[Cinci-NFB] National Federation of the Blind of Ohio, Cincinnati Chapter, Meeting Minutes for August 2019

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National Federation of the Blind of Ohio

Cincinnati Chapter

Meeting Minutes for August 2019

 

 

1.	The August 2019 meeting of the National Federation of the Blind of
Ohio, Cincinnati Chapter was convened by Chapter President Sheri Albers at
approximately 1:30 P.M. on Saturday August 24 2019 in Room 3B of the
Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library at 800 Vine Street,
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. In attendance were: President Sheri Albers,
Christopher Sabine, Gloria Robinson, Tapeka Turner, Dianne Gudaitis, Angela
Maddox, Tammy Smith, Tammy McRae, Anthony King, Diane Carmony, Deanna Lewis,
Emily Pennington, Marianne Denning and Taslim Dibba. Lyka Crebillo, Nadina
Imanovic and Emily Kiehl attended this meeting as guests of the Chapter.
Tammy Smith was presented with a membership medallion at today's meeting.
President Sheri Albers began today's meeting with a recitation of the
Federation's "one-minute speech." 

 

2.	Tammy Smith moved to approve the July 2019 minutes as emailed.
Gloria Robinson Seconded, and the motion passed.

 

3.	Emily Pennington gave this month's Treasurer's report. Deanna Lewis
moved to approve the Treasurer's report. Gloria Robinson seconded, and the
motion passed.

 

4.	Gloria Robinson initiated a discussion concerning the Cincinnati
Chapter's contribution to the PAC Plan. The National Federation of the
Blind's Preauthorized Contribution (PAC) plan is a way for individuals,
Chapters, divisions or affiliates to have a given amount deducted from a
bank account to go to the national organization. There is a minimum monthly
contribution of $5. Each state's total contributions to the PAC Plan are
recognized annually at National Convention. After discussion, Deanna Lewis
moved that the Treasurer of the Cincinnati Chapter allocate a $5 monthly
contribution to the PAC Plan on the Chapter's behalf. Gloria Robinson
seconded, and the motion passed without further discussion.

 

5.	Sheri Albers encouraged all Chapter members to listen to the "Being
Pro-Life" Podcast that Christopher Sabine conducted with Bob Wurzelbacher
from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati concerning the National Federation of the
Blind and access to Mass and other parish activities for Blind Catholic
Parishioners. The link to the Podcast was posted to the Chapter Facebook
Page as well as the Cinci-Talk and Ohio-Talk Listservs prior to today's
meeting.

 

6.	Christopher Sabine gave a report from the Membership Committee,
which was followed by further discussion and an update from Sheri Albers
concerning plans for this year's White Cane Walk and Meet the Blind Month
activities at Fountain Square.

 

 

a.	Christopher Sabine reported that the Membership Committee met on
August 13 at 7:00 P.M. by teleconference to continue plans for the
Cincinnati Vision fair at The Urban Artifact Brewery in October. he
indicated that he has obtained commitments from Julie Nay, Director of
Product Development at Universal Low Vision Aids, J.W. Smith representing
the Ohio Affiliate and other Ohio organizations and a representative from
Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities as exhibitors at the event.
Sheri Albers and Marianne Denning have reached out and obtained verbal
commitments from the Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
and the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired,
respectively. A press release has been completed which will go out to local
media organizations, and a flier has been prepared which will be sent as
postcards to the Cleveland Regional Library of the National Library Service
for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) to distribute to borrowers of NLS
Braille and Talking Book materials in Southwest Ohio. Liz Bonis, the Health
Reporter from WKRC Local 12, will be conducting an interview on Thursday
September 26 with Christopher and Sheri Albers on this event, the White Cane
Walk and the National Federation of the Blind for her health show. The next
Membership Committee meeting has been scheduled for August 27 2019 at 7:00
P.M. by teleconference, and Christopher expressed that he will post a
reminder of this meeting to the Cinci-Talk Listserv.

