[Ncabs] NCABS January Conference Call

[Travis Sherrill]

All:

Below are the minutes from the January monthly conference call.  I hope you
all have a wonderful semester.

Attendance:

Alan Chase

Eric Galindo

Sharon Newton

Bobbi Pompey

Travis Sherrill

Veronica Puente 

Kevin Currin 

On Monday, January 13, the North Carolina Association of Blind Students
(NCABS) held the monthly conference call.  President, Alan Chase called the
meeting to order at 9:35 P.M. An interesting note that Alan brought to our
attention, when you are having a conversation with a blind/visually impaired
individual, the way they know you are listening is to not say anything.
They cannot see the nonverbal signs such as a head nod or other verbal signs
so if you don't say anything, then it is assumed you are listening.

Washington seminar is coming up the last week in January.  From NCABS, Alan
and Bobbi are the only individuals going.  The students uniting for a
purpose seminar is rapidly approaching on Saturday January 25th.  The
seminar will be held on the campus of the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill.  The seminar will be held on the 2nd floor of the science
building.  At last update, about 20-25 parents and students were signed up
to attend.  It is expected that all NCABS officers will attend as they will
be panelists.  The seminar will start promptly at 11 A.M. and will end
around 3 p.m.    We did not have a scholarship or membership update.  

Fundraising: On Saturday, February 15, the Ruby Tuesday's in Greensboro is
holding a special fundraiser for NCABS.  NCABS members have fliers that
describe the fundraiser.  If you go to the restaurant on that day and if you
present a flier, 20% of your bill will go to NCABS to assist in national
convention, state convention, SUP, or other expenses that NCABS has
throughout the year.  We are working on another fundraiser with the Ruby
Tuesdays in Raleigh but we do not have a data for that one set yet.  

On Saturday, April 12, a beeping Easter egg hunt will take place in
Winston-Salem.  At NCABS, we had been asked to come and set up a table
concerning our organization.  We are discussing this on our next conference
call in February.  

One of the concerns about the Winston-Salem event is transportation.  This
got us thinking that we should create a brochure describing NCABS, our
purpose, our mission, and a description of our committees, (social,
membership, scholarship, and fundraising).  The brochure would be a
substitute if an event happened that no one from NCABS could not attend due
to transportation issues. This Easter egg hunt will have both kids and
parents at it and while it's not likely that any of these kids are ready for
NCABS yet, the idea is that we will plant a seed in the parents that an
organization does exist for your child to join that could assist them once
they get into high school and especially college.  A place where they can
come and ask questions of other blind/visually impaired students from across
the state.