[Nfbsf] NFBC SF Chapter's August 2010 Meeting Minutes

[jktomasell at aol.com]

NFBC San Francisco Chapter Meeting Minutes on August 21, 2010

The August chapter meeting of the National Federation of the Blind of 
California San Francisco Chapter happened on Saturday August 21, 2010.  
This month’s chapter meeting was led by Jonathan Lyens, current second 
chair vice president of the NFBC San Francisco Chapter.  The reason why 
is because our current chapter president Eric Holm was absent for this 
month’s chapter meeting.   This month’s chapter meeting was called to 
order at 1:10 pm.

As it states in the chapter’s constitution there was three 
constitutional chapter board members and one third of the chapter 
members in attendance at this month’s chapter meeting to have quorum to 
have an official chapter meeting on August 21, 2010.

The following chapter members were in attendance for this month’s 
meeting:  Jonathan Lyens, Jaime Tomasello, Seth Webster, David Chan, 
Darian Smith, & Heather Williams.

The following chapter members were not in attendance for this month’s 
meeting: Eric  Holm, Ed Vaughn, Tanya Vlatch, Jim Blacksten, LisaMaria 
Martinez, Kathryn Stewart –  Lopez, Pat Munson, Jack Munson, & Serena 
Olsen.

The following guests were in attendance for this month’s meeting: 
Lauren Manierre.

Reading of the Minutes:

As of the June 2010 chapter meeting the motion of the chapter’s 
secretary sending the last  several chapter meeting minutes starting 
with the November 2009 to the June 2010 meeting  minutes via email to 
all current chapter members by email was approved.  Jaime Tomasello, 
current chapter secretary of the NFBC San Francisco Chapter asked 
everyone who attended this month’s meeting if they received that email 
and unfortunately found out that those who attended this month’s 
chapter meeting did not receive that email.  It was suggested that 
Jaime send all the minutes that have not been read and approved 
including the minutes of the August meeting to all current chapter 
members again so we can approve all the minutes at the September 
chapter meeting of the NFBC San Francisco Chapter.  Darian Smith made 
the motion that Jaime send all the minutes that have  not been approved 
  yet including the minutes of the August chapter meeting minutes to all 
  current chapter members  via email again so we can approve all the 
minutes at the September  chapter meeting of the NFBC San Francisco 
Chapter.  Seth Webster seconded the motion.  All who attended this 
month’s chapter meeting agreed and voted on this motion.  The motion 
was approved and carried.

Treasurer’s Report:

Seth Webster, current chapter treasurer mentioned that we officially 
have our new checking account in place at the Van Nyes and Market 
Street Bank of America branch in San Francisco.   As of Thursday before 
this month’s chapter meeting happen both Seth’s and Eric’s signatures 
are on record for the chapter’s checking account.  When Eric and Seth 
were at the  bank the following occurred: ordering of new checks for 
the account, online banking for the  account was set up, and signing up 
for a VISA bank check card.  Seth mentioned that with the bank check 
card that we have to make a purchase once a month with the card and we 
as the chapter be charged a charge for the months that we do not use 
it.  Seth did not know how much the charge was because the information 
was in the packet that Seth received when he went to the bank.  
Jonathan asked Seth if he can look into seeing how much the charge 
would be if we do not use the bank card per month.  Seth suggested that 
maybe by purchasing snacks for the monthly meeting we as the chapter 
can use the check card and then everyone can pitch a few dollars and 
return that money back into the chapter’s checking account.  The 
following is his report for this month’s chapter meeting.

+ $1,560.93 from the cashier’s check from Bank of America from the 
chapter’s old checking account.
+ $100.00 donation that Ed Vaughn received for the chapter.
+ $5 for Eric Holm’s 2010 chapter dues
+$5 for Ed Vaughn’s 2010 chapter dues.
+ $5 for Jonathan Lyens’s 2010 chapter dues.
+$5 for Jaime Tomasello’s 2010 chapter dues.
+ $5 for Seth Webster’s 2010 chapter dues.
+ $5 for David Chan’s 2010 chapter dues.
+ $5 for Jim Blacksten’s 2010 chapter dues.
+ $5 for Elizabeth Stewart’s 2010 chapter dues.
+ $5 for Kathryn Stewart – Lopez’s 2010 chapter dues.
+ $5 for Pat Munson’s 2010 chapter dues.
+ $5 for Jack Munson’s 2010 chapter dues.
+$5 for Joanne Vaughn’s 2010 chapter dues.
+ $5 for Heather William’s 2010 chapter dues.

New Balance: $1,725.93.

The motion for this month’s treasurer’s report was made by Seth Webster 
and was seconded by Jaime Tomasello.  All those who attended this 
month’s chapter meeting agreed and voted on this motion.  The motion 
was approved and carried.

Event’s Committee Report:

At the June’s chapter meeting it was mentioned by the chapter that Eric 
appoint Tanya Vlatch as chairperson for the event’s committee though 
she was absent from the chapter meeting.  Seth mentioned at the last 
month’s chapter meeting that he was going to try to contact her and ask 
and hopefully she would come to this month’s chapter meeting and accept 
the appointment from Eric as the chapter’s events committee chairperson 
but Tanya was absent again for the chapter meeting.  Darian suggested 
that we should not have a chairperson for the event’s committee and to 
allow the entire chapter work together to allow more chapter members be 
involved with events for the chapter such as the A.G. Ferrari holiday 
event.

A.G. Ferrari Holiday Event:

Seth mentioned that the manger at A.G. Ferrari was contacted by Eric a 
few days before the chapter meeting for this month but the manager was 
on vacation.  Seth was going to try to contact the manager again to see 
if we can have our holiday event again at that location.  If the 
manager agrees with us having the holiday event at A.G. Ferrari again 
then we as a chapter need to start asking and receiving items for the 
raffle and also auction for the event.  Heather suggested that if we as 
a chapter do this holiday event at A.G. Ferrari as a yearly event that 
we need to start in January of each year because that is when stores 
will be more agreeable to give us donations as an organization.  Darian 
suggested as an idea that a group of us could go together and start 
asking for donations for the holiday event rather doing this task 
alone.  He also thought this might be a good idea for a “meet the blind 
month” activity by handing out NFB & blind literature with the donation 
letter so we would be out there in the community doing both things at 
the same time.  Heather suggested that we can ask the disabled 
students’ offices to put information about either the holiday event or 
the chapter as advertisement at the local colleges.   Heather suggested 
Diablo Valley College or as Darian suggested City College in San 
Francisco.  Seth suggested that we could promote the holiday event by 
posting flyers around his apartment building and he also mentioned that 
he could go around some of the floors and just put a flyer in front of 
the front door of people’s apartment doors.  Seth was going to check 
with the resident manager at his apartment building to make sure that 
was all right to sent out flyers for the event that way.  Seth 
mentioned last year A.G. Ferrari printed and gave the chapter flyers 
for the event at A.G. Ferrari.  Seth mentioned that he would try again 
to contact the manager at A.G. Ferrari  sometime this upcoming week to 
see if we can do our event again and also if the store will  
participate by assisting the chapter with the event before and during 
like last year.  Jaime asked if the donation letter was still around 
 from last year’s event and if so who we can get it from.  Seth 
suggested that he could ask Jim for it.  Darian mentioned that he had a 
copy of it on his computer and that he could send it out sometime this 
upcoming week.  Jonathan asked Darian if he could send it to him so 
Jonathan.  Jonathan asked Seth if he would like to be the chairperson 
for the holiday event for this year at A.G. Ferrari since he has done 
some of the work to get this event running.  Seth said yes to become 
the chairperson for the holiday event for this year.

Meet the Blind Event:

Jonathan asked the chapter if we as a chapter if we wanted to do a 
“meet the blind” event for the chapter since we do this irregularly.  
Everyone who was at this month’s chapter meeting agreed with Jonathan 
that we as a chapter should do this.  There was discussion of the many 
ways we as a chapter could do such event.  Jonathan mentioned about his 
idea for a “meet the blind” event is to do a walk in the dark at 
Chrissie Fields as an event.  Jonathan suggested that we as a chapter 
could gather many canes and probably sleep shades from LisaMaria for 
this event and at this event we could go in groups so sighted people 
can experience what it is like using a cane as a blind individual.  
Also maybe we as a chapter could purchase canes through the 
independence market through the national office for this event.  Darian 
suggested that since the national office of the NFB is still promoting 
their free white cane program that maybe we can receive canes and sleep 
shades that way rather than purchasing them through the independent 
market through the national office of the NFB.  Jonathan suggested that 
if we asked through the free white cane  program through the NFB that 
whatever they give us for this event that we would give these  canes 
away to those who are blind and do not have a proper length of a white 
cane or do not have  a white cane at all.  If we do this event at 
Chrissie Fields in San Francisco we need to talk to the city’s parks 
and recreational department to get permission to do this event.  David 
suggested that we as a chapter could do this event at Treasure’s Island 
and there was discussion of doing this event at other locations around 
the city as alternatives but the majority of the chapter who was at the 
meeting seemed that Chrissie Fields would be the best place to do such 
event.  Jonathan strongly urged that we need people from the chapter to 
do the preparation for this event to make the event successful if the 
chapter wants to do this event and to make it successful.  Both Darian 
and Heather volunteered to help for this event if the chapter agrees to 
do such event.

