[IL-Talk] at large minutes for April

Thu Apr 30 15:48:00 UTC 2026

Great job, as always, Michele!
Linda

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Subject: [IL-Talk] at large minutes for April

NFBI At Large Chapter April Minutes

April 12th, 2026

ZOOM Meeting

CALL TO ORDER

At Large Chapter President David Meyer called the meeting to order at 7:02

PM. Persons in attendance were: David Meyer, Leslie Hamric, Michelle Ault, Linda Hendle, Bill Reif, Debbie

Pittman, Marilyn Green, Yvonne Agyarko, Jemal Powell, Dennis Devitt, Eileen Truschke, Ken Schadd, Pat Olson,Yifan Shen

PRESIDENTIAL RELEASE

 We are on Presidential Release 559 for the month of April 2026 and is the Chapter version.

President Mark Riccobono wants to let us know that our main hotel for National Convention in Austin is the JW Marriott and it is sold out for most nights of the convention. Our overflow hotels have plenty of rooms and all of them are within two or three blocks of the JW Marriott. We will be providing Federation members with lots of information about traveling from the overflow hotels. Our host  Affiliate, which is the National Federation of the Blind of Texas, will also have lots of information. We are being encouraged to continue to make our reservations, even if we are going to be in the overflow hotel.

On this release, President Mark Riccobono wants to let us know about some content from the Braille Monitor. Our chapters should consider pulling content from the Braille Monitor at our meetings. It is a tremendous source of information and inspiration for content. The April 2026 Braille Monitor has a number of articles that we should consider and he would like to highlight one as an opportunity for our chapters to have discussion.

President Mark Riccobono highlighted the lead article from this issue of the Braille Monitor, which has to do with the current attack on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and what we're doing to beat back that attack. When we start talking about the Rehabilitation Act and various laws, he wants us to know that we do not have to be a lawyer to understand why Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is important to our daily lives and to the work that we do in the National Federation of the Blind. 

Through the experience in our movement, as supported by highly cited legal sources, Dr. Jacobus tenBroek was the founder and president of the National Federation of the Blind. His legal work, especially his integrationist theory of disability rights, is the underpinning for many aspects of disability law. This is well cited by legal scholars, and his work is cited as being fundamental to Sections 501, 503, and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The core of his writing and thinking there comes from his 1966 article entitled "The Right to Live in the World", where he discusses shifting from a custodial model to an integration model of disability rights. tenBroek argued that society must move away from the segregation and dependency model that it had for centuries promoted to one of full participation in the mainstream society. That idea really comes out of the wisdom and experience of the organized blind movement. This has been the foundation for the Rehabilitation Act and all of the disability rights work that has come since that time.

The reason this is relevant to today is because of the current attack on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. We have been writing about this currant attack in the Braille Monitor and talking about this in Federation meetings. This puts the idea of integration into society into real jeopardy.
President Mark Riccobono urges all of our chapters to be talking about this and taking action on it. President Mark Riccobono is confident we will not fail in this effort, but if we speculate  about what would happen if we did, it would have a lingering impact on potentially the next decades of our experience in this nation as people who are blind and for all people with disabilities.

This is an important time for us to mobilize and act. He encourages the chapters to spend time talking about that. The article he wants to talk to us about on this release is an article called "Friendship in Action". This is an article about Nyal McConaughey and telling the story of Nyal McConaughey. President Mark Riccobono invites our chapters to consider reading the article and to use this as a point of discussion.

This is an article written by our Federation staff who deal specifically with the National Archives of the Blind People's Movement. Nyal was the first blind person to work in the foreign service overseas. This article tells this story about how one Blind person who was learning to live as a Blind person and learning about how to self-advocate for themselves found strength, power, resources, support in the National Federation of the Blind.

We know that we are stronger when we work together because we know other blind people, because we know that we have a community of people who will have our back. This article tells a story like that, but it also tells why it is so important that we preserve the history of what we're doing at all levels of our organization.

It illuminates why our local chapters and state affiliates should be documenting the stories of blind people who are participating locally in the chapter and about the work that the chapter's doing and making sure that those records and those stories are getting to our archives by sending them
to:

 archives at nfb.org <mailto:archives at nfb.org> 

President Mark Riccobono encourages our chapters not only to read the article, but to discuss some relevant questions. Some questions might be: 

How was the movement important in this story? 

What connections can we make to current day activities in the Organized Blind Movement and the importance of all levels of our organization? 

What is the chapter doing to document the stories of people in the chapter and preserve the history of actions and priorities taken by the chapter over time?

How might this become a regular part of our organizational efforts at the local level? 

You may have other questions that this story brings to mind. We want to encourage that you continue to write and document stories of the members and blind people that are making a difference in our local communities. And if you need support on how to archive records and correspondence of our local chapters and affiliates, please write to:

 archives at nfb.org <mailto:archives at nfb.org> .

This of course relates to our broader mission to change society's understanding about blindness through the development of resources like the Museum of the Blind People's Movement, which is one of our big future dreams that we're working on right now.

