[NFBC-Info] President's Notebook, October 2022

[Cricket X. Bidleman]

Hello friends,

This is Blindness Equality Achievement Month. It's also the month
before our convention in San Diego, so I’ll keep this short. First,
some convention updates. Then a list of events and updates from some
chapters, in the order in which I received them. If you don’t see
anything for your chapter, and would like for your chapter to include
updates and events, talk to your chapter president. Thanks, and have a
spook-tacular October.

Best,
Cricket

P.S. what's your favorite fall dessert?

In this issue:
Update from the board
Convention updates
Blind, sealed, Delivered
San Joaquin Chapter Update
Central Valley BEAM Events
Student Division Update

Update from the board:

Hello, everyone, and happy October!
Time is running out to register for the best NFB of California
convention yet! It will be held from November 3-6, in San Diego, and
you won’t want to miss it! We will have an exhibit hall where you can
learn about resources and products for the blind, resolutions that
will help shape the future of our movement, and great programming that
will highlight relevant issues facing the blind today. We will also
have division meetings, a Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee
meeting, and a hospitality suite where folks can mingle and enjoy
being together again. We will have auction baskets and, of course,
door prizes! Perhaps most exciting of all will be our national
representative who will be none other than our own NFB President Mark
Riccobono! You can register and book your rooms at the Courtyard
Marriott in Old Town San Diego by following instructions in this link:
nfbcal.org/convention But be sure to do it soon because rooms are
going fast, and registration rates will increase after October 31.
Room rates are $149 per night, plus tax, and in-person registration is
$60. Your $60 registration fee also includes breakfast for November
4-6. Banquet tickets are also $60. All in-person registrants will need
to provide a negative Covid test taken twenty-four hours before
picking up your registration packet, or else take a Covid test at the
hotel. Attendees will also need to wear masks during convention
activities. Children under the age of six do not need to register, but
guardians are strongly encouraged to provide a negative Covid test for
children under six and have them mask whenever possible.

For those who are unable to attend in person, we will be having a
virtual element to convention this year. Virtual registration is $25,
and it allows you to take part in most of the convention from the
comfort of your own homes. Virtual registrants will not be able to
vote on resolutions, board positions, and officers because we do not
yet have a reliable system to allow this, but we are working on a
system that will allow hybrid voting in the future and will be testing
this system at this year’s convention.

Student’s, don’t forget to apply for our NFB of California
scholarship! The application is also available at
nfbcal.org/convention. The deadline to apply is October 15, and you
will need to start the application process early to give adequate time
to provide all necessary materials.

In order to make this convention happen, we heavily rely on sponsors
to help fund us and exhibitors to showcase their products. If you or
anyone you know may be interested in being either a sponsor or
exhibitor for our 2022 convention, you can find information about how
to help at  nfbcal.org/convention.

We have board positions up for election this year, including all
officers (President, First Vice-President, Second Vice-President,
Secretary, and Treasurer) and three general board positions. If you
are interested in being considered for nomination by the Nominating
Committee, please contact Ever Lee Hairston, the chair of the
committee, at  ever.hairston at gmail.com for details about the
nominating committee meeting, which will be held on the night of
November 3. You need to be attending in person to run for a position
unless you have a documented medical reason that you must attend
remotely, as approved by the board.

I can’t wait to see you all at convention this year, whether you are
with us in San Diego or via Zoom! Let’s continue learning and building
the NFB of California together.

Sincerely,
Rachel Grider, 1st Vice President

Convention Updates

We are looking for volunteers to help run the hospitality suite
at convention. Contact Allison Depner ( adepner1425 at gmail.com) for details.

Scholarships: Students attending school in California should apply for
the NFB of California state scholarships. Visit nfbcal.org for more
details. There are scholarship forms in both English and Spanish.
Applications are due by the end of October 15th.

It's time for NFB of California members to start proposing resolutions
to be debated and voted on during our state convention November 3-6.
These resolutions have real power in guiding government, education and
commerce to improve their relationship to California's blind citizens.
They crystalize how our members feel today about important issues, and
what we want the wider world to do about them. The world has changed
since we last met in person.  A pandemic, a contraction of blindness
services, new access barriers, to name a few.  Add to that issues in
transportation, employment, education and personal safety.

You don't need to  be an expert resolution-writer to make an impact;
some of our best resolutions have come from first-timers. But we do
need to hear from you quickly. So won't you take a moment to draft a
resolution that matters to you?  It doesn't need to be perfect, as our
Resolutions committee is full of mentors who will help you.  but
simply to mention the reasons why it's important and what you want to
happen if your resolution  passes.  The NFBC website  hosts all recent
California resolutions available  to use as a model, if you like. And
all members of the 2022 Resolutions Committee are more than willing to
help you get your resolution into the best format.  Please feel free
to reach out to any committee member listed below for assistance.

