[NFBC-SFV] November 2020 minutes of the NFB.SFV Chapter meeting

Tue Dec 1 20:51:03 UTC 2020

Hi all. Hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing and sage Thanksgiving.

Below is our November  Chapter minutes. Please let me know if there are any
corrections and/or additions that I've might missed.

Thanx.

Best regards,

Sheila Marie B.C. 

November 2020 Chapter meeting

The National Federation of the Blind of California

San Fernando Valley Chapter   

The meeting was called to order at 10:05 am. We began with the Pledge of
Allegiance, the NFB Pledge and the 1 minute message.

Question for the day: What are you most thankful for?

In attendance:

Joy Stigile, Robert Stigile - Chapter President, Jo Anne Seaman, Joe Otoole,
Candace Luther, Lindsay Kerr,  Tiffany  Johnson, Ron Hilliard -
Member-At-Large, Juanita Herrera - Vice President, Karen Elo, David and
Valerie Delawder, Keith Caballa, Sheila Biglang-awa - Secretary, John and
Nancy Albarran, Sharon Watson and Lynn Nishihara.     

Total: 18 members.  

Announcements:

Joe announced that the National Association of Guide Dog Users meet up every
other Saturday at 12 pm PST.

Jo Anne's birthday is on Tuesday and she will be 72. 

Sheila thanked Joy for coordinating the Pampered Chef last month with the
Pampered Chef Consultant  Marcine Campebell.  Would also like to  thank
those who joined, ordered and purchased items. According to Marcine we had
an awesome result. Then there was an open invitation for those who were
unable to attend  last month and/or would still like to order items, There
will be a Zoom Pampered Chef Party tomorrow Sunday November 15 at 2 pm.

Robert thanked  those who paid their membership dues for the next year. If
you haven't done it yet, you still can. You can send the $10 to him through
Zelle, Apple Pay, Venmo, Pay Pal or you can send a check. You can make out
the check to SFV for San Fernando Valley. If you need help from those
payment options, he can walk you through it. 

Robert also announced that at 4 pm today, the CAGDU (California Association
of Guide Dog Users) is having the social call. If you're interested, he can
send you the Zoom invitation.

Racquel Decipeda's email for Hearts for Sight was sent out in our list serve
regarding their hike on Saturday November 21st.It's near Highland Park and
you have to be there by 8 am. Due to the COVID19, they can only take 10
people. Please RSVP by calling Racquel.

Secretary Report.

Nancy made a motion to approve the October minutes, seconded by Lynne and
the motion carries.

Treasurer's Report.

The last 2 Treasury reports was sent by Robert. Malik is not present at this
moment and had chosen to step away from the NFB Chapter but will still help
with Best in Tech and whatever we need help with.  So that left us with a
vacancy in the Treasurer's position. Robert appointed Nancy and she's
willing  to take on the position.

Presidential Release

The next Presidential Release will be live via Zoom on December 1st. One
thing that Robert wanted to  mention that on Monday November 16th is our
80th anniversary of the Federation and was organized and founded in 1940 in
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.      

Washington Seminar

This is our legislative kick off for the year. Usually we have  3 issues
that we take to Congress and try to get through.  Things are different
around this time so our Washington Seminar this coming February is going to
be virtual. The date will be the same on February 8th  at 5 pm Eastern time.
Then on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we will be meeting with our
Congressional members and Senators virtually. The National Office will be
providing a Zoom account for every Affiliate. But we probably need to use
some individual Zoom accounts as well because there will be a lot of
appointments and there will be appointments that will be running at the same
time. Just  in California alone, we have 53 Congressional members and we
have 2 Senators. So, we would need to use multiple Zoom accounts. There will
be a form available in a couple of weeks. We're going to have people that
represent the legislative issues We usually have 3 people in a team. For
those who would like to join, please feel free to contact Robert. 

There are a number of things that are available from the National Office.
For instance, last November 1st, the National Scholarship application is now
available. So, if you know  of anyone who's going to school and a full time
student with at least a 3.0 GPA, tell him/her to go to NFB.org/scholarships.
Deadline is on March 31st of next year. If you need help in finding that,
please let Robert know. 

The next one is the Teachers of  tomorrow Program that they're promoting.
This is for anyone who is interested in being a teacher of the visually
impaired. There  will be a conference in December via Zoom put on by the
National Office.  If you need more information about that, you can go to
nfb.org and search for "teachers for tomorrow".

