Ohio volunteers turn Bible scripture into Braille

FAIRLAWN, Ohio - For two decades, volunteers have gathered at Fairlawn (Ohio) Lutheran Church for three hours at a time to help spread the word of God throughout the world.

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"We're just working to carry out God's commission of going forth and spreading the Gospel," said Phyllis Woodward of Richfield, Ohio. "We are trying to reach people who may never have known about God and his salvation without these books."

The books - Brailled volumes of the books of the Bible - are embossed, collated, bound and shipped from Lutheran Braille Work Center No. 191, which is in the church at 3415 W. Market St.

The center is one of about 200 in 37 states and Canada that make up Lutheran Braille Workers Inc. The organization publishes biblical and Christian literature in Braille and large print.

The literature, which is offered free to the blind and visually impaired, is printed in more than 30 languages and distributed in 120 countries.

The Braille mission, founded in 1943, is an outreach ministry of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. It includes more than 6,000 volunteers and receives requests for more than 500,000 volumes per year.

"The work centers are the production line for the ministry," said the Rev. Phil Pledger, executive director of the Yucaipa, Calif.-based Braille ministry. "Putting the books together is a very labor-intensive endeavor, and it is because of the volunteers that we are able to make things happen. I want to share with the volunteers how their hands and their donations have made a real difference in the lives of people around the world."

The entire Braille Bible takes up about five feet of shelf space. All 66 books of the Protestant Bible are bound into 37 volumes. Although the retail price of a Braille Bible can be more than $1,000, the ministry produces Braille Bibles for $144