We'll need to have all draft resolutions to the committee  no later
than 5:00 pm on Sunday, October16th    so that  the committee can do
its job in helping to shape them to best advantage.  Of course we'd
love them earlier.

All are welcome to write to Bryan Bashin directly with your starter
resolutions and we'll take things from there.  His direct email is:
bashin at calweb.com.

Blind, Sealed, Delivered

SAVE THE DATE! The play, “BLIND SEALED DELIVERED I’M YOURS “ is coming
To the big stage on Saturday, October 8, 2022 at the Garrdena Moose
Lodge. Please contact Rochelle Houston at   rhouston58 at gmail.com with
any questions.

San Joaquin Chapter update

4th Annual White Cane Awareness Walk & Celebration
Calling all friends of the blind to join us for our 4th Annual White
Cane Awareness Walk & Celebration on Saturday, October 15, 2022 in the
northwest Weberstown Mall parking lot (4950 Pacific Ave., Stockton, CA
95207) near the SJRTD Mall Transfer Station.
10:00-12:00: NFB info table with SJRTD, get your name written in
Braille and free Braille alphabet bookmark!
—12:00-12:15: White Cane Awareness Day Proclamation Ceremony with
Lions Clubs & community.
—12:15-1:00: Walk from Weberstown Mall parking lot to March Lane,
crossing Pacific, then north on Pacific to Mountain Mike’s Pizza, 1000
W. Robinhood Dr.
to end the walk in support of our NFB Fundraiser there.
Please join us for any part of this event and please support our NFB
fundraiser at Mountain Mike’s Robinhood, Stockton October 14 & 15th,
Open-Close, where  30% of your purchase goes to our chapter when you
mention “NFB“ or show our paper or electronic flyer. A special thank
you to San Joaquin Regional Transit District, the Stockton-San Joaquin
Lions Club and Mountain Mike’s Pizza Robinhood for your partnership.
#BlindMonth #WhiteCaneDay Candy bars will be distributed for sale by
members October 15 at Mountain Mike’s (following the walk) for sale
through our November chapter meeting. Let’s go build the Federation!
For more info:
nfb.ca.sj at gmail.com

Inland Empire Chapter Update

Have you ever thought about what life would be like if you did not
have your mobility cane? The 2022 NFB/C convention is just around the
corner. The NFB INLAND EMMMPIRE CHAPTER is working with the You Cane
Give Initiative to put canes in the hands of the blind in 3rd world
countries where canes are not available to them. We need your help so
that we can help others. We are asking people to donate their broke or
old canes. We are also asking for donations of new canes and tips as
well as tax deductible donations of money to help with the repair and
shipping of the canes so any help you can give will help in this
effort. If you can and would like to help, please do so by bringing
your old canes to convention with you. You can contact Michael
Richardson at (323) 898-3223 or Cheryl Thurston (909) 821-9589 to give
them your canes at convention. Everyone that donates will be put into
a door prize drawing that will take place during the banquet. The
grand Prize will be a custom cane valued at $150. If not attending
convention you can send your canes directly to You Cane Give at, To:
Mr. James Boehm  7303 Althorp Way  Nashville, TN 37211 (canes can be
sent via free matter for the blind). If you can make a monetary
donation you can go to http://youcanegive.org/ and click on the link
to donate. On the website you can see the amazing work they do and
hear from people whose lives have been changed. The Inland Empire
Chapter and the You Cane Give Initiative thanks you for whatever you
can do to help others.

Central Valley BEAM Events

The Central Valley Chapter will be helping with a voter education
workshop on October 8 from 2 PM to 4 PM at the Stanislaus County
Elections Office at 1021 I Street in Modesto. We will be demonstrating
the remote accessible vote by mail system with different types of
screen reading software, and attendees can also try out the Touch
Writer ballot marking device. Members of election staff will be on
hand to answer questions so that everyone who wishes can be prepared
to vote independently during the November election. On October 29, the
Central Valley Chapter will have a booth at the Modesto Farmer’s
Market, located on 16th Street between H Street and I Street, from 8
AM to 1 PM. We will be demonstrating Braille and assistive technology,
and we will have some fun Halloween-themed activities.

Student Division Updates

The California Association of blind Students is going to have a movie
night where we are going to stream Crip Camp in honor of both blind
equality achievement month and disability awareness month on October
15 at 7 PM PST at the following zoom link.
https://tinyurl.com/cabsroom. Please join us.

-- 
Cricket X. Bidleman, B.A (she/her/hers)
M.A Candidate | Stanford Journalism Class of 2022
Co-Chair | Stanford Daily Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
Member | Blind Advisory Committee, California Department of Vocational
rehabilitation