The following steps have to happen for this event.  Jonathan will 
contact the general manager for the city’s park’s and recreational 
department to see if we can do our walk in the dark event idea at 
Chrissie Fields.  There was discussion of having this event on Saturday 
October 16, 2010 instead of having our regular monthly chapter meeting. 
  Seth suggested that we should have literature about proper manners and 
attacks with dogs that are pets versus service dogs since there are so 
many issues with dogs as pets with service dogs.  Jonathan asked Seth 
if he could get this information so we could have it for the event.  
The idea of picketed information about the NFB, blindness, and a copy 
of the chapter flyer so be at this event so we can pass this 
information out to those who participate in the event.  Seth mentioned 
that he would contact Jim since he was the one that ordered the last 
batch of information for the holiday event for last year.  Jonathan 
mentioned that we should have bundled packets of information rather 
than single pieces of paper that can get lost easily.  Jonathan asked 
David to create a rough draft of a flyer for the event and to send it 
to Darian if David needs assistance.  David mentioned that he could get 
this task done the middle of this upcoming week and send it to Darian.  
Once Darian receives it he will send it to Jonathan.  After we get a 
finalize copy of the flyer and get some  answers about the location for 
the event then we can start promoting the event by putting the  flyer 
on various list serves and other places that the chapter can think of.  
We would like to have a table of blind adaptive items such as Braille 
and other adaptive items for a table for the event if we can have a 
table.  Also there was discussion of having literature and also maybe 
selling the chapter’s pin as a fundraiser during the event.  There was 
also talk of having simple and easy exciting things for children for 
this event such as trying to fill a cup of water with a pitcher of 
water blindfolded.  Figuring the difference of coins or having a box 
with something to feel inside and you have to feel what it is without 
looking.  It was suggested that Jonathan be the chairperson for this 
event since it was his idea.  There will be more discussion about this 
event at the next month’s chapter meeting.  Seth Webster made the 
motion that we as a chapter have the walk in the dark event on October 
16, 2010 as the chapter’s “meet the blind month” activity for this 
year.  David Chan seconded the motion.  All who attended this month’s 
chapter meeting all agreed and voted on this motion.   The motion was 
passed and carried.

Membership Committee:

Jaime Tomasello, current membership chairperson for the chapter made 
her report at this month’s chapter meeting.  Unfortunately due to 
personal reasons outside of being involved with the chapter Jaime had 
to resign from being chairperson for the membership committee.  She 
also commented about the current situation with the chapter’s list 
serve and how there are many people who are on it that the chapter does 
not know who they are.  People who are no longer  members of the 
chapter are still on it and only a small amount of current chapter 
members of the  chapter are signed up for the chapter’s list serve.  In 
the past we as a chapter have had this discussion of how to maintain 
the subscribers who are on the chapter’s list serve and try to find out 
who those that we do not know try to find out and invite them to 
meetings and chapter events in hopes of more people joining the 
chapter.  Jonathan asked if there is an official membership list of 
those who have paid their dues for this year.  Darian suggested that we 
should create a spreadsheet showing who have paid their dues, who 
attends regularly to chapter members, and who is active or not in the 
chapter.  Jonathan asked Jaime to send the spreadsheet to both him and 
Eric via email as soon as Jaime could.  Jaime also asked if the chapter 
wants her to create a rough draft of a note to those that we either do 
not know who are subscribed onto the chapter’s list serve and to those 
who do not come regularly to chapter meetings to join into the chapter. 
   Jaime will start working on such draft and will send it to both Eric 
and Jonathan via email.  Jaime Tomasello made the motion that we as a 
chapter try to outreach to those who are not active in the chapter but 
are signed up on the chapter’s list serve and to subscribe all current 
chapter members onto the chapter’s list serve if they are already not 
subscribed to the chapter’s list serve.   Darian Smith added to the 
motion that the list of all potential members should be divided to the 
chapter board members and for the board members contacts these people 
to extend a friendly welcome to the chapter.  Darian Smith seconded the 
motion.  All who attended this month’s chapter meeting all agreed and 
voted on this motion.  The motion was approved and carried.

State Convention:

Jonathan mentioned the following details about this year’s state 
convention.  State convention this year is happening from October 21 – 
24, 2010 at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Irvine, California.  The rate for 
the hotel per night for state convention is $84 + tax per night.   More 
information and pre registration form are on the NFB of California’s 
website which is at www.sixdots.org.  The last day to pre register is 
October 6, 2010.  There was discussion about the affiliate’s $150 
matching chapter/affiliate matching grant.  There was discussion that 
if there are several chapter members from this chapter who want to 
attend state convention this year and need the financial assistance to 
attend convention then we as a chapter should go over the allotment 
that the matching grant program gives to chapters in the affiliate 
since we as a chapter have significant amount of funds in the 
treasurer.  There will be more discussion about the matching grant 
program for state convention at the next chapter meeting in September.

NFB of California Scholarship:

Jaime reminded everyone at the chapter meeting if you are a student and 
are looking to apply for financial assistance for school.  The deadline 
for the NFB of California’s academic scholarship is September 2, 2010.

There was no report of the presidential release or this month’s NFB of 
California’s state bulletin at this month’s chapter meeting.

Jonathan thanked everyone for coming to this month’s chapter meeting 
and reminded that the next chapter meeting will be on Saturday 
September 18, 2010 from 1-3 pm. Here at the San Francisco Lighthouse 
for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Jaime Tomasello made the motion for the chapter to adjourn from this 
month’s chapter meeting and Heather Williams seconded the motion.  All 
those who attended this month’s chapter meeting all agreed and voted on 
the motion.  The motion was approved and carried.  This month’s chapter 
meeting was adjourned at 3 pm.

Respectfully Submitted By: Jaime Tomasello, Secretary of the NFBC San 
Francisco Chapter