[NFBF-Tampa] Tampa Bay chapter Meeting Minutes May 2023

[Sherrill O'Brien]

Happy Summer everyone,

 

Pasted below are the May chapter meeting minutes.

 

Sherrill

 

Tampa Bay Chapter 

National Federation of the Blind of Florida

Chapter Meeting Minutes

May 27, 2023

Beef O ' Brady's

8810 North Himes Avenue

Tampa, Florida

 

The meeting was called to order by President Miranda Kilby at 12:03pM.

Everyone introduced themselves. There were  a total of 18 persons in
attendance, including   5 guests, several of whom are friends of member
Jessica Cuddy. Three of the attendees participated via the Zoom platform.

We then said the NFB pledge together.

 

Secretary and Treasurer Reports

A motion was made by  Paul, seconded by Dan, to approve the  April 22
meeting minutes as emailed. The motion passed. 

 

Dan gave the treasurer's report. Our current balance is $2224.96.

A motion was made by Jessica, seconded by Yvonne, to accept the treasurer's
report as read. The motion passed.

 

President's Report

Miranda's report dealt with our state convention which will be held in
October in Tampa, along with our Tampa chapter's Stronger Together concert
fund raiser, which will take place on the Thursday evening, October 5, pryor
to the start of the convention.

The Melbourne Space Coast and Statewide chapters will cosponsor the
convention along with our chapter.

 

Miranda thanked those who attended the last open convention planning
meeting, and encouraged everyone to participate in upcoming open and closed
planning meetings.  

 

Concert Fund Raiser

Miranda said We will need to procure items for the silent auction to be held
in conjunction with the concert. We will work on creating a flyer. Dan
volunteered to help sell tickets at the door. Marion said we are looking for
sponsors to help defray concert expenses such as printing of flyers, tickets
and programs, as well as for sound and lighting needs. Yvonne is working on
publicity and has reached out to WFlA Channel 8, as well as a local
representative of the Spanish TV network Univision, and community radio
station WMNF. Marion suggested contacting the Sunday morning radio public
interest shows to procure an interview. 

Miranda said that fund raising will be especially important if we want to
keep the $2000 minimum in our bank account to avoid the monthly fee. She
said we will all need to be involved in raising money to help pay for
members' banquet tickets and registration.

 

Marion suggested we look into holding a Spirit Night at Gaspar's Grotto in
Ybor City. He plans to ask management if he could give a short performance.
Miranda suggested we consider holding this event in August. All were in
favor of looking into this. 

 

State Convention

Miranda said we need someone to be in charge of organizing our chapter's
auction basket. It needs to be completely put together before the start of
convention. She once again called for volunteer(s) to call local businesses
to find out whether the contact information we have from our last Tampa
convention is correct.

Marion will send out an email to the chapter list detailing how much money
we would need to raise to pay hotel expenses for half a hotel room for four
nights, plus banquet and registration.

for each person planning to attend state convention.  He said it would be
helpful to set such a concrete goal to help motivate us in our fund raising
efforts.

 

Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser

We decided to hold our traditional Beef O 'Brady's pancake breakfast on July
29, the fifth Saturday of the month. This will closely follow the annual ADA
event held on July 26th. Marion suggested we upgrade and increase the
breakfast price by including the choice of mimosas. Miranda will look into
this with the restaurant manager, as well as confirming our proposed pancake
breakfast date.

Sherrill will check with the Old Carrollwood Publix to see if we can have an
information table on a Saturday in July. Last year this proved to be a
successful way of publicizing our breakfast and receiving donations.

 

Old Business

Miranda said that Kristine Copley won the Amazon gift certificates in our
March membership campaign which involved bringing a guest or guests to the
chapter meeting.

Kristine brought up the FABs "give back" event for veterans, which will
involve bringing nonperishable food items to be collected at our state
convention. This project is still in the planning stage, but Kristine hopes
that the students can get all chapters on board. She will send out an
explanation of this proposed project to our chapter list.

 

Marion said the local company Flair from which we bought our chapter polo
shirts now only does  embroidery. Marion will investigate where we can now
purchase new shirts.

 

Louise asked whether we could resume holding a statewide 50/50 drawing.
Miranda will look into it. 

Our 50/50 fundraiser drawing was won by Noe Villeda, who received $20.

 

Our next meeting will be held on June 24.

The meeting was adjourned at1:55 PM.

Respectfully submitted

Sherrill O'Brien, Secretary

Tampa Bay Chapter

National Federation of the Blind of Florida

 

Phone 813-935-0474, cell 813-767-1890

email Sherrill.obrien at verizon.net <mailto:Sherrill.obrien at verizon.net> 

 

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise
expectations because low expectations create barriers between blind people
and our dreams. You can live the life you want! Blindness is not what holds
you bac

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