[Jayhawk-chapter] August minutes

Sat Sep 17 04:43:09 UTC 2016

Hello all,
I am sorry these minutes are so ridiculously late.
Also, I am working at an all-day volleyball tournament tomorrow, and unfortunately cannot be at the meeting. Can someone take notes, please? I’m sure it will not be hard to do a better job than I!
Sorry to miss the meeting, see you all in October,
Brendy

Jayhawks Chapter Minutes August 20, 2016
Lawrence Public Library, Room C

Called to order at 1:08 pm
In attendance:
Athena Johnson, Dustin Disques, Rob Tabor, Jim Secor, Cheryl and Ron Miller, Pat Slick, Sidney Roedel, Brendy Latare, guest Kent Deeds, and guests Tamara and Greg Kearney. Renée Morgan joined the meeting by phone.

We had introductions since we had three guests. Kent Deeds is from KU’s Religious Studies Department and just happened to see Cheryl and Ron headed into the library, stopped to ask some questions about dealing with his own vision loss, and decided to attend today’s meeting. Tamara and Greg Kearney are previous NFB members who just moved with their teenaged son to Lawrence by way of Wyoming, Maine, Australia, and most recently Cupertino, California.

Kent Deeds’ email address:  hubbal at sunflower.com
Tamara and Greg Kearney’s email address: tamara at gatetoserenity.com.

We heard Presidential Release #452 by NFB president Mark Riccobono.

President’s report:
Impressions from NFB National Convention in Orlando were given by Dustin and Brendy.

This summer’s Kansas BELL seminar in Wichita was a success. It was held at Envision and led by teacher Kate Mendez. Three students attended.

Emily Schlenker of NFBKS South-Central Chapter, represented by Brown, Goldstein and Levy,  has entered into an agreement with Wichita State University to improve opportunities for blind students attending WSU. WSU will hire an accessibility coordinator and make materials and technology accessible to the blind, among other steps.

Rob has applied for the Google Training Workshop to be held at the NFB Jernigan Institute on October 4-6.

Applications for the Kenneth Tiede Memorial Scholarships are at nfbks.org. NFB of Kansas will award up to three scholarships totaling up to $5500. Deadline is September 30; scholarships will be awarded at the state convention in November.

State convention:
Our state convention will be held November 4-6 at the Ramada Inn, 420 E. 6th Street, in Topeka. Details on registration and hotel reservations are to come.
The theme is Blindness Public Policy; our national representative will be Patti Chang of Illinois.
The host committee includes Donna Wood, Tom Anderson, Rob Tabor, and Anya Avromenko. Anya will chair the door prize committee.

Treasurer’s report:
We began the month with $729.20. Ron wrote a check for $240 to the Cider Gallery for our October Art Show, leaving us with currently $489.20.
Dr. Hiten Soni will donate half the gallery fee ($120). So that donors can receive tax credit, the donations will go to the Kansas affiliate which has 501(c)(3) status. State affiliate will return the money to our chapter through convention support.

Fundraising:
a) The Clean Start Soap Sales committee met, and decided to aim for the beginning of 2017 for this fundraiser.
b) Wednesday, October 7, from 5:00-8:00 pm is our fundraiser at Freddy’s, 23rd and Iowa. Diners need to mention the NFB, and Jayhawk Chapter will receive 10% of the sale, or a minimum of $200 in total.
c) On October 13, we will hold an Accessible Art Show at the Cider Gallery, 810 Pennsylvania. The committee is designing an application. The artists will donate the work to us, then receive back 40% of the sale. Jim will email the applications so that all may distribute. Submissions go to Jim, deadline is September 16; questions go to Renée. We may need to borrow tables, and may need the help of an experienced person to facilitate hanging the show professionally. Jim will contact Perry of Aimee’s Coffeeshop. Aimee’s is available to display the show after Cider Gallery, and there is no charge!

October is Meet the Blind Month:
We will make an appearance at the City Commission meeting on October 3 for the declaration. We had a short discussion about a cane walk with sleep shades, discussing the pros and cons of having sighted people experience a “blindness simulation.”

Kansas Statehouse inaccessible kiosks:
Cheryl’s Tech Instructor, Bill Griffith, reported to her that the Visitor’s Center kiosks are not accessible. Rob will find a driver and he and Renée and Pat will go check it out. NFB can contribute our perspective as blind and low-vision users, and recommend those in charge seek out consumers  with limited mobility, deafness, etc. for additional input.

Election of officers:
Cheryl will seek and present a slate of nominations. Offices are president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. Cheryl can be reached at  cheributton at live.com  or at home phone 913-768-7693. We will vote in September or October, after collecting dues, which are currently $12 per person.
Next meeting we will discuss lowering our dues; Meadowlark Chapter reduced theirs to $5. 

New Business:
In her absence, Susan sent a message with Rob about two people on KU campus working on the “Hawk Route.” Susan will invite to a future Jayhawk Chapter meeting: Catherine Johnson, ADA Compliance, and Kit Cole, IT Accessibility.

Kent asked:
How does a person with a visual impairment ask for help from the public? Not sure if we were able to answer him satisfactorily. What are strategies for getting the information one needs for independent mobility?

Cheryl requested and Rob offered a brief “NFB In a Nutshell”:
NFB was founded November 1940, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, by Jacobus tenBroek and others, with the philosophy that the blind can compete on terms of equality if we have training and opportunity. NFB is the largest advocacy group of the blind speaking for ourselves, working to change what it means to be blind, so that blind people can live the lives we want.

Meeting adjourned at ???
Next meeting 1:00 pm, September 17, Lawrence Public Library, meeting room B.

Respectfully submitted by Brendy Latare
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