There's also going to be a Smart City conference in December 14th  - 16th.
What this entails is, things that are  being done on a Citywide level such
as putting new traffic lights that are smart lights so you can apparently
connect  through the GPS and etc. So this conference is being held  to try
to get the NFB to be more involve in City planning across the country. You
can check this all on our website: nfb.org to register so they can send you
the Zoom info.

Another thing, there will be a Rehab meeting at the National Center on
December 15th through 17th. This is for anyone who's interested in being a
Rehab Counselor or is a Rehab Counselor or does anything with Rehab. This
will be put on by Dr. Edward Bell who works at the Louisiana University. You
can sign up on our website: nfb.org.        

The next item is about our Braille readers are leaders contest. You can sign
up starting December 1st until January 18th. This started out  with a way
for children to have a fun way of reading. If you want to sign up and
participate, you can go toactionfund.org.

Now the Freedom Scientific gave a matching grant. If the National Federation
of the Blind was able to raise $50,000, they would match it at $50,000. The
NFB will raise it, they match it and now they are going to do a second one.
If anyone wants to participate, you can call the National Center and make a
donation. You can also go to our website: nfb.org and go to donate. Joe made
a motion that the Chapter make a donation  amounted to $500 for the Freedom
Scientific matching fund with the National  Federation of the Blind.
Seconded by Candace and the motion carries.

Joy opened a discussion about the motion regarding the amount that we have
in our treasury. Robert said that we have $4736.88. Further discussion came
forth. 

Another item that was discussed in the Presidential release is the PAC plan.
If you are not in the PAC plan, Robert is hoping that you would consider
giving donations. Our Chapter gives $50 to the PAC plan every month. 

The next topic is about the NFB  having the ability  to give free white cane
to people. You can sign up to get a straight white cane by  signing up on
our website and search for the free white cane program.  We also have the
free slate and stylus program, Anyone can get a free slate and stylus, just
go to our website and sign up for it.  

Lastly, if you are not a member  of the Newsline, you can sign up also  by
going to our website: nfb.org and search in for the Newsline program or you
can call Robert if you need help. For filling out the form online, you need
to put in your name,  contact info and within a couple of weeks you're good
to go.   And with the application, they would want to know what library you
get books from and/or if you are a Rehab client.      

The 2020 State Convention 

Our basket was won by Lisa Maria Martinez from the Bay area. She paid $145
for the basket.  So for next year, we might do the same way for the auction
baskets if we are still doing convention via virtual.

Exhibit Hall. 

Robert would like to find out how many of you attended the  Exhibitors and
what you  thought about it. Candace, Joe and  Sharon shared their
experiences and input. 

 Best In Tech

Robert asked the Chapter if we could do a virtual / Zoom would work for Best
In tech for next year? This is something to think about it and would like to
know your reactions.  Robert will get the Best In Tech committee to further
discuss it and will give us an update to discuss it more. 

Fundraising Committee

Joy announced that the Pampered Chef fundraiser went beautifully. Our
Chapter earned $232.

Now, we're working on trying to get the Double Good popcorn sale fundraiser.
Robert's working on the  accessibility wise and will get an answer on
Monday. We're going to have a 50% profit margin from those that will place
orders. The selling time will only be open for 4 days. Once the fundraiser
finish 4 days later, they ship your order and you will receive your popcorn
within 14 days. There are 16 flavors of popcorn. You need to place the order
online. Each order is separate, that way you can decide where it will be
ship to.  We are not able to do the length of time from today to December
1st though once this first one is completed and we've received the check, we
can start another one. A link will be given to the coordinator of our
Chapter.  This link contains a 6 digit code number and will be put out on
our  Chapter's list serve. You will use this 6 digit code to get in directly
to our online account. So, once we get the account for our Chapter set up
and the 6 digit code numbers sent out to the Chapter members,  you can place
orders yourself using your smartphone. It's an App that you can download
once we get that 6 digit code. Through  an  App, it can make it accessible.

Last on the list is that Robert wanted to discuss since next month is
already December and normally we would have a Holiday Party with our Adopt a
Child and some  fun stuff. We're not going to have it this year due to the
COVID.  But the President of the Central Valley Chapter is thinking of a
multi-Chapter Holiday Party on Zoom. It will be the Chapters that meet on
the 2nd Saturday mornings and there are about 6 Chapters.  Robert wanted to
see if the Chapter would be interested in doing that or not. Everyone had
agreed to join and thought that it would be an awesome idea to have a
multi-Chapter  Holiday Party via Zoom. 

Nancy made the motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by John. The meeting
was adjourned at 11:30 am. 

Respectfully submitted:

Sheila Marie B.C.

Cell: 818-404-7646

Chapter Secretary

NFB.SFV

"We thrive to survive."      

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