[Nfbmt] NFB of New Jersey At Large Chapter Meeting 09/24/2015 6:00 MDT

Tue Sep 22 18:56:17 UTC 2015

We were invited.  Joy 

National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey At Large Chapter 74th/75th
Conference Call

August 27, 2015

1. Roll call: 20 members in attendance

Joe Ruffalo, President

Brian Mackey, Secretary

Amy Albin

Wessley Burden

Les Cameron

Annemarie Cooke

Jerry Fontenelli

Chris Franz

Misty Hagan

Alisha Hawkins

Jimmy Hulme

Lydia Keller

Michael Klein

Melissa Pearl

Angela Perone

Dominick Petrillo

Andrew rees

Winnie Sekela

Christine Sisco

Jennifer Uchanow

2. Called to Order by President Joe Ruffalo at 8:03 pm. Joe opened the
meeting with the NFB elevator message. Thank you and compliments to both
Linda DeBerardinis for making the reminder phone calls and Brian Mackey for
sending the minutes 10 days prior and a reminder message two days prior.

3. Secretary's report: Brian Mackey

Dominick Petrillo motioned to accept the June 2015 minutes as presented,
seconded by Andrew Rees, and unanimously approved.

4. Treasurer's Report: Joe Ruffalo

Joe Ruffalo stated that the ending balance for August 2015 is $677 with
pending dues. Misty Hagan motioned to accept the treasury report, seconded
by Dominick Petrillo, and unanimously approved.

5. Dues: Joe Ruffalo

We will begin collecting dues for 2016 in the amount of $5 a year shortly.
When you write your dues check for 2016, Make it payable to NFBNJ and write
2016 At Large Chapter dues in the memo. Dues allow members to speak on the
floor, hold motions, to be appointed to committees or serve on the board.

Send dues payments to:

Joe Ruffalo

254 Spruce Street

Bloomfield, New Jersey 07003

6. Presidential Release: Discussion

Joe Ruffalo stressed the importance of listening to the Presidential
Releases provided by NFB President Mark Riccobono which connect NFB members
on national, state, chapter, and personal levels. To listen to either the
August 2015 or previous Presidential Releases, visit
www.nfb.org/presidential-releases or dial 443-341-4234
<http://www.nfb.org/presidential-releases%20or%20dial%20443-341-4234> . You
can also listen on the NFB Connect app on the iPhone, or as a podcast on the
newer Victor Reader Stream.

7. Legislative Updates: Joe Ruffalo

There was supposed to be a protest in New York City yesterday to encourage
the local school district to not use inaccessible Amazon products for their
students. The school district meeting to vote on purchasing the Amazon
product was canceled at the last minute so that they can review the issue
and the NFB's concerns further before taking the vote. Stay tune for further
developments.

Letters had been sent out by Brian Mackey regarding making appointments with
Congressional representatives while they are on recess to encourage them to
cosponsor the TIME (Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful Employment)
Act (HR 188 and S 2001). If you can't make an appointment, at least call
them and send them the template letter provided by Parnell Diggs. When you
send in your letter to the Congressional representative, make sure to
include the TIME Act fact sheet. When you do any of these things, contact
Rose Sloan (rsloan at nfb.org) and Parnell (pdiggs at nfb.org) so that they are
aware for when they do follow-ups. Brian and Linda Mackey, and hopefully
Annemarie Cooke, have an appointment with Congressman McArthur's staff
members at his Marlton office on Thursday, September 3rd at 10am.

8. National Convention Roundup: Discussion

Joe Ruffalo, Brian Mackey, Annemarie Cooke, and other At Large Chapter
members attended this year's national convention. Wessley Burden stated that
he viewed the convention through the live online stream. To view the
highlights from convention, visit
www.nfb.org/national-convention-highlights. That link will be included in
the upcoming issue of the Sounding Board. Both those that attended and
Wessley liked President Riccobono's style of conducting the convention along
with his banquet speech. Everyone shared their highlights from this year's
convention.

On July 8th, the NFB broke the Guinness World Record for the world's largest
umbrella mosaic. The record was 2,170, and is now 2,480. The national center
might have some leftover umbrellas. To find out, call the national center at
410-659-9314.

