[Nfb-idaho] president's update for January

Fri Feb 5 04:03:16 UTC 2016

Hi, Dana and list.

Correction on the e-mail for Judy.  It is sonshines59 at gmail.com.

Sounds like it's going to be a great convention.

Judy
-----Original Message----- 
From: Dana Ard via Nfb-idaho
Sent: Thursday, February 4, 2016 6:31 PM
To: 'NFB of Idaho Discussion List' ; 'President,National Federation of the 
Blind' ; drqw57 at frontier.com ; kpirnie77 at gmail.com
Cc: Dana Ard
Subject: [Nfb-idaho] president's update for January

State President's Update for January, 2016

The topics for January are legislation and convention planning.

On January 18, the NFB of Idaho held a legislative luncheon at the Crystal
Ballroom in Boise. Although we have done evening banquets and legislative
breakfasts in the past, this was our first luncheon. Seventy-five people
attended, with about half being our members and the other half legislators,
our Lieutenant Governor Brad Little, members of the Idaho Commission for the
Blind board, and the new ICBVI director Beth Cunningham. I appreciate the
hard work and coordination of committee chair and MC Jan Gawith, Harry
Gawith who prepared the invitations and follow-up correspondence and
collected the money from those attending, Larry Bateman who assembled
packets, and assisted with  greeting and seating legislators, along with Ray
Halverson and Mary Syms-Pollot.  Sandy Streeter, Earl Hoover, Mike Gibson,
and Ramona Walhof spoke about our issues. Ramona and I prepared fact sheets
for the legislators, and Ramona provided the copies of both the fact sheets
and the NFB accomplishments letter.  The three topics included support for
the IESDB budget request, discussion of services offered by the Idaho
Commission for the Blind and the eventual need for additional funds, and the
need to begin to plan for contributing state funds toward public
transportation. We received positive feedback from legislators, and we will
probably plan legislative luncheons in the future.

The other legislative effort was the Washington seminar held January 25-28.
Sandy Streeter and I attended and were able to meet with congressional and
senate staffers for all of the offices. Due to the severe storm, which
preceded the event, Sandy was not able to attend the legislative director's
seminar. Our four issues included the Transitioning to Integrated and
Meaningful Employment Act (TIME Act) hr188 and s2001, the Accessible
Instructional Materials in Higher Education (AIM HE) act, Space Available,
which would allow100% disabled veterans prior to 1996 to travel on
militarytransport, and the Marrakesh treaty, which still needs to have the
ratification package sent from the White House. Sandy and I will be
following up with our legislative staffers to be sure that our issues are
given to our congressman and senators.

With our state NFBI convention a little more than two and a half months
away, it's time to get your hotel reservations made. The cut-off date is
March 22. Room rates are $89.00 for singles, doubles, triples, and quads.
There is an 8.00% tax as well. Contact the Red Lion hotel at (208) 799-1000,
or (800) 232-6730. I need to let everyone know that if you use a debit card
when you check in, the hotel will put an authorization hold on the card of
$25.00 for each night of your stay. In other words, if you are staying three
nights, $75.00 will be held on your card until you check out. Those held
funds will be released back to your card within 7 business days. A credit
card is not charged in the same way, and I suggest you use accredit card if
at all possible.

Chapters need to get door prizes for the convention. These need to be items
that would be useful to others, and since many of us will be traveling with
limited luggage space, they should not be too large to transport. Judy
Jones, from the Central Idaho chapter, is door prize chair. Please contact
her with any questions and to let her know what door prizes you will be
bringing. Her contact information is phone (208) 316-7008, email
sonshine59 at gmail.com.

The hospitality room is a very important part of the convention. Since most
of us will be traveling with limited space to bring bulky items for
hospitality, I hope that our Palouse Empire and Pan Handle chapters can get
donated some of the more bulky items like soft drinks, and perishable items.
Coke and Pepsi often give donations, and grocery stores donate as well,
although sometimes, they have procedures for doing this that take some time.
Sharon Henderson is hospitality room chair. Please contact her at
(208)3696889. Assigning a specific chapter member to coordinate your
chapter's contributions is often a helpful approach. The hospitality room
will provide lunches on Friday and sack lunches on Sunday for those
traveling. The hotel provides free full breakfasts for those staying there,
and we probably will purchase sack lunches from the hotel for Saturday. We
need items like fruits, vegies, bread for sandwiches, meat and cheese for
sandwiches, cookies, chips and other snacks. We will be able to do some
shopping on Friday morning for items we need and don't have.

Our Saturday night auction has become a convention tradition. Chapters can
make theme baskets or provide single items that would be of interest in an
auction. Sometimes we are fortunate to get a high value item like a Victor
Stream donated which brings a good price and lots of excitement. Vickie and
Larry Bateman Aare auction co-chairs. There number is (208) 357-7403.Let
them know what you are bringing for auction and ask any questions you may
have.

Our Friday evening is an open mic talent show. Please plan to share
something on the open mic with fellow federationists. Chris Jones is the
chair. Please contact him at (208) 308-8876.His email is clj53787 at gmail.com.

Conventions are very expensive to put on. We have a sponsor letter that you
can use with businesses to raise funds for the convention. You can modify
this letter to fit your chapter's needs. If you need a copy, please contact
Ramona Walhof at (208) 338-1595 or walhoframona at gmail.com. Larry and Sue
Sebranek will match donations raised for the convention up to $5000.00. This
includes money raised through business donations as well as personal
contributions. Pledges will be accepted, but they will need to be paid by
June 15. Funds raised at the auction are exempt from this challenge. This
convention fundraising activity will be included as an agenda item.

I will send more information about the convention as I get it. I hope to
have the agenda up within a month of the convention, and will have the
registration form available as soon as I lock down the prices.  I do know
that the hotel has free wyfi, and the convention rates extend through April
24, in the event

Dana Ard, President

National Federation of the aBlind of Idahothat people wish to stay over.
Also we will be able to rent a piano for the open mic if we need to.

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