For Individual Volunteers, NOT Groups
Carefully collate Braille-embossed plastic pages and printed pages of Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom STEM storybooks
WHEN
- Saturday 10/24/2026, 9:30-12noon and/or 1-3:30pm
-
Sign up by 10/17/2026
~9 volunteers are still needed.
WHAT
Carefully collate Braille-embossed plastic pages between printed pages of Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom STEM storybooks
Healthy volunteers age 10+ will carefully collate Braille-embossed, translucent plastic pages and Braille-embossed paper pages between printed pages while masked and walking around a large work table; carefully check their work; plus learn why Braille is very important for literacy and take an optional tour to see how Braille is produced.
Optional story of radioactive/beta decay "mini-talk" for adult non-physicists (with Q&A) 12:05-12:30pm, by Dr. Sallie Baliunas. It's OK to have lunch during this casual presentation!
WHERE
National Braille Press
Boston behind Symphony Hall
Limited, free parking available by request when registering
WHY
This is the November selection of the Children's Braille Book Club.
These special print-Braille books enable sighted and blind (or visually impaired) parents and children to enjoy reading and learning together, an important part of building early literacy, even among pre-school-age children.
Volunteer labor (and donations) allow these special books to be purchased at the same price as print versions, an important equity issue since book ownership enables children and parents to re-read favorites several hundred times together, an important part of early literacy.
HOW
Registrants must also complete an online nondisclosure agreement (NDA) for the National Braille Press by 10/17/2026.
Incomplete submissions cannot be honored.
PMD canNOT accept any UNregistered, walk-in volunteers.
Participation is required for an entire project shift.
If this popular project reaches maximum capacity (15/shift), then interested volunteers can join the backup list, since we anticipate (and promote) cancellations due to covid-19, flu, and rsv infections and exposures. Joining the PMD backup list means making a commitment to reserve the shift(s) you select until the date you provide.
For volunteers age 10-17, a parent/guardian must also agree to PMD's waiver/release and NBP's NDA electronically, and for volunteers younger than age 16, a parent/guardian must also register before the project reaches maximum capacity and participate fully with the minor.
Call PMD if you cannot sign up using our form.
If you experience any difficult registering online to volunteer with PMD, please immediately CALL THE PMD OFFICE at
After you sign-up, you will see a confirmation screen and receive a confirmation email message, so be sure to save the date and shift/times on your calendars AND add [email protected] to your address/white/allow list.
Then a few days before this project PMD will email specific details in a PDF, including directions to the project site by public transit and by car*, what to wear/expect, checklist, map, and release form for minors that a parent/guardian must co-sign and provide at check-in on 10/24 -- Volunteers age 18+ provide their consent when registering online, to minimize paper/contact.
*Limited, free, off-street parking is available by request when registering to volunteer with PMD, with spaces given to the first eight requests per shift.
WHO
Volunteers who love to read really enjoy participating in this project while discussing books they liked to read as children (and adults) and those they like to read to children.Volunteers must be age 10 or older, and those under age 16 must be accompanied by a registered and fully participating adult.
This project requires being in excellent health (and living with others who are also), repetitive hand motions, good fine motor skills, standing and walking around a work table, and like for all PMD projects, careful attention to detail for all tasks, being "fragrance-free," and participation for an entire project shift.
"If a blind child is taught braille skills with the same sense of importance that is rightly attached to the teaching of print skills to sighted children, he or she will grow up able to read at speeds comparable to print readers, a life skill of inestimable value."
Joseph E. Sullivan, Founder of Duxbury Systems
"The child becomes largely what it is taught; hence we must watch what we teach it, and how we live before it."
Jane Addams, Nobel Peace Prize Recipient