“I don’t know anything about radio except how to turn one on and change the batteries and I sure don’t know anything about blind people except they can’t see. But if you think I can help, I’ll do it.” - Fr. Boniface Wittenbrink, OMI, 1971

It was because of that spirit that Fr. Boni, the founder of Minds Eye Information Service, was recently honored for his commitment to the field of radio reading.

Fr. Boni was given the International Association of Audio Information Services’ C. Stanley Potter Emeritus Award for a lifetime of service to ensuring that people who are unable to read print had access to all of the information that they needed.

The award was given to Fr. Boni, not because he was the driving force in bringing the third existing
reading service on the air on March 1, 1973, but because once access to newspapers was available to people who were blind in St. Louis, he wanted to make sure that it was available all over the country. He travelled the country giving guidance to those who wanted to bring radio reading services to their towns. He took his knowledge wherever it was needed, from the big cities of Washington, D.C., New York, and Chicago, to the small town of Macomb, Illinois, and even internationally to Canada and the Philippines.

He served on the Radio Educational Committee of the American Council of the Blind and the
Radio Talking Book Committee of the American Foundation of the Blind and the Library of
Congress, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, as well as several national congressional committees to assert the need for reading services.

At his heart, Fr. Boni was a fundraiser and tireless lobbyist. In the early 1980’s, he travelled to Springfield, IL to meet the governor to request funding. In setting up a grant from the state, he also established Illinois Radio Information Services, an association to encourage further development of reading services and their staff in Illinois. The grant and the association continue to this day.

Several members of Fr. Boni’s family were in attendance as well as many members of the Minds
Eye Information Service staff and Leadership Advisory Board.

Fr. Boni is now 97 years old and has recently joined the ranks of the Minds Eye listeners himself.

Fr. Boni was not the only person from Minds Eye honored at the recent IAAIS Awards Ceremony. Minds Eye also received the award for Program of the Year in the area of Thematic Production.

The Program of the Year Award honored Minds Eye’s daily segment called “What’s Happening.”
The show is heard daily during the newspaper readings and updates listeners on events and news
in the vision loss and disability community. The award winning segment was produced, voiced, and audio-engineered by Mark Conner and focused on an article out of the St. Louis Society for the
Blind’s “Foresight” newsletter about a young man who was learning orientation and mobility skills
after being declared legally blind.

Entries submitted for consideration for Program of the Year are judged by not only the reader’s
presentation skills, but also the continuity and the audio quality of the program

mindsEye...bringing printed words to life