 

b.	Following Christopher's report, Sheri Albers gave a separate report
concerning the White Cane walk and Meet the Blind event. Sheri indicated
that due to the BLINK Cincinnati Art Festival and the conversion of the
Fountain Square facilities to a skating rink for the Holiday Season,
Fountain Square is unavailable for events the entire month of October.
Therefore, this event has been scheduled for Sunday September 29 2019.
Participants will assemble at 1:00 P.M. at Cincinnati City Hall and walk to
Fountain Square, where the Meet the Blind event will take place from 1:30 to
4:00 P.M. As of today's, meeting, it has not been determined whether a
representative of Cincinnati City Hall, the Mayor's Office or another public
official will be available to read a proclamation for this event as in years
past. Sheri has reserved one table for Fountain Square and obtained a permit
from the Center City Development Corp (3cdc), the public entity that manages
Fountain Square.  The space is reserved from 1:30 to 4:30 P.M. on September
29-which includes load-in and load-out times. The cost of renting the space
is $25 / hour for a site manager from 3CDC to be in charge of the facilities
plus $35 for the table for a total cost to the Chapter of $110. Deanna Lewis
moved that $110 be allocated from the Chapter Treasury to cover the
reservation of the facilities of Fountain Square from 1:30 to 4:30 P.M. on
September 29 for the White Cane Walk and Meet the Blind event. Gloria
Robinson seconded, and the motion passed. Sheri expressed that she will
connect with the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired
and the Clovernook Center to send out invitations. However, she will not
invite either agency to the White Cane Walk or Meet the Blind event, as both
will be exhibiting at the Cincinnati Vision Fair at Urban Artifact instead.
Sheri expressed that she will connect with Cincinnati City Council and the
Mayor's Office concerning the proclamation.

 

7.	Gloria Robinson gave a report from the Fundraising Committee. The
following items were discussed as part of her report:

 

a.	Gloria indicated that she will recommence the Double Good Popcorn
fundraising campaign in October. This new campaign will run until April 30
2020, and she will have brochures to distribute to Chapter members at next
month's meeting. Gloria indicated that members can reach out to her directly
if interested in selling the popcorn beforehand.

 

b.	Gloria expressed that she is discussing a potential bake sale at the
Save-A-Lot Store on Harrison Avenue in Westwood with Deanna Lewis. Since
this store is under new management, Gloria reported that she will need to
reach out to the new manager to determine if the Committee can use this
location as it has in the past. She will also connect with Deanna to
schedule a date-possibly in December. 

 

c.	Sheri indicated during Gloria's report that she has reached out to
Suzanne Turner and has secured a table for the Cincinnati Chapter at State
Convention in November. Suzanne is responsible for all tables at this year's
Convention. Sheri reported that the Chapter needs to decide at the September
meeting whether to sell the Braille puzzle books that could not be sold at
National Convention. 

 

d.	The bulk of Gloria's report revolved around an idea for a "Gospel
Fest / Italian Dinner" fundraiser at a local church sometime in March or
April 2020. No action was taken by the Chapter as a result of the
discussion. Gloria urged all Chapter members to actively participate in
fundraising activities. 

 

8.	Sheri Albers gave a brief legislative report. She expressed that she
and Michael Leiterman met in Columbus last week with Representatives Brigid
Kelly (D-Cincinnati) and Scott Lipps (R-Franklin) concerning the Affiliate's
service animal legislation. Marianne Denning, Deanna Lewis and Debbie Baker
also attended this meeting representing the Ohio Association of Guide Dog
Users (OAGDU). Marianne denning gave an overview of the Ohio Affiliate's
service animal legislation and summarized last week's meeting. Originally,
OAGDU's service animal legislation had two purposes: to bring the language
of Ohio's existing statute regarding service animals into compliance with
the Americans with Disabilities Act and to impose a criminal penalty on
those passing off unlicensed animals as "emotional support" animals.
Marianne indicated that the bill went nowhere when it was introduced to the
Ohio House of Representatives two years ago and has gone nowhere this year.
Marianne reported that it was decided to drop the latter piece from the
proposed bill and revisit the issue of emotional support animals in future
legislation. Sheri indicated that following this meeting, she and Michael
Leiterman also met with Rep. Richard Brown (D-Columbus) concerning the
Affiliate's Accessible Prescription Reader Legislation, which has now been
formerly introduced to the Ohio House and is being considered by the Health
Committee. The committee will hear proponent testimony concerning the bill
sometime after the House comes back into session in September. Finally,
Sheri and Mike reported that they met with Rep. Erica Crawley (D-Columbus)
concerning Ohio's Parental Rights Bill which has also been introduced to the
Ohio House and being considered by the Health Committee. Sheri encouraged
all Chapter members who have not done so already to forward written
testimony concerning both bills to Michael Leiterman and testify in person
in Columbus if at all possible. Sheri also expressed that she will re-post
the fact sheet for the Parental Rights Bill written up for the Columbus
seminar earlier this year to the Ohio-Talk and Cinci-Talk Listservs.

 

9.	Sheri Albers discussed this year's State Convention, which will take
place from Friday November 1 to Sunday November 3 2019 at the Doubletree
Columbus Worthington Hotel. Online and print registration forms are
available at  <http://www.nfbohio.org> http://www.nfbohio.org under the link
for Convention registration. The link has also been posted to the Ohio-Talk
listserv. The cost of preregistration is $15. The cost to preregister for
the Convention banquet is $40. The cost of a boxed lunch on Saturday is $25,
and there is an additional $15 fee to eat breakfast at the annual meeting of
the Ohio Association to Promote the Use of Braille (OAPUB) on Saturday
morning. However, it is not necessary to pay for breakfast in order to
attend the meeting. Print registration forms are available at this link and
were distributed at today's meeting. Print registrations must be returned to
President Sheri Albers with payment sent separately to Sherry Ruth,
Treasurer of the Ohio Affiliate. The deadline for preregistration is October
24. The cost to register for Convention is $20 with an additional $45 to
attend the banquet. The cost of the hotel is $89 per night, and the deadline
for reservations is October 11. The cost of the hotel includes two
complimentary breakfast buffets with each additional breakfast costing $5.
Reservations can be made by calling the hotel directly at (614) 885-3334.
This information is available on the Convention registration web page and on
the Ohio-Talk listserv. Ever Lee Hairston will be this year's national
representative, and Kenia Flores will serve as this year's national student
representative. As in last year's Convention, Wilbert Turner will be
offering the one-touch self-defense course for an additional $20
registration fee. The Ohio Association to Promote the Use of Braille (OAPUB)
will also perform its annual play at 9:00 P.M. on Friday November 1.
Admission is $5 with proceeds going to OAPUB. Finally, Gloria Robinson asked
all members interested in donating to the Hospitality Room on Friday
November 1 to contact her directly. The Cincinnati Chapter is responsible
for managing the Hospitality Room at this year's Convention. However, Sheri
Albers expressed that the Akron Chapter will assist Cincinnati with
registration.

 

10.	Sheri Albers indicated that Chuck Geiger is starting his next
one-touch self-defense course on September 1. This is an eight-week course,
and the price of admission is $5 per session and $40 to attend all eight
sessions. Sheri expressed that she will be posting Chuck's contact
information to the Cinci-Talk list.

 

11.	Deanna Lewis reported that Steve Sullivan, Director of the Hefner
Natural History Museum at Miami University, will be giving a tactile exhibit
of part of its collection from September 14 2019 from 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. in
the Community Room at the Clovernook Center. Deanna will be posting an
announcement concerning this event to the Cinci-Talk listserv.

 

12.	Emily Kiehl gave an overview of the services of See 3D, a service
that she founded with Caroline Karbowski to provide 3D models to the Blind.
Those interested in having a model printed can request it via the
organization's web site,  <http://www.see3d.org> http://www.see3d.org and
fill out an online form. The images are taken from existing online resources
and assembled into tactile models using a 3D printer. Models are currently
available at no cost, but donations are accepted. The service is currently
funded through a variety of grants and scholarships. Emily reported that
some of the more popular requests that she and Caroline have received are
various animals, neurons and characters from popular movies such as
Despicable Me. 

 

13.	Sheri Albers requested that all members send her a list of
activities and accomplishments for this year's Gavel Awards for State
Convention. In order to be recognized, these activities must have taken
place from September 1 2018 to August 31 2019. The Gavel Awards recognize
activities and achievements of individual Chapter members within and outside
the Federation and are divided into categories. Sheri expressed that she
will be posting these categories and an announcement concerning the Gavel
Awards to the Cinci-Talk Listserv. She also requested that Christopher
Sabine, Chapter Secretary, forward her a list of active members as of August
31 2019.

 

14.	Deanna Lewis presented an auction item which Tapeka Turner won.

 

15.	The August 2019 meeting of the National Federation of the Blind of
Ohio, Cincinnati Chapter was adjourned at approximately 3:21 P.M. on
Saturday August 24 2019.

 

16.	The next meeting of the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio,
Cincinnati Chapter has been scheduled for Saturday September 28 2019 at the
Cincinnati / Hamilton County Public Library at 800 Vine Street, Cincinnati,
Ohio.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Christopher Sabine

Secretary

National Federation of the Blind of Ohio

Cincinnati Chapter

 

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