[Greater-baltimore] Chapter use of National federation of the Blind kitchen and facilities

[Danielsen, Chris]

Dear fellow Federationists:

I have recently received reports from our staff at the NFB Jernigan Institute that the kitchen has been left in a state of uncleanliness after chapter breakfasts and after the chapter picnic. In addition, after the picnic, the oven and industrial dishwasher were left on, posing a serious safety hazard. At the meeting on Saturday, we also discussed the fact that we cannot continue to have events like the chapter breakfasts, and even the picnic and repast, if people are not willing to take responsibility for them. As all of you know, our staff compliment has been reduced due to finances, and that means that staff at the NFB can't go behind everyone using the kitchen to make sure that things are left in order and that there are no safety hazards. For the time being, I am asking that those who have volunteered to deal with breakfast not plan to cook anything on Center premises and to use the actual kitchen as little as possible. In other words, plan to bring donuts, fruit, bagels, and other items that are premade and can be easily served with existing chapter supplies. We will also soon discuss how we can implement proper procedures to make sure that events like the picnic and repast are conducted safely. We have conducted such events safely in the past and I suspect we can do so again, but if we cannot find volunteers willing to take full responsibility for making sure that our facilities are returned to the state of cleanliness that existed before the event, and that all appliances are turned off and all other safety precautions taken, then we may need to reconsider whether we can have such events, or at least whether we ought to scale them down significantly.

I am copying my colleagues on staff on this message as well. As chapter president, I am ultimately responsible for the chapter's activities, so I apologize on behalf of the chapter to you for leaving a mess for you to clean up and for the risks to our personnel and property posed by the recent incidents.

Sincerely:

Chris Danielsen


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Christopher S. Danielsen, J.D.
Director of Public Relations
National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
Office: (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
Mobile: (410) 262-1281
E-mail: cdanielsen at nfb.org<mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>
www.nfb.org