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

Sat Oct 24 12:39:31 UTC 2020

Thanks Miss Linda.

Christine Boone  Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 23, 2020, at 9:52 PM, Linda Mentink via Nebraska-Senior-Blind <nebraska-senior-blind at nfbnet.org> wrote:

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
<2019 Annual SD Meeting Secretary's Report.doc>
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