Jane Degenshein was elected as a board member for the NFB Seniors Division.
Alice Eaddy was elected president of the National Association of Deaf-Blind.
Carol Castellano was re-elected as an officer of the National Organization
of Parents of Blind Children, Bill Cucco was elected to the NOPBC board, and
Holly Miller as NOPBC second vice president. Lynn Reynolds elected as board
member to the National Association of Blind Merchants, and Nicky Gacos as
NABM president. Joe Ruffalo was re-elected as board member to the NFB board
of directors. Congratulations to all!

9. CBVI Strategic Plan: Joe Ruffalo

The Commission's three to five year strategic plan was released to the
general public in early July. Brian Mackey had sent to all prior to
convention and re-sent a couple of weeks ago. The final reminder will go out
in mid-September. Now that the plan is written, we now need to put it into
action. Joe Ruffalo hopes that some of the items written in the plan will
start going into effect starting October 1st and go from there.

10. BELL Program: Joe Ruffalo/Amy Albin 

Amy Albin is a winner in the NFB Writer's Division writing contest by
writing a poem about the 75 years of the Federation. Amy will forward the
poem to Mary Joe Partyka (choirnfb at gmail.com) to be submitted into the Fall
2015 issue of the Sounding Board.

This was the second year of the BELL (Braille Enrichment through Literacy
and Learning) program in Perth Amboy, which was very successful. There were
a total of six students this year, three of which came back from last year.
Amy gave a brief overview about the BELL program. During the event, Verizon
videotaped what was going on during the program and put together a broadcast
on FIOS channel 1. When Joe Ruffalo receives the link, he will share with
all and will be added to Amy's contribution to the Sounding Board.

11. State Convention Updates: All

If you have not yet made your hotel reservations, please do so as soon as
possible. Half of the rooms in our block are gone already! To make your
reservation, call 609-481-6100 and use code NFB. Your credit card isn't
charged until you check in at the hotel. If you registered and can't go at
the last minute, contact Joe Ruffalo (973-743-0075 or nfbnj1 at verizon.net)
and he will find a substitute for your room. Brian Mackey will be sending
out another reminder regarding reserving rooms sometime after Labor Day.

Joe is in the process of putting together the pre-registration form. This
year's convention is November 6th through 8th with pre-convention events on
November 5th. A diabetic seminar/workshop will take place on Thursday from
1pm to 5pm. That same evening, the Technology Division will hold another
Each One Teach One event. Most divisions will be having their meetings on
Friday morning. Friday afternoon will consist of what we usually do Saturday
afternoon. Saturday morning will consist of the usual presentations, but the
afternoon will consist of various workshops. Agenda details and room
assignments are still being worked on. Stay tune for further details.

Joe has invited NJ Talking Book and Braille Center, EDGE program, NJ
Transit, and Advancing Opportunities to do presentations Friday afternoon.
Joe is still waiting for a couple of responses and will follow-up with those
he hasn't heard from yet after Labor Day. Friday dinner is a separate cost,
but all are invited to attend. The Resolutions Committee will conduct its
meeting on Friday at 7pm followed by events hosted by the Guide Dog
Division. The Guide Dog Division is our host division this year. We will be
awarding four scholarships this year; Peter and Louise Facchini Memorial
Scholarship, Gail Ferry Memorial Scholarship, Ed Lewinson Memorial
Scholarship. In addition,  Klaus and Michele Zecnter are funding a STEM
(Science, Technology, Engingeering , and Math) scholarship. We will present
the Distinguish Service Award, which will honor an individual outside of our
organization but has contributed time, energy, and supports the positive
philosopy. Dan Frye will give his CBVI report during Sunday's business
meeting.

If you have any door prizes, they will be greatly appreciated. Door prizes
are any new or unused item. Gift cards are great door prize items. A letter
to get door prizes will be going out soon.

No definite plans regarding streaming the convention this year. We will be
having a gentleman who does the filming for the Association of Blind
Athletes of New Jersey (ABANJ) to film portions of the convention that will
be posted to the website, www.nfbnj.org, sometime after the convention. We
will provide him some type of compensation for providing us his services. We
are hoping to do both a live stream in addition to video on the website.

Joe announced that Amy Buresh, NFB of Nebraska president and NFB board
member, is our national rep for this year's state convention. Amy works for
the Nebraska Commission for the Blind.

