[Nebraska-senior-blind] NFBN Senior Division September Meeting - Special Presenter -Guests are Welcome

Sun Sep 2 11:35:17 UTC 2018

Hi you all

RE: Our meeting for September is Monday, the 10th

We have a Special guest, a blind, longtime writer.

Non-members are welcome

Contents of this message:

*When and how to get on the call

*Agenda 

*Minutes from our last meeting: pasted in below 

*The NFB Pledge 

*#1 When and How to Get On the Call:

Date: September 10th

Time: 6:00 Mountain, 7:00 Central, 8:00 Eastern 

Phone: 1-712-451-0011

Access Code: 345154Pound

*#*#2 Agenda:

-First- Come-to-order, introductions, say our NFB pledge (Brad is our
Presenter)

(Note: President Newman Will be absent; Vice President Loos will be running
the meeting.)

*Second- A presentation from our special guest- Lillian Way 

            Hello, my name is Lillian Way. I'm a friend of your President of
this Senior division of The National Federation of the Blind, Robert Leslie
Newman. We met during his Presidency of the Writers' Division. I'm honored
to be your guest speaker for the evening of Monday, September tenth, 2018.

            I was born in 1946 with detached retinas. There was no surgery
available to correct that in those days. During my childhood, I had a fair
amount of vision but not enough to attend a regular local public or
Parochial school, which fact disappointed my mom. Determined to have me
taught by nuns, she found a local Catholic school for blind children with
the help of her parish priest. That school's name is Lavelle. There I
learned Braille, allowing me and my classmates to keep up with our sighted
counterparts. While I was in fifth grade there, my family moved from The
Bronx New York to Philadelphia Pennsylvania, where I transferred to

Overbrook School for the blind, from which I graduated in 1966.       

            As with many of you, my vision diminished as I grew older. Now,
I'm limited to light perception plus a tiny bit of object recognition,
depending on its size and if it contrasts with the color environment in
which I find myself at the moment. 

            I always loved to read and write throughout my childhood. That
was encouraged and established when was a baby. My mom read to me every
night before bed. My dad was in the Merchant Marines. When he came home on
periodic visits from his job, he'd sit me on his lap and tell me fascinating
true tales of his travel adventures, on and off ship. He loved to read me
The Funny Papers, or serialized comic strips. Perhaps my love of his stories
and the Fairy-tales Mom read me, influenced my desire not only to continue
reading but create and write my own stories as well. 

            I began writing at a young age, as early as eight or nine years
old. I love to write. I write fiction, poems, short stories, memoirs and am
currently working on a romance novel series. Some of my short pieces have
been published in an online magazine entitled Magnets and Ladders. Anyone
may access that publication by going to magnetsandladders.org. Writing is
equal to breathing for me.

            When I'm not engaged in writing or household chores or errands,
I enjoy relaxing by watching television. Favorite shows include, Touched By
An Angel, medical and cop dramas, reality programs such as Survivor, Amazing
Race, American Idol, Bachelor in Paradise/The Bachelor/Bachelorette, Master
Chef, Hell's Kitchen. I also love sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory. I like
game shows and those old westerns. I also spend time listening to NPR. My
favorite program still airing is Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me. I love Car Talk,
which I get as podcasts. Of course, I am fond of Selected Shorts, too. Other
radio shows include, Family Radio, Intouch Ministries, Hour of Power and
Precious Memories, a Bill Gaither Gospel Music program on TBN. 

            Other loves include Nascar and Indi auto racing shows
broadcasted on several TV sports networks. I have an eclectic taste in music
as well. I can listen to anything if the melody is good and lyrics are
discernible. I am still an enthusiastic reader of books and have many
favorite authors, too numerous to list here. I belong to a local book club
that meets every second Thursday, at our area blind agency. I also belong to
a computer group, and two writers' groups. One meets two Sunday nights a
month. The other meets every Saturday between noon and two. I'm a member of
a class that teaches visually impaired persons how to use our I-phones
correctly, along with other I-devices. 

            I reside in Philadelphia now and have most of my life here in
this city, except for a dozen years in Schuylkil County, located in the
northeastern portion of Pennsylvania. That area is hilly and mountainous and
beautiful. It's also the home of my state's coal region.

            I like to collect t-shirts or sweat-shirts with interesting or
comical sayings on them. I like various shaped music boxes, too. I own a
clock which not only strikes each hour and plays the Westminster song, as
well as playing tunes on the half hour. Some are hymns, love songs and
Christmas carols. 

            I own two computers. One is a Windows 8.1, on which I write my
pieces. I back them up on thumb drives and external hard drives. My second
computer is a Windows ten lap top, which I'm learning to use, along with
N-V-D-a. Unfortunately, Window Eyes isn't available to run with the Windows
ten operating system. 

            Thank you for inviting me to speak with you. I'm looking forward
to joining your phone conference meeting on Monday, September tenth at eight
o'clock p-m, my time, which is an hour ahead of your central time. Take
care.

-Third- secretary & treasurers Reports Will be given

--OLD BUSINESS: 

-Membership- do make calls to past members who have not joined us during
recent meetings. And/or think of someone new to call and invite to join us
for this or next month's meeting.

-Any new ideas for finding people who need us?

-Discussion about convention: What should make up our agenda? Who will be
responsible for things: (Robert will be purchasing clickers (5 dozen).) Do
we need braille and print agendas? Elections will be held. Can we have our
national rep attend; part or all of the meeting? Do we know how much time we
will get; looks like Saturday morning? Who will be up for giving a
Fit-Minute? (Robert could do his seated muscle crunches.) 

- Requests for our convention scholarship: We have had two; one does not
qualify, not a first timer. There is still time for other requests.

-Any other old business you may bring

--NEW BUSINESS:

-Anything you may bring 

--Finally- Brags & Drags

--Adjournment

*#3 NFB Pledge: 

 I pledge to participate actively in the efforts of the National

Federation of the Blind to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for
the blind; to support the policies and programs of the Federation; and to
abide by its constitution. 

**Last Month's Minutes-

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND OF NEBRASKA SENIOR DIVISION MEETING MINUTES

Monday, August 13, 2018

The NFBN Senior Division met by telephone conference on Monday, August 13,
2018. President Robert Newman called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM CDT.
Members present were: President Robert Newman, Vice President Barbara Loos,
Secretary Linda Mentink, Treasurer Cheryl Livingston, Board Member Nancy
Oltman, Gina Finnell, Walt Hively, Geralynn Konruff, Brad Loos, Steve
Senteney, Gerri Whitlow, and Gwynne Widhalm. Guests were: Aloma Bouma and
Jannis Butler from Maryland, Abio Sokari, MD, from Kansas, and Michael Jones
from Nebraska.

Nancy recited the NFB Pledge. Brad will recite it next month.

Aloma Bouma was our guest speaker. She is originally from Lincoln, and has
been living and working in Baltimore for 25 years. She complimented us on
how far wide-spread we are represented in Nebraska. She worked for the NFB
for ten years predominantly with seniors in the blindness field. One of the
reasons she wanted to go specifically into aging is because blindness does a
better job of dealing with aging than aging has ever done in dealing with
blindness. She began to work for the city of Baltimore in the Commission on
Aging and Retirement Education. She spoke to us about the structure of
services available to us. She mentioned older blind independent living
programs through rehab, then spoke about state and local agencies for aging,
including a state department on aging, and a local area agency on aging.
Funding for these agencies comes from the Administration on aging, the
National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, Medicare, a lot of community
grant services, housing, and transportation, which is why so many things
overlap in the aging field. The state department of aging offers more
services than the local area agency on aging, such as a senior employment
service. Local area agencies on aging have programs such as nutrition,
ombudsman, housing (including home care and aging in place), care givers,
guardianship, transportation, information and referral services, and access
port (which deals more with disabilities than aging.) Workers will not know
anything about blindness, or will be afraid to let us participate, so we
will have to educate them if we are interested. Dr. Sokari encouraged us to
keep up our blindness skills, and said that aging will be our only problem.
Robert asked if there was anything new that would come up that would
surprise us, even though we have good blindness skills. This prompted a
discussion about doing things differently as we age and have physical
issues. Dr. Sokari mentioned that there is a study on Braille literacy, in
which they found out that Braille literacy activates the brain centers for
memory. This study will be in full swing next year. They will teach reading
Braille with the fingertips to stimulate the brains of people with mild
cognitive impairment. Aloma answered a couple other questions.

Linda read the June meeting minutes. Barbara moved, Nancy seconded, that we
approve the minutes as read. The motion carried. Cheryl said there was a
$100 error in her report in the minutes. Linda had pasted in the document
she had received from Cheryl, and skipped over it when listening to the
meeting recording. She made the correction in the minutes.

Cheryl then read the Treasurer's Report as follows:

Treasurer's Report-Senior Division

August 13, 2018

Beginning Balance June 11, 2018 $1308.32

Expenses

PAC plan for July $ 15.00

PAC plan for August $ 15.00

Total expenses $ 30.00 

Deposits

None

Ending Balance August 13, 2018 $1278.32

Respectfully submitted,

Cheryl Livingston, Treasurer

Gina moved, Gerri seconded, that we accept the Treasurer's Report as read.
The motion carried.

Robert asked what was decided at the State Board meeting about the Senior
Division, and anything else about convention we needed to hear. Linda
reported that the dates have been changed to October 5-7. Amy wants us to do
three "fit breaks." She did not say how much time we'd have for our meeting,
but she knows we want at least an hour and a half. Most of the discussion
was about transportation. Linda encouraged those from Kearny and Norfolk to
contact Jeff Altman right away if they are planning to come, so that he can
make arrangements. Cheryl added that they continued the transportation
discussion on a phone call the following Thursday night. They talked about
whether to work again with Ward Kinny or rent vans. During that weekend is
Market to Market, meaning that there will be very few vans available.
Bridgit was able to get a couple large vans from a place in Omaha, but we
will need drivers. Some may go up Thursday night. The convention will start
mid morning on Friday. Transportation has to be worked out, and then the
agenda will be figured out. The Gwendolyn Mangnoll scholarship will be
available primarily for first-time convention attendees, and there is always
assistance available if someone needs help. We raised $3495 for the Walk for
Independence, and Cheryl is working on coming up with the three top pledge
getters.

We will sell clickers again this year. Robert wanted to know if anyone had
any, as he doesn't want to buy more than we need. No one said they have
some.

Aloma thanked Nancy Oltman for being positive about helping this new person,
though things didn't work out.

Robert reported that one senior, a member of the Columbus Area Chapter, has
requested financial assistance from him for the convention. We will wait
until our next meeting, and see if anyone else requests assistance.

BRAGS AND DRAGS. Nancy's drag was that she was sick during the National
Convention. She went to her doctor when she got home, and found out she had
a full-blown sinus infection and Shingles.

Brad announced that Donald Trump did sign a bill that made the space
available on Military aircrafts for Veterans. His brag is that his daughter
Emma is now married.

Nancy announced that the At Large group is going to plan to have a
meet-and-greet at some point during the state convention, since they have
never met face to face.

Dr. Sokari, referring to Gina's drag from last time, said that we should
stay in our doctor's office, no matter how healthy we feel, to ask all the
questions we have. Looking healthy is different from being healthy.

We adjourned at 8:51 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Linda Mentink, Secretary

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