit website?
35:12
Like, oh dear. Yeah, it was one of those.
35:15
So in 2019, I believe we decided to completely redesign the website.
35:22
We hired a company out of Vermont who had a background in making websites accessible and
35:30
things like that. And they had done a number of,
35:34
of websites for other organizations serving people with disabilities.
35:38
So you know, we had some good references there to,
35:41
to check on, but they helped us redevelop the website and do other things just to make it
35:50
more visually appealing and accessible.
35:52
Which is more important?
35:55
So it's a work in progress.
35:58
Donna you know, we hear from time to time, you know,
36:01
clients will say, oh, I was unable to find, you know,
36:04
your catalog or I didn't know where to find the new Braille books,
36:09
things like that. So those little things are is great.
36:13
They're great feedback for us.
36:14
So we're able to kind of enhance and make it more user friendly for our clients.
36:21
And I think we're we're going to be doing a little refresh to the website this year or
36:26
maybe next year again.
36:28
So but accessibility is always kind of top priority for us.
36:33
And even, you know, we're trying to, you know,
36:36
make sure they're accessible now and our, our,
36:40
our application, that's like the number one goal for us this year is to make that
36:45
completely accessible.
36:49
So yeah our, our director of technology, he's constantly on webinars and you know
36:55
doing things, trying to to see what can be done and to,
36:58
to make that better. But yeah.
37:01
So it's, it's a work in progress. I'll just say that.
37:04
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I think it's great. I mean, you know, like for me,
37:06
I'm an accessibility consultant to the Canadian government.
37:10
And I'm always so pleased when when people recognize that accessibility means that you
37:16
are able to independently access the website,
37:21
navigate it, and use it without much assistance,
37:25
if at all. So I think it's great and I applaud your efforts in doing this.
37:31
I wanted to sneak this question by you.
37:34
Social media has become a big part of how organizations sell their stories.
37:43
How are you using platforms like Facebook, Instagram X,
37:51
and YouTube to highlight the experiences of blind and low vision Catholics and to connect
38:01
donors with the impact of their support?
38:07
Aisling Redican: Yeah. So I think, you know, the the big, you know,
38:12
word here is connection.
38:14
So, you know, we're connecting with our patrons,
38:17
we're connecting with our donors and we're connecting them to kind of each other.
38:21
Right. So our donors can see, you know, every day we're posting,
38:26
you know, 3 or 4 times a day, you know, the materials we're making
38:29
available free of charge thanks to our donor support.
38:33
This is who's receiving them.
38:34
This is how it's impacting the development and practice of their faith.
38:39
So it's it's it's selling the story.
38:43
And so from, from a fundraising kind of point of view the impact of donors kind of seeing,
38:51
you know, where they're where their money's, you know,
38:55
what their money's doing is, is kind of it's it's important.
39:02
And then from a patrons or clients point of view,
39:06
you know, they want to know what's what's new,
39:08
what's happening, what's what's the organization up to who we share client
39:12
stories as well. So they get to, you know, read about,
39:15
you know, people they might actually know.
39:17
Because the blind community is super small and the blind Catholic community is even
39:21
smaller. So a lot of them know each other.
39:25
So yeah, social media is huge for us.
39:28
We're on Facebook. Instagram.
39:31
They're they're probably our top two platforms.
39:35
We use Twitter a lot as well.
39:37
Not to really the extent that Facebook and Instagram not to the same extent,
39:43
but and then YouTube we use for like every month we'll upload some kind of video
39:49
highlights of new audiobooks that we've done.
39:53
So we'll upload like a three minute clip so people can hear it.
39:58
They can get a little taste of what the talking books about.
40:01
And then if they like it, they can call us or email us to order it.
40:06
So that's what we use kind of YouTube for.
40:08
But Facebook and Instagram are probably our, our biggest platforms in terms of social
40:14
media. And it's also great for, for kind of finding new patrons or
40:20
reconnecting with patrons who've lost touch.
40:24
You know, if they see something shared by someone and.
40:27
Oh, yeah, Xavier Society, I remember them or.
40:29
Oh, I've never heard about these guys before. They provide free, free Braille and
40:33
audiobooks. Awesome. I want to reach out to them.
40:36
So they're. Yeah. Social media.
40:39
I'm always amazed, like how 40, 50 years ago,
40:43
how people kind of found out about us because.