12. Sounding Board Deadline: All

Please submit your Sounding Board articles to Joe Ruffalo
(nfbnj1 at verizon.net), Jerilyn Higgins (jdhiggins3 at verizon.net), Mary Jo
Partyka (choirnfb at gmail.com), and Kathy Gabry (specialk38 at aol.com) no later
than September 15th. To view current or previous issues of the Sounding
Board, please visit www.nfbnj.org/SoundingBoard.php.

13. Old Business: All

ThruOurEyes is no longer in existence. Joe Ruffalo explored the possibility
of doing it on NFBLive, but it wouldn't be possible based on how NFBLive is
set up for the individual rooms and not be able to have people call in with
questions or comments, or to listen via the phone. In order to get
additional features, it would cost us big bucks! There might be a
possibility of ThruOurEyes coming back somewhere down the road, but Lenny
Azzarone is done managing the program.

Kevin Sisco is in the process of updating the state website, www.nfbnj.org.
Kevin should be done making necessary revisions by Friday, September 4th. We
will be adding videos and pictures in the near future. When you send your
pictures, please include a description of what the picture is showing so
that it can be labeled correctly. When we are ready to collect pictures and
videos, an email will go out to all. Brian noticed that the logo isn't
viewing correctly, so he referred Kevin to Beth Braum at the national
center. Brian will review the site over Labor Day weekend and will inform
Kevin and Joe what is missing or needs correcting.

14. New Business: All

Joe Ruffalo stated that David DeNotaris will be a keynote speaker at the New
Jersey Commission on Recreation for Individuals with Disabilities 2015
Conference in Monroe Township on September 30th.

15. Round the Phone: All

Brian Mackey announced that he purchased his hosting platform for his
company website. He is waiting to get in contact with a colleague at the pet
supply store he works at in Medford, Pride Paws, who helps with updating
their website. Once he gets in contact with her, he hopes that she will help
him with assembling the website. Joe Ruffalo suggested that Brian get in
touch with Phillip So, who helps with designing and developing websites, to
see what Phillip can do for Brian. Brian will check if Phillip is familiar
with WordPress and if he can assist.

Andrew Rees announced that Somerset County will be putting on another
disability expo. Andrew thought that the NFB might be a good vendor for the
event. Maybe have different information regarding to technology. Joe
suggested that Andrew talk to Jane Degenshein about this. The expo will be
taking place on Wednesday, October 28th. Maybe inform Jane prior to a
Technology Division call so that she can make the announcement, then Andrew
can get some literature from the NFB to have available during the event. Of
course, Somerset County is not AccessLink accessible!

Brian stated that he is in the process of gathering additional information
to put together an updated and revised AccessLink resolution to present at
this year's convention. Joe stated that this was why he invited NJ Transit
to the convention.

16. Andrew Rees motioned to adjourn, seconded by Misty Hagan. Passed
unanimously and President Ruffalo adjourned the meeting at 9:06 pm.

NOTE: The 76th At Large Chapter conference call is scheduled for Thursday,
September 24, 2015 at 8 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Brian Mackey, Secretary

**

The National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey

At Large Chapter 76th Conference Call

Date: Thursday, September 24,2015

Time: 8:00 PM (Eastern, 6 pm mountain)

Call: 1 712 432 0180

Code: 460994

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future.  Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams.  You can have the life you want;
blindness is not what holds us back.

Together with love, hope and determination, we transform dreams into
reality.

Agenda:

1.	Roll Call
2.	Minutes: Brian Mackey
3.	Treasurer's Report: Tom Ferry/Joe Ruffalo
4.	Presidential Release: All
5.	Dues for 2016
6.	Legislation: Joe Ruffalo/Brian Mackey 
7.	Sounding Board: All 
8.	State Website: Discussion 

9. State convention: All

a. Pre  registration form

b. Door prize and auction letter an overview of the pre convention
activities 

c. overview of convention actitities 

d. overview of the exhibit room vendors 

10. Old  Business:

a. Discussion to donate to the state scholarship fund, four recipients  

11. New Business:

a.	need to discuss the October conference call date 

12. Round the Phone: All

13. Adjournment 

Agenda Submitted by

Joe Ruffalo, President

National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey 

The October at large chapter conference call will be determined during the
call.

I will be attending the Nebraska state convention during the usual time of
our conference call.