[ND-Talk] Celebrating successes

[jesseshirek at gmail.com]

Dear Federation family,

We often forget that it is important to celebrate our successes. We are
continuously trying to grow the North Dakota affiliate and it's natural for
us to look at areas where we could improve. Sometimes we get so focused on
looking at what we are not doing or what we could be doing better and we
forget to point out milestones of the NFBND affiliate and our members
achievements. The reality is we may be a small affiliate, but we are growing
and we have synergy, but don't take my word for see for yourself:

*	Sherry Shirek -  Uber ride-share coordinator has successfully
completed our final year in a three-year monitoring program to ensure that
the civil rights of service dog users are protected. In order for us to
accomplish this goal we were required to have a person take at least three
rides with a service dog and document the results each month for a
continuous three years. Thank you Sherry for donating your time, energy and
financial resources to protect the civil rights of service dog teams in
North Dakota and across the country! Congratulations on your accomplishment!
*	Richard Early - has received national exposure through publication
in the December 2019 issue of the NFB Braille Monitor - Always Early: Find
Your People -
https://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm19/bm1911/bm191107.htm
Richard has also recently received an opportunity for paid submissions to
and industry-specific publication related towards his business. Richard,
congratulations on these accomplishments towards making your dreams a
reality! I wish I had just 10% of your energy and enthusiasm!
*	NFBND Internship  - Thank you Joseph Engel for accepting the
position of intern. Joseph has been working directly with us for 8 to 10
hours per week. He's been assisting us with our social media and outreach
efforts. Thank you Joseph for your work. You've made a tremendous impact on
our affiliate!
*	PayPal donations - we are now able to receive donations and take
payment through PayPal, this has been implemented through nfbnd.org. Thank
you to the communications team for working on this project!
*	Sports and Recreation Division - new member Cole Roberts is
interested in forming a sports and recreation division under our affiliate.
Thank you Cole for working on this initiative. We are all excited to be
working alongside you!
*	Communication Seminar - Thank you Richard for organizing the
communications seminar and helping the affiliate to update our social media
and carry out our branding strategy.
*	Blind Bowling Fundraiser - Thank you Richard for organizing the
fundraiser to reimburse Sunset Lanes for the purchase of accessible rails
and thank you Bob More for your willingness to work with us
*	Holiday Party in Bismarck - think you Sherry and Cole for organizing
the holiday party that Will be on December 18 at 6 PM at the Bismarck
Radisson. If you've not yet received an invitation, please consider this
your invitation to come and have some fun with us. Dress up in a noisy
Christmas sweater and enjoy the company of the Federation family. Please
contact Sherry, Cole or Jesse to RSVP.
*	2019 State Convention - we had a wonderful state convention at the
Clubhouse in and Suites in Fargo. We had featured speakers from Vocational
Rehabilitation, North Dakota Vision Services/School for the Blind,
Protection and Advocacy, the Fargo Morehead blind bowling group, National
Association of Blind Students and Adelmo and Soledad Vigil representing our
national organization. Milton Oda decided to step down as affiliate
president, but he has agreed to remain on our board as treasurer/Vice
President. Thank you Milton for your years of service to our organization
and for your demonstrated love of the Federation. The rest of the board is
made up of Charlene Oda elected to serve a one-year term as officer, Richard
Early was reelected to serve a two-year term as officer, Sherry Shirek is
entering her second year of a two-year term as Secretary, I Jesse Shirek was
elected president for a one-year term. Our convention delegate is Jesse and
Milton is the alternate delegate. Thank you to everyone serving on the state
board of directors for helping see us through the transition. I am excited
for the future of this great organization that we all love. A big thank you
goes out to Sherry for chairing the convention committee and keeping us all
on track!

I'm sure there are more successes that are missing from this list. I
apologize for any omissions. I'm grateful for each and every member of our
state affiliate, our sisters and brothers across the country and our
colleagues from partnering organizations. Thank you for all that you do to
impact our community!

Sincerely,

Jesse Shirek
President
National Federation of the Blind of North Dakota
jesseshirek at gmail.com | 701-781-2526 Call or Text
Web | Visit NFBND.org <http://www.nfbnd.org/> 
Facebook | Like NFBND on Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/NationalFederationoftheBlindofNorthDakota/> 

With love, hope, and determination we transform dreams into reality.


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