[il-talk] At Large chapter minutes-August 5-Draft 2

[Marilyn Green]

AT LARGE  CHAPTER
AUGUST 5, 2018
MEETING MINUTES

Present:  Chapter President Marilyn Green, Danny Mandrel, Dave Meyer,
Chapter president emeritus Linda Hendle, Leslie Hamric, Yvonne
Agyarko,  Ryan Wilms, Lewis Wood and , Debbie Pittman. The meeting was
called to order at 7:03 p.m.

Absent:  Charlene Elder.


THINGS TO DO

1.	Provide minutes a  week before meeting so they can be put on
Newsline and Il-talk.
2.	.  Everyone:  Think of  a  theme for IABS idols.

SECRETARY’S MINUTES

MOTION

Meyer moved to approve the June minutes.  It was seconded by Pittman
and carried with one correction that Green did not move to approve the
May minutes because at the time she was President and she could not
make a motion as president.


The June minutes were put on Newsline and people were able to listen
to it via the phone.

Presidential release 473
July 16, 2018
Late due to National convention in Orlando.
President Riccobono reported that the banquet speech  and the
presidential report are already on line.  Soon the audio files will be
available.
Public service announcements:  National has plans of getting audio
public announcements played over radio stations across the country.
They are available at NFB.ORG/PSAS TO listen to the new PSA’s.

2019 National Convention:
Sunday July 7  to Friday July 12 2019 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in
Los Vegas, Nevada.

Greyhound update:  President Riccobono reported a settlement agreement
with Greyhound.  The discussion was around the inaccessible website
and their mobile app.  They have made commitments to the NFB to
correct the problem. There was an executive from Greyhound at the
board meeting during the convention.

Greyhound Secret shopper program:  NFB will be working with Greyhound
to test their secret shopper program for evaluating their customer
service and accessibility going forward.

Dream Maker Circle:  President Riccobono reported that this is our
program that allows people to express a commitment to leave a gift to
the NFB upon their passing away.  It serves as a way of leaving behind
a legacy in the National federation of the Blind. Patti Chang is
Director of Outreach and is in chare of the Dream Maker Circle
program. There is an extensive list of people who are part of the
Dream Maker Circle.  A number of those members are from Illinois.

Independence Market:  The online store has been taken down and will be
reestablished after the redesign  of NFB.org which will take place at
the end of this year and into early 2019.  People will be able to
continue to call in and place orders with the Independence market at
410-659-9314.

Career Opportunities in Rehabilitation:  President Riccobono reported
that there has been a push to get blind people in rehab positions.
Some of those  opportunities come through the Professional Development
and Research Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech.  They are
offering scholarships for individuals who wish to pursue a master’s
degree in either orientation and mobility or rehabilitation teaching.
President Riccobono reported that the Louisiana Tech program  is the
primary program in the country that prepares people to teach using
structured discovery cane travel or structured discovery
rehabilitation teaching.  People should reach out to Dr. Edward Bell
at ebell at latech.edu  or call
318-257-4554 for more information about the program. The professional
Development Research Institute website is www.pdrib.com.

Job Fair at National: President Riccobono reported that there were
over 30 employers at the job fair at convention. There are a number of
jobs available at the national office.  People can go to NFB.org to
look at the jobs.

FEDERATION FAMILY UPDATE
Sad News:
Nathaniel and Trace Whales of Connecticut lost their three year old
son David in May.
Don Jordon from Alabama who was a member for 44 years.  Note:  This is
our Don Jordon who was a member of the Chicago chapter.
Rebecca Irving Ryan from New Jersey who was 67 passed away on July 5.
She also served on the state board.

Joyous News:
Cathy McKinney of New Hampshire gave birth to Timothy on May 19.

Alison and Dale Hillicar announced the birth of their daughter Arabela
Alicia Michelle Hillicar born on May 28.

Rex  shuttler and Cammy Louer’s were married on May 26 in Oklahoma.
Congratulations to those federation family members.

ACTIVITIES

National Federation of the Blind Engineering quotient Program (NFBEQ),
BELL program in a couple of weeks,  and the remodeling of the dorm
area at the national office. Construction will start in early 2019.
There will be a couple of conferences  and many fall conventions.

STATE REPORT

Face-to-face Board Meeting:  Meyer gave the state report.  The
upcoming face-to-face board meeting will be on August 25, 2018 from
9:00 to approximately 3:00.  If someone can’t be there, they can call
in to 641-715-3273 code 6324 to participate.  Anyone planning to
attend in person needs to let Chang know about lunch choices.  There
is a turkey or a veggie wrap that cost approximately $20.  The meeting
will be held at the Sheridan O’Hare  Hotel located at 6501 N. Manheim
road in Rosemont. To reserve a room call 888-628-8127.   Reservations
need to be made by August 10. Room rates are $99 per night.

Oktoberfest:  The Changs will be hosting Oktoberfest at their home on
September 8, 2018, immediately following the Chicago Chapter meeting.
The cost is $25 and reservations need to be made by September 1.
Cancellations have to be made by September 1. Anyone who does not
cancel before September  1 will still be responsible for that $25
commitment. They will have the typical foods of burgers, brocks,
salads, desserts.  Bottled water and soft drinks are $2 each.  Beer
and wine are $3 each.

