Overview

The North Carolina Reading Service (NCRS) has been operating as a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit serving the blind and print-impaired community since 1983. Located in Raleigh, North Carolina, the service, founded by North Carolina State Professor Doctor Ed Funkhouser and Raleigh businessman Ben Eason, provides news and information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. NCRS provides quality programming with daily live broadcasts of the News and Observer and USA Today. We have also grown to include newspapers from eastern North Carolina.

Those newspapers include the New Bern Sun Journal, Greenville Daily Reflector, and Wilmington Star News. Listeners also enjoy special programs such as Salute a Veteran Everyday, and Legal Matters, just to name a few.

NCRS fills a vital role in replacing isolation with connections. In addition to people with vision impairments, we also reach out to a growing population of people, both children and adults, with print disabilities. Print disabilities include anything that prevents someone from being able to easily access printed material. This may be due to arthritis, stroke, MS, ALS, learning disabilities as well as literacy challenges.

The North Carolina Reading Service can be heard through various means. The most efficient way is to use our streaming media player located in the upper right corner of any page on our site. Please visit our Listen page to learn all the ways you can receive our programming.

If you would like to learn more about the North Carolina Reading Service, please feel free to contact us.

Vintage black and white photo of volunteer readers recording in sound studio

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Volunteer working on his laptop at North Carolina Reading Service
Two volunteers recording in sound studio at North Carolina Reading Service
Volunteer reader recording in sound studio at North Carolina Reading Service
Soundboard at North Carolina Reading Service

Meet the NCRS Staff

May Tran

Executive Director

Email May Tran

Liz Elliott

Development Coordinator

Email Liz Elliott

Members of the NC Reading Service Board

President

Greg Suggs
G. Suggs Insurance Agency

Vice President

Iris Green
Disability Rights North Carolina

Secretary

Sharon Benton
Retired, City of Raleigh

Treasurer

Jim Cronin
Retired, Financial Advisor

 Immediate Past President

George Douglas

Co-Founders

Ben Eason, Co-Founder (Deceased 2006)
Mr. Eason, totally blind from his teen years on, was a successful and well-respected businessman. He was retired when he passed away in 2006.

Doctor Ed Funkhouser, Co-Founder
Retired NCSU College of Social Sciences, Professor

Greg Suggs, President
Term 20-23

Iris Green, Vice President
Term 20-23

Jim Cronin, Treasurer
Term 20-23

Sharon N. Benton, Secretary
Term 18-24

Darrell Gordon
Term 22-25

Lori Graves
Term 23-26

Brandon Hair
Term 21-24

Craig Hayward
Term 21-24

Kim Otten
Term 22-25

Robert Parrish
Term 22-25

Patricia Sykes
Term 22-25

Matt Towler
Term 23-26

Resources