40:49
Yeah, it's not like we were, you know, being shouted from the rooftops or
40:53
anything. Yeah, yeah. So it's amazing.
40:56
Yeah. We love social media.
41:00
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: One of my final questions is this one, do you have any specific projects that you
41:05
are working on that you would like to tell our listeners about?
41:12
Aisling Redican: Yeah. I don't know if I'm giving anything away here,
41:15
but.
41:16
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Any top secrets?
41:17
Aisling Redican: Yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe I can announce this,
41:20
but we are working to make the Roman missile available in large print at the minute.
41:28
Yeah. So as you can imagine, you know, a lot of priests,
41:32
the the average age is kind of skewing older.
41:37
And a lot of, you know, older priests are losing their vision and
41:42
things like that, but they're not going to learn Braille. They're not going to. Right,
41:45
right. You know, they're not going to be able to use you know,
41:49
audiobook player at the altar or anything like that.
41:51
So they're more comfortable with print, but they just need something big enough to
41:55
see. So we are in the process of, I guess, getting the rights and making sure
42:03
everything's good on that end to make it available in large print and maybe sometime
42:12
in the future. But I'm not gonna, you know, I don't want to get anyone's hopes
42:15
up yet, but that's kind of the aim.
42:20
With that, I'm trying to think, what else do we got going on in the pipeline?
42:25
There's a lot, you know, we're just trying to keep up with the
42:28
technology.
42:29
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And yeah.
42:30
Aisling Redican: It's everything is just going crazy fast.
42:35
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.
42:35
Aisling Redican: But we're trying to, to find a way to kind of automate our processes.
42:41
So we're working with a company called Daisy pipeline,
42:46
and we hope to be able to kind of sometime in the future,
42:50
use that to kind of automate our Braille and hopefully audio production.
42:57
But but it's in the very kind of baby infant stages.
43:06
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I am certainly impressed with the work that the society has done on the part that it has
43:11
played in my life personally.
43:15
I continue to read your books.
43:16
I continue to engage with with your staff and your team.
43:21
And I want to thank you for having done this for,
43:24
you know, free of charge.
43:25
I mean, like, my goodness, it it must take a lot of donor ships in order
43:32
to get everything done, would you say?
43:36
Aisling Redican: Yeah. And, you know, we're we're super blessed to not just serve you,
43:40
Donna, but all of our our clients free of charge,
43:44
thanks to thanks to our faithful donor base.
43:48
And that's it's it's, you know, a mix of individual donors.
43:52
We have a lot of clients like yourself who support us small family foundations that that
44:00
donate to us and bequests as well.
44:03
So yeah, we you know, we're very blessed to have been able to do
44:09
what we do for 126 years.
44:11
But it is not it ain't cheap that way.
44:16
And but again we have a very faithful donor base who kind of ensure that,
44:22
you know, we keep chugging along.
44:27
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, if someone wanted to contact you, could you give us the phone numbers once more
44:32
in the website?
44:33
Aisling Redican: Absolutely. So again, it's our website is
44:38
https://XavierSocietyForTheBlind.org.
44:42
That's X A V I E R Society for the Blind.org.
44:48
Our email is Info@XavierSocietyForTheBlind.org.
44:55
And then our phone numbers.
44:57
We have a toll free one which is (800) 637-9193 and a 212 area code which is
45:06
(212) 473-7800. And yeah, be sure to follow us on,
45:13
on Facebook and Instagram or whatever platform you use because,
45:17
you know, that's where you hear all that's new.
45:19
You get to hear some client stories and, you know,
45:22
other news pertaining to the organization.
45:26
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Aisling, thank you so much for joining me today.
45:29
It's been a pleasure. It's been a privilege.
45:31
And if ever you wanted to come back to talk about anything that you're doing or any
45:37
announcement that you'd like to make, please do not hesitate to get in touch with
45:40
us.
45:42
Aisling Redican: Well, thank you so much again, Donna. This has been a real pleasure.
45:46
And yeah, we appreciate your help getting the word out.
45:49
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Thank you very much. And you take care and we will talk to you again very soon.
45:54
Aisling Redican: All right, Donna, thank you, thank you.
45:56
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Bye bye now. Bye bye.
46:02
Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at DonnaJodhan@Gmail.com.
46:08
Until next time.