[il-talk] Chicago chapter minutes for june meeting

[David Meyer]

NFBI CHICAGO CHAPTER MEETING
June 8, 2013
Exchequer Pub and Restaurant
226 S. Wabash, Chicago

CALL TO ORDER

Chicago Chapter President David Meyer called the meeting to order at 1 PM. 
Thirty-one people were in attendance, including first-timers Dan Peters, Ken
Borst, and Viola Scott.  Joyce Robinson thanked everyone for the help she
received after her house fire.  Dave Meyer reported that his wife, Teresa,
lost her sister.  Dave thanked all of the people who expressed their
sympathy with calls, cards, and attendance at the funeral.  Blaise Burch has
throat cancer but is doing well.  Leanne Mayne reported that her neuropathy
has grown more severe. Syed Yousufuddin has gotten married and is moving to
Tennessee due to his job.  Johnathon Chang has graduated from the University
of Illinois and Julia Chang is about to enter as a freshman.

PAM G.'s MEDICAL CORNER

Pam Gillmore said that she wants to give back to the chapter because so many
people were supportive during Don's illness.  She will share bits of medical
information with chapter members.  Regarding prescriptions: BID means twice
a day, TID means three times a day, QID means four times a day, and PRN
means as needed.  To avoid unnecessary sticks, remember where your best
veins are for blood drawing.  If it's okay with your diet, take a seasoning
product to improve the taste of hospital food.

PROGRAM

Steve Hastalis, Gina Falvo, and Bob Widman talked about NFB national
conventions.  Steve talked about legislation that has emerged from NFB
resolutions.  Gina described a visit to the exhibit hall.  Bob gave a
rundown of a typical convention banquet, the culmination of convention week.

Patti added that first timers should attend the Rookie Roundup on the first
evening of convention.

SECRETARY's MINUTES

The minutes of the April 13 chapter meeting were approved.

CONTRIBUTIONS

President Meyer explained that the chapter board recommended contributions
to four NFB funds.  The chapter voted to contribute $1,000 as follows: $300
to the White Cane Fund, $300 to the tenBroek Fund, $200 for NFB Sun Shares,
and $200 to the Jernigan Fund.

STATE REPORT

NFBI President Patti Chang reminded everyone that the Illinois Caucus will
take place at 7:30 AM on July 3.  Members have volunteered to cover and
report on all of the meetings at national convention.  T-shirts will be sold
during convention as an Illinois fundraiser.  Illinois will host a BELL
program from July 29 to August 9.  The application deadline has been
extended to June 15.  We have hired two teachers, but we need volunteers to
help.  Debbie Stein and Cathy Randall are coordinating the volunteers.  We
especially need people to go on field trips so that we'll have a one-on-one
ratio with the kids.  Casandra Certeza, Glenn Moore, Steve Hastalis, Bruce
Paul, Marco Giannotti, Mary Grunwald, Hilda Sandifer, Denise Avant, and
Patti Chang all volunteered.  Dutch tenBroek will attend our state
convention.  Patti is trying to get a man named Samir Doshi who is a bank
vice president to speak.  There will be a veterans panel and a rehab panel. 
Hotel rates are $99, which includes breakfast.  Anyone needing financial
assistance can apply to the Chappell Fund.  Debbie Stein explained that
James Dickman and Ronen Young have been accepted as NFBI interns.  The
Scholarship Committee has chosen five winners: Stephanie Collins, Adrienne
Falconer, Alexa Schwichow, Alex Taikwel, and Nicole Yarmolkevich.  Patti
recently attended the Merchants' Convention, BLAST.  There will be a gift
certificate order in September.  The next state board meeting will be held
on August 17th in Bloomington, where Cary Supalo is starting a new chapter.

NATIONAL REPORT

NFB President Marc Maurer reported that Joe Ruffalo will interview Scott
White of Newsline on the next Thru Our Eyes online broadcast.  At national
convention the Jernigan Institute will collaborate with the Smith-Kettlewell
Video Description Research and Development Center to host two stakeholder
focus groups on advanced concepts in video description.  Participants must
register in advance.  Those interested should contact Beth Braun at
bbraun at nfb.org.  Anil Lewis explained the work of the Imagination Fund and
urged everyone to support its initiatives.  He also urged people to sign the
fair wages petition, urging the repeal of Section 114C of the Fair Labor
Standards Act.  Dr. Maurer described a sheltered workshop in Iowa where
disabled people worked for decades at 41 cents an hour.  The Equal
Opportunity Commission sued the group that was running the shop on behalf of
thirty-two workers.  They have just received a judgment of $240 million. 
Most likely it will never be collected, but the sweatshop will close and
stay closed.  The workers were being kept basically as prisoners, without
health benefits, without the choice to leave.  Amazon has announced that it
has an accessible application at long last.  It works on some Apple devices,
but it doesn't work as well as Amazon claims.  This is Amazon's first step
toward accessibility, but it has still got a long, long way to go.  We need
to keep up the pressure! This spring the NFB hosted the Jacobus tenBroek
Symposium and a conference on tactile graphics.  The National Scholarship
Committee met and selected the 2013 winners.

FUNDRAISING

Ken Staley said we will not have a spring candy sale this year because not
enough people signed up.  We still have ten tickets left for the Sox-Twins
game on August 10.  We make $12 a ticket, selling them for $25.

OLD BUSINESS

Steve Hastalis and Jemal Powell gave detailed instructions for getting to
Kamiski Park since the Red Line is not running.  The chapter will hold its
annual picnic by the Landmark Café at the Lincoln Park Zoo at noon on July
13.  For information, call Jemal at 708-557-7979.

NEW BUSINESS

We are still waiting to receive a check from our Beggars Pizza fundraiser.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 2:40.

Respectfully submitted,
Debbie Stein, Secretary