[Nfbv-announce] NFBV Minutes of Board Meeting May 2

[Michael Kasey]

Members,

 

Please review the minutes from our last NFBV Board meeting, Saturday, May 2.
I propose that we may not need to read them during our next Board meeting,
Saturday, august8.

I appreciate Jennifer Shields work as Recording Secretary in taking these
minutes.

 

Thank you,

Michael

Minutes from the National Federation of the Blind of Virginia Board Meeting

Saturday, May 2, 2015

 

            Call to order: 11:00 by President Michael Kasey

            Invocation was given by Melody Roane

            Everyone present introduced themselves.

            Minutes from the January 19, 2015 meeting were read and
accepted.

            The Treasurer's report was read by Treasurer Mark Roane and was
accepