[Massachusetts-NFB] Massachusetts-NFB] At-Large Chapter Meets Tonight, Tuesday January 9

Tue Jan 9 17:14:38 UTC 2024

Hi all,
Although late, here is the agenda for this evening's meeting. This meeting
will run from 7-8pm. There will be no support section of the meeting
tonight. If you have any concerns or questions, please let me know.
See you all tonight.

NFB MA

At-Large Chapter

Meeting Agenda

1/9/2024

Call to Order:

Ice breaker/Roll Call: Liz

NFB Pledge:  Allen

Secretary’s Report: Liz

Treasurer’s Report: Sandy

President’s report: Shara

Presidential Release Summary: Brian

Washington Seminar:

State convention:

Fundraising ideas:

Secret Santa:

Participants for January Meeting

          Ice breaker : Liz

          10-minute tips: my AI: Cullen

          NFB Pledge:    Allen

          Presidential Release Summary: Bryon/Shara

New Business:

10 Minute Tips: Cullen

Next Meeting:

Adjournment:

On Tue, Jan 9, 2024 at 7:56 AM Shara Winton via Massachusetts-NFB <
massachusetts-nfb at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Please don’t miss our meeting tonight. See you there!
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Massachusetts-NFB <massachusetts-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org> *On
> Behalf Of *Liz Lesperance via Massachusetts-NFB
> *Sent:* Friday, January 5, 2024 12:10 PM
> *To:* NFB of Massachusetts E-mail List <massachusetts-nfb at nfbnet.org>;
> Liz Lesperance <liz.karsok at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* Liz Lesperance <liz.karsok at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* [Massachusetts-NFB] At-Large Chapter Meets on Tuesday
>
>
>
> Hello and Happy 2024!
>
>
>
> The at-large chapter will hold their monthly meeting this coming Tuesday,
> Jan. 9th at 7:00PM. The zoom link is as follows and the previous meetings'
> minutes are pasted below.
>
>
>
> Join Zoom Meeting
> https://zoom.us/j/99664834709
>
>
>
> Hoping to see you at the meeting!
>
>
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Liz
>
>
>
> **********************
>
> The at-large chapter met on Thursday, Nov. 14th. Those in attendance
> included:
>
> Debbie Malone
> Justin Salisbury
> Shara Winton
> Sandra Burgess
> Cullen Gallagher
> Liz Lesperance
> Elizabeth Ann Johnson
> Brian Langlois
> Mike Karsok
> Allen Larkin
> Sengil Inkiala
>
> The meeting began at 7:05PM.
>
> For an icebreaker, Debbie asked us to share the person we are most
> grateful for. The person could not be blood related.
>
> Shara recited the NFB pledge.
>
> Cullen put forth a motion to accept the October minutes as written which
> Allen seconded. The minutes were approved unanimously.
>
> Sandy went over the treasurer’s report. Our balance is $1,658.13. Liz put
> forth a motion to approve the treasurer’s report which Brian seconded. The
> report was approved unanimously.
>
> Shara went over the president’s report. Washington Seminar is approaching.
> If you want to go, please go ahead and make your reservations. If you would
> like to request funding from the affiliate please email Shara. The
> affiliate will be able to fund 9 members in addition to Shara, Mika, and
> Debbie. Shara also shared that an email will be sent out this week with the
> tel# for the hotel in order to register for the state convention. The
> agenda should be coming out soon as well. The convention will be March 15th
> – March 17th. The hotel is accessible and conveniently located. We will
> have 4 teams of people who will be leading groups to pre-selected nearby
> restaurants. Elizabeth Ann asked if Shara would be sending out an email
> with a list of the restaurants for the convention. The email will include
> the team leader and their contact info.
>
> Cullen went over the highlights of the November presidential release.
> Netflix released “All the Light We Cannot See”. The lead actress is blind,
> and the portrayal of blindness is quite accurate. There is a cost-of-living
> increase of 3.2% for social security. Jessie Shirek of the national office
> is handling the social security matters. He can be reached at
> jshirek at nfb.org. Winter Letters/Letters from Santa can be requested
> through December 15th. The “Braille Readers are Leaders” contest will be
> running from Dec. 4th – Jan. 22nd. The number of minutes spent reading
> braille are tracked. The next release is Nov. 30th.
>
> Justin went over the legislative updates. There was a hearing today on the
> parents’ rights bill. Justin testified via zoom and has submitted testimony
> on behalf of the affiliate. This bill is not limited to blindness. It
> protects the rights of disabled parents in general. It is a major step
> forward that legislators have now scheduled a hearing for the bill. Justin
> noted that we are requesting an amendment to the bill which raises the
> evidentiary standard to “clear and convincing”. Justin urged more members
> of the affiliate to submit testimony to the committee expressing support
> for the bill. Justin will be sending out a template to the affiliate list
> to assist in writing testimony. Justin recommended sending the email to the
> committee clerk and cc’ing the local state senator and state representative.
>
> Debbie asked if anyone had any fundraising ideas. Debbie has found a
> company that operates similar to Double Good that would return 50% of all
> sales. Shara suggested hosting a pampered chef party. We could host a party
> virtually. A Facebook invite to the party can be shared with family and
> friends. These products are affordable as there are 200 items under $20.
> The way the fundraiser works is that a certain percentage of sales would go
> directly towards the affiliate. The percentage varies depending on gross
> sales. We unanimously voted in favor of having this fundraiser.  We will
> start the fundraiser on Nov. 20th and run it through the 29th.
>
> Shara will send out the Secret Santa email tomorrow.  We agreed to
> increase the spending limit to $30. If you are going to send a gift please
> let Shara know so she can give the recipient a heads up. We will open
> presents during the next meeting. Debbie encouraged anyone who lives near
> each other to get together for our next meeting. We will hold this meeting
> on Sunday Dec. 10th at 1:00PM. We will defer business to the January
> meeting. Shara made a motion to confirm this date and time which Cullen
> seconded. The motion was passed unanimously. Allen put in a motion to skip
> the business portion of the meeting in December which Brian seconded. The
> motion passed unanimously.
>
> Shara shared that Amalia has moved to Pennsylvania.
>
> On Nov. 29th there will be another meeting with the group from Harvard
> doing a project on navigation for the blind.
>
> For January’s meeting, Allen will do the NFB pledge. Brian will summarize
> the presidential release. Liz will do the icebreaker. Cullen will do a
> demonstration on Be My AI.
>
> The meeting was adjourned at 8:26PM.
> _______________________________________________
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>

-- 
*Debbie Malone*
*National Federation of the Blind of Massachusetts*
*Affiliate Second Vice President*
*At-Large Chapter President*
*InclusionEducation.com <https://inclusioneducation.com/>*
Amazon Author Page <https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B07RVCRR5R>
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