[Nebraska-Senior-Blind] 2019 Annual Secretary's Report Corrected

[Linda Mentink]

Hi All,

We had a great meeting this afternoon!

Please find pasted in and attached the corrected 2019 Secretary's 
Report. I fixed my stutter and added a d on "pledge" in the same 
sentence. Jamie gave me the correct spelling of Lori Zimmerman as well.

Blessings,

Linda


NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND OF NEBRASKA SENIOR DIVISION ANNUAL 
MEETING SECRETARY'S REPORT



Friday, October 11, 2019



The NFBN Senior Division held its annual meeting Friday, October 11, 
2019, at Columbus Rumada and River's Edge Convention Center in 
Columbus, Nebraska. In the absence of President Robert Newman, Vice 
President Barbara Loos called the meeting to order at 10:35 AM. She 
explained that Robert was supposed to be on a cruise with his wife 
Bonnie, but she fell in the airport and broke her humorous in her 
right arm. They are home in Omaha. Barbara welcomed everyone.



There were 23 people attending. All introduced themselves and said 
what they hoped to learn or what they wished for.



We recited the NFB Pledge.



Barbara mentioned clickers, which was our fundraiser. Chris Boone had 
some to sell.



Linda Mentink read the 2018 Secretary's Report. This report will be 
made a part of the record of the organization.



Cheryl Livingston read the Treasurer's Report as follows:



Beginning balance 10/14/2018 $1449.32

Income $346

Expenses $604.99

Adjustment $10

Ending Balance 9/30/2019 $1205.33



For her convenience, Cheryl would like to start the fiscal year 
October 1 and end it September 30. No one objected. The report will 
be made a part of the financial record of the organization.



Everette Bacon, our National Representative, shared that this is his 
first time in Nebraska, and he learned a lot about Nebraska on the 
drive here. He's originally from California, moved to Texas when he 
was 18, and has lived in Utah 15 years. He was originally hired by 
the state of Utah to teach Home Management at the Center for the 
Blind. He moved into the Technology Specialist position, and is now 
also a Field Services Coordinator. He has been President in Utah 
since 2012 and a National Board Member since 2015. He said it's 
really great to see a Senior Division that's active and doing lots of 
things to recognize that Seniors make a difference in an affiliate. 
We are always trying to do a youth movement, but we forget that the 
majority of our membership is going to come from the Seniors. Members 
shared other tidbits about famous people from Nebraska.



Barbara mentioned that we have been working on figuring out how we 
can best get involved in retirement facilities to meet blind folks 
and talk with them, which is what we pledged to do last year. At one 
of our monthly meetings we had Cameo Rogers from the Activities 
Association of Omaha speak with us. They are having a state wide 
meeting this weekend. None of us could be there, so Robert made up 80 
packets of NFB literature for them. After convention, we will begin 
making some short videos of how seniors are doing things in their 
homes so that activity directors can learn what we are like, in hopes 
that they won't be overprotective of the residents in their care. We 
are also working with Ruth Sager, President of the National Seniors 
Division, to make these videos available nationally.



ELECTION OF OFFICERS: The following people were elected by 
acclamation: Robert Newman, President; Barbara Loos, Vice President; 
Linda Mentink, Secretary; Cheryl Livingston, Treasurer; and Nancy 
Oltman, Board Member.



State President Amy Buresh told us that we have a lot of wisdom that 
she can draw from. She thinks it's really cool to see such a full 
room, a vibrant group of Seniors. The clickers are a good tribute to 
Dr. Nyman. She wants us to think of some kind of challenge we can 
have between chapters and divisions, something spirited.



DEMOS. Barbara showed her new deck of Braille Uno cards. She also 
talked about Wayaround, explaining the tags and how they are used, 
and demonstrating the app.



Jeff Altman shared that, for folks who are trying to hang a picture 
straight that has two hanging points, take a strip of painter's tape 
and get it squared on the wall, put your marks there with the tape to 
put your hangers into the wall. Then peal that off and stick on the 
back of the picture for the next time you need to hang it. To drill a 
hole straight, get a block of wood and get your drill bit set out, 
and use your drill press to drill nice straight holes in that block 
of wood. Then you just select the right one for a particular job with 
your hand drill, and you can put it up against the surface you're 
going to drill into and it will guide the drill bit straight in.



Nancy Coffman mentioned that, for anyone who hasn't tried AIRA, it is 
free at this convention. Barbara mentioned that any call that anybody 
makes is free for five minutes.



Lori Zimmerman asked what some of the most common routes are that the 
elderly use to take in knowledge. Barbara said that more and more are 
being connected with Twitter, Facebook and other social media 
platforms. Sometimes Senior Centers make announcements over PA 
systems. Making print bigger is not always the answer. Seniors need 
to be convinced that they have a right to get information and be 
connected, and it isn't an imposition on someone to have you get it. 
Brad Loos said it's not just a matter of educating older blind 
people; it's a matter of educating those who run inisttutions where 
older blind people live and participate in activities.



We ran out of time, and adjourned at 11:55.



Respectfully submitted,



Linda Mentink, Secretary
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