State convention:  State convention will be held at the Sheridan
O’Hare hotel where the face-to-face board meeting will be held.  Meyer
is not sure of the time-line for making reservations.  The convention
will be a collaborative event with the Illinois Committee of Blind
Vendors.  There will be a bulletin coming out soon. The bulletin and
the agenda  will be available on Newsline and on the NFB of Illinois
website. The NFB portion of the convention will be October 26 through
the 28 and the Vendor’s portion of the convention will go from October
25 through October 28. The national rep will be Jeanie Massay, the
Treasurer of NFB and President of the NFB of Oklahoma.  She is big on
membership.   Meyer added that resolutions will probably begin at 4:00
on the 26th.  Convention will end at noon on October 28.

PROGRAM
NEWSLINE

Meyer gave a presentation on Newsline.  He explained for those who
were not familiar that Newsline is an electronic newspaper and
magazine service that we are able to access via the phone.  There are
approximately 450 newspapers across the country. There six newspapers
in Illinois.  Meyer added that they are about 70 magazines on all
different subjects as well as breaking news items.  Target and
Wal-Mart ads are available from any locality within the country. It
has to be set up by zip code and people will get the 10 closest stores
to them, and the sales appropriate to their area.  Meyer believes
Walgreens is consistently there between Thanksgiving and Christmas and
sometimes Coles. Meyer explained that automatic qualifiers for
Newsline are:  If one has an open case with rehab, If someone has
attended a school for the blind, If someone is a member of the library
program and have a talking book machine.  Other than that proof of
blindness is required or a NFB chapter president can certify someone
as blind.  There is no cost for individual subscribers.  Newsline can
be accessed via  standard phones, the I-phone, the new Victor Reader
Stream,  the old victor through the PC, the PC, through software for
downloading books through talking book machines.  If someone has the
I-phone app, weather reports  are local wherever that person is.
Meyer continued by saying that other listings on Newsline include TV
listing, job listings from career builder, federal job announcements,
weather alerts,  election information and information in the blindness
information channel.   There are articles from NFB of Illinois,
Illinois Council of the Blind, Illinois Committee of Blind Vendors,
Blind Service Association, Second Sense, and The Chicago Lighthouse.
In the past there have been announcements from The DuPage Center for
Independent Living,  and the course catalog from Hadley School for the
Blind.   There is also a NFB national channel as well as an article
Building The Life you Want 75 years, by Debbie Stein, presidential
releases, blindness magazines such as Braille Monitor, Future
Reflections  and the Illinois Council for the Blind’s magazine.  It is
possible to have periodic updates e-mailed to you. In Illinois
featured are the National Federation of the Blind and the Illinois
Council of the Blind.  Chicago meeting announcements are featured and
At Large meeting announcements are there.  Meyer added that for about
the last 6 years Chicago chapter has put minutes on Newsline and it
has worked pretty well. Also in the past treasury reports were being
put on Newsline.  Meyer will be talking to Marko about that again.
National and state scholarship announcements have also been featured
on Newsline. The NFB code of conduct is also on Newsline.  There is
also a listing of the phone numbers available to call in to for
Newsline. Meyer continued by saying  there is also a toll free number
888-882-1629 which will give people their local number to call the
first time they call in.  Where possible it’s recommended for people
to use their local number.  Meyer can sign people up.  He would need
people’s names, address, phone number and an e-mail address. Various
people talked about how much they like Newsline. Meyer recommended
that people wanting an android app for Newsline should contact Scott
White at swhite at nfb.org.

Green explained that she would like to see At Large Chapter move to
Newsline for our minutes.  It would be good for streamlining the
meeting as well as being able to refer back for information.  It would
also be a great way to introduce new people to Newsline.

MOTION

Pittman moved to have the At Large minutes put on Newsline as well as
Il-talk.  It was seconded by Meyer and unanimously carried.

If there are any corrections to be made to the minutes, they are to be
discussed after the motion has been made and seconded for the approval
of the minutes where the discussion is to take place. Meyer
recommended the minutes being given a week prior to the meeting to
allow time for people to read them. Green usually tries to send out he
agenda a week before the meeting and so this will help to keep her on
point with the  minutes going on Il-talk.  Meyer reported that the At
Large chapter has it’s own subsection on Newsline.  It is under the
NFB of Illinois sub channel and “your state’s information channel”,
which is option 2 from the main menu.  If people are using a computer,
it will be under “information specific to Illinois”.


OLD BUSINESS

NEW BUSINESS

IABS IDOLS: Meyer reminded the group that last year during state
convention, At Large won the battle of the chapters.  So we get to
choose the song topic that will be used for the battle of the
chapters.  This needs to be discussed next month.  Meyer has a
suggestion that he will hold until then.

Birthday:  Lewis Wood celebrated a birthday on August 3.

Miscellaneous: Wood reported that he will be attending a  meeting on
Thursday to talk about fitness , how to be  healthy and blind, to
other blind people  who are not currently NFB members.

Health concerns:  Hamric reported that she has to have more testing
since they found a faint nodule in her breast. She has to under go a
diagnostic mammogram plus an ultrasound. We will be praying for
Hamric.

Hendle thank the group for having a moment of silence in deference to
the loss of her husband Tom. People clearly expressed that “federation
family” really does mean something to NFB.

Next meeting:   September 2 which is the day before Labor Day.

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION

Meyer moved to adjourn.  It was second by Hamric with an honorary
third from Woods and unanimously carried.

The meeting adjourned at 8:33 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by

Debbie Pittman on behalf of Charlene Elder
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