[NFBSF] June Chapter Minutes

[Jim Barbour]

The secretary sincerely thanks Taryn Morris for her help getting these minutes together.

The secretary has made a commitment to the San Francisco chapter board to have chapter meeting minutes emailed out no more than one week after the chapter meeting.

NFB Meeting Notes June 9, 2020

Agenda

1  Member Introduction including pronouns, call location, and quick check-in

2. Treasure Report

3. Announcements

4. Reading of letter from NFB regarding black lives matter protest

5. National Convention with information regarding breakdown of each day, how to sign up, and other logistics

1. Attendees

Christina D.   she/her doing good
Laura M.  she/her feeling lazy but had a good day
Earl B.  he/him first time being here new member
Peter P.  he/him doing good just had dinner with a beer
Jeff B.  he/him feeling refreshed just had wine with dinner
Armando G.  he/him involved with Lighthouse SF Employment Immersion program doing okay
Cindy F.  she/her doing okay had a busy day on Zoom
Amy M.  she/her doing good
Jim B.  he/him feeling better after a long stressful day
Adam R.  he/him glad to be back since it has been awhile since he has been able to be on this call
Bobby P.  she/her/they/them feel good after being able to go back into the office and rode BART with no one on her train felt normal again
Sarah H.  she/her doing okay but having a lot of computer problems
Dora L.  she/her doing well having computer problems that jaws stops talking and has to restart computer to fix the problem
Cayla C.  she/her doing good
Richie he/him happy to be here but says to stay off social media and anxious
Robin she/her doing good
Serena O.  she/her managing a lot of tech problems all at once
Sherry A.  she/her she and doggy feeling good, earlier on connections call was not feeling good but feels better now
Sherry P. she/her had a good work day and was able to go to the beach but got a really bad bug bite 
Taryn M.  -  Me- she/her doing good but had a busy day happy for our meeting
Lisa I.  she/her doing good had a nice dinner

2. Treasurer Report by Sarah H.
Reporting that we have $1,170.70
A little upset that the bank is charging $25 per month for bank account

3.  announcement

There will be NO July meeting due to National Convention

We will still have NFB Leadership speech discussion led by Jim B.

Maybe have watch party and discuss National Convention after but TBD

Lisa and peter have opened up house if people want to go and have offered people to stay over as well

Earl B. would like some type of informal meeting

We will decide details later 

4. Reading of NFB Letter with group discussion

    * Letter was written on June 4, 2020

    * Racism has happened for 80 years and it is now time for a change

    * There is intense grief and learning and we must stand together    and install anti-racism work with our organization

    * We must ask nonblack members to reflect and do something to take place for the black lives matter movement

Group Discussion

    * Lots of discussion about how our chapter will help support Black Lives Matter.
    * Lots of questions about what individuals can do and how they can learn.
    * People are happy to hear these things over and over again in public spaces.
    * Strong sentiment that there are lots of words and feelings, but no actions so far. How can we put our money and privilege where our mouth is?
    * Richie suggests creating a scholarship for a black blind person, along with our mentorship and support.
    * The suggestion was made to  start a monthly conversation around race.
    * The suggestion was made to find a way to make feeding people an act of service our chapter could do in support of Black Lives Matter.
    * Think about a time when you have faced a personal difficulty.  Your friends know about it and say "what I can do to help", or "is there anything I can do to help."  This is usually not a useful thing to offer.  It is generally much better to show up with something.  A card, groceries, a hug, etc.  Doing the work to figure out what is needed goes a long way.
    * Jim moved that the chapter set aside a minimum of $500.00 to spend on a project to support Black Lives Matter.  Cindy and Serena seconded.  It was unanimously passed by attendees.
    
Care Check-Ins

    Jim is starting an effort to reach out to those who are known to us but aren't coming to chapter meetings.  Jim is putting together the list and is working with folks to come up with a script.
    Jim needs volunteers to make calls.

   Volunteers:  Jim, Taryn, Christina, Adam, Cindy, Lisa, Sara, Laura, Amy (for tech), Jeff Buckwalter

5. National Convention Information

    Talked about the structure of the convention, how resolutions are voted on.  The difference between a committee and a division.

    We will discuss a non-meeting meeting during convention.

6. Announcements

    In two weeks, Jim will have NFB leadership speech discussion and will email out link to speech

    There is a daily social community call on Bay Area Blind Facebook page 

    Thank you for candid opinions and discussion and thank Laura for organizing Connections call before meeting