STATE PRESIDENT'S REPORT

Our State President, Marilyn Green, gave us the State President's Report.
The next Affiliate Board meeting is April 22nd at 7:00 PM. It is the same ZOOM link to ZOOM into the meeting. The Affiliate Board meeting is a great way to learn about what is going on in the National Federation of the Blind in regards to our policies, programs, and procedures,

We have a State Scholarship program in Illinois so if we are planning on attending a post secondary education or if we know of anyone that is that is legally blind in both eyes and live in Illinois or plan to go to school in Illinois they are eligible to apply for our State Scholarship. Our deadline is Wednesday, April 15th, at 11:59 PM. You can go to:

nfbofillinois.org/scholarships

 We do plan to award at least one State Scholarship at our State Convention in October. 

 The dates for National Convention in Austin, Texas  is July 3rd thru July 8th and our convention hotel is the JW Marriott. Our convention hotel is currently sold out but we have plenty of over flow options to choose from if we have not already made our reservations. To get information about the overflow hotels we can go to:

nfb.org/convention

The overflow hotel rate is the same as the convention hotel rate. It is
$139.00 for singles and doubles. We will have to pay a one night deposit when we make that reservation. We do have a Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship for first timers who have never been to a National Convention. We can go to the Braille Monitor, which is our Flagship Publication, to access the link to apply for the Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship for first timers. The deadline is April 15th, 11:59 PM Eastern Time.

The State of Illinois also offers some modest financial assistance for people to attend National Convention. The deadline for those applications is May 1st. The form has been sent out thru Il Talk and IABS talk and it is the Chappell/Dennis form. If you need assistance with the form or have any questions about it you can reach out to Marilyn Green at 312-343-8396 or you can email: 

president at nfbofillinois.org <mailto:president at nfbofillinois.org> . 

The deadline for pre-registration for our National Convention is May 31st.
Pre-registration is $25.00 and the banquet is $85.00. If you wait until after the deadline of May 31st the prices go up by $5.00 each.

We will have two NFB BELL programs. BELL stands for Braille Enrichment Literacy and Learning. We have a one week residential program in Springfield Il, from July 13th thru July 17th. We have our Chicago program which is a two week day program July 20th to July 31st. These programs are for Blind students ages 4-12. They will have the opportunity to practice their Braille Skills,practice their Independent Living Skills, go on some field trips using their long white canes. If you know Blind Students ages 4-12, living in other States that do not currently have a BELL Program please share with them about our NFB BELL Programs in Illinois. We also do sometimes accept Blind students from other States that may not have the BELL program available to them so we can let them know about our NFB BELL in Illinois.

We also have our NFB Stem2U program in Illinois. Last year was our first year and it was a great success. We are looking for students ages 8-13 but we are flexible so if you know of any students who may be interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math please let them know about our one day program on Saturday, August 15th.

We will have our face-to-face Board meeting the next day on August 16th.
Both of these programs will be at our State Convention Hotel is the Hyatt Regency near Lisle. You can make your room reservation now and the room rate is $129.00 plus tax. Our Board Meeting will start at 9:00 AM and we will adjourn for lunch around 11:30 for half an hour and we usually adjourn between 2:00 and 3:00 PM. You can come to the Board meeting in person and explore the hotel which is where we will be having our State Convention or you can use the same ZOOM link to ZOOM into our Face to Face Board Meeting.

Our State Convention is October 23rd to October 25th at the Hyatt Regency near Lisle. The room rate is $129.00 per night. As of right now the format will be the same as last year. On Friday, we will have Resolutions at 4:00 PM, General sessions at 5:00 PM and exhibitors from 2:00 to 5:00 PM. We also will be having some activities planned before 3:30 that day. We will adjourn around 6:30 and then we will have our fundraiser NFB got talent and the Battle of the Chapters. On Saturday morning we will start with breakfast along with some programming. We will have some breakout sessions in the morning along with our exhibitors. We will start our general sessions at noon along with our lunch. We will go to about 2:30 and around 3:00 we will go back into session along with our business meeting and reports. We will then adjourn and come back into session for our banquet around 7:00 PM. Our banquet adjourns around 9:30PM or 10:00 PM and this is followed by some hospitality. On Sunday morning is our philosophy over breakfast and we will adjourn sometime around noon. The  address for the hotel is:

1400 Corporetum Dr.,Lisle, IL.

FUNDRAISER

Our President, David Meyer turned the floor to Debbie Pittman to discuss the Double Good Popcorn Fundraiser that we just had. Debbie emphasized that the Fundraiser is for the whole At Large Chapter and that once her and Marilyn put the link out there all we have to do is pass it on to others and ask them to support it. We had total sales of $1012.00, which means that we get 50% of that which is $506.00. There were some other Chapters doing the Double Good Popcorn Fundraiser at the same time and those Chapters were posting on Facebook at the same time we were that could have impacted our sales. David Meyer let us know that If we do donate, the Chapter would get full credit for the donations for this Fundraiser. We do have some donations coming in for this Fundraiser. So, if someone donates $25.00 towards the Fundraiser, the Chapter would get the full $25.00. Debbie Pittman and Marilyn Green were also thanked by our At Large President, David Meyer, for being sellers for this Fundraiser. Debbie Pittman did let us know that Double Good has a new link which implies that someone can make a purchase after the fundraiser event is over. When the Popcorn is purchased after the event is over, we do not get any proceeds from that purchase and it does not tell you that. It was emphasized that when we are given the time the fundraiser starts and ends we need to make sure that we place our orders during that time frame.

APPROVAL OF MARCH MINUTES

David Meyer posted the minutes on IL-Talk, IABS, and also NFB NEWSLINE.
David Meyer entertained a motion to approve minutes and Debbie Pittman moved and Linda Hendle seconded. All those in favor said "AYE" and the March minutes were approved.

ELECTIONS

Currently, David Meyer is President, Leslie Hamric is Vice President, Michelle Ault is Secretary/Treasurer. Board seat holders are Debbie Pittman and Linda Hendle.

For the first part of the election, Leslie Hamric took the floor. We voted on the office of President. Bill Reif nominated David Meyer for President and David Meyer accepted. Leslie asked three times if there were any other nominations. Marilyn Green moved that nominations be seized and David Meyer be nominated by acclamation. This was seconded by several members. There was no discussion. All those in favor said "AYE". There was no oppositions and David Meyer was elected President.

David Meyer then took the floor. Nominations were being held for Vice President which is currently held by Leslie Hamric. Bill Reif nominated Leslie Hamric as Vice President. Leslie Hamric accepted. David Meyer asked three times if there were any other nominations. Debbie Pittman moved to close nominations and Leslie be elected and voted in as Vice President by acclamation. Several members seconded. All those in favor said "AYE' and Leslie Hamric was elected as Vice President.

Nominations were being held for Secretary/ Treasurer which is currently being held by Michelle Ault. Marilyn Green  nominated Michelle Ault as Secretary/Treasurer. Michelle Ault accepted. David Meyer asked if there were any other nominations three times. Eileen Trushke moved to close nominations and that Michelle Ault be elected and voted in as Secretary/Treasurer by acclamation. Linda Hendle seconded. All in favor said "Aye" and Michelle Ault was elected as Secretary/Treasurer

Nominations were being held for the first board seat is currently being held by Debbie Pittman. Linda Hendle nominated Debbie Pittman for the first board seat and Debbie Pittman accepted. David Meyer asked three times if there were any other nominations. Eileen Trushke moved that nominations be closed and that Debbie Pittman be elected by acclamation. This was seconded by Ken Schadd. All in favor said "AYE" and Debbie Pittman was elected for the first Board Seat.

Nominations were being held for the second board seat which is currently being held by Linda Hendle. Debbie Pittman nominated Linda Hendle for the second board seat and Linda Hendle accepted. David Meyer asked three times if there were any other nominations. Eileen Trushke moved that nominations be seized and that Linda Hendle be nominated by acclamation. This was seconded by Bill Reif. All in favor said "Aye" and Linda Hendle was elected for the second board seat.

OLD BUSINESS

Hearing none we moved on to new business.

NEW BUSINESS

We have a new member to be voted in who is Yifan Shen. Michelle Ault made a motion to vote in Yifen Shen as a new member in the At Large Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind. This was seconded by many. All those in favor said "AYE" and no one opposed. Yifan Shen was voted in as a new member. Our President, David Meyer welcomed iher into the At Large Chapter and let her know that we have our meetings on the first Sunday of the month at 7:00 PM and that we use the same ZOOM link each time unless otherwise announced and that we all look forward to her participation.

Our next meeting will be on Sunday, May 3rd, at 7:00PM.

As part of our next program item it was suggested we think about how with the talent, abilities, and interest that we have how we can best serve the National Federation of the Blind, it's Illinois Affiliate, and the At Large Chapter.

The Chicago chapter has a Comedy Fundraiser on April 23rd. Tickets are
$25.00 online, $30.00 at the door or we can stream the event for $30.00. If we stream the event please let David Meyer know on or before April 20th. We can ZELLE the payments into the State Affiliate. It would be ZELLED to:

chicago.treasurer at nfbofilinois.org
<mailto:chicago.treasurer at nfbofilinois.org> 

If we wish to make a check to stream the fundraiser make it to:

 NFBI Chicago Chapter and we can reach out to David Meyer for information on where to send the check to.

The doors to the club open at 6:15, we can order food and beverages around 6:30. Showtime is around 7:15 and we will have four stand up comics. The show will be about an hour. 

David Meyer entertained a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was so moved and seconded. All those in favor said "AYE " and no one opposed. The meeting was adjourned at 8:13.

The next at large meeting will take place on May 3, 7:00 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

Michelle Ault

Secretary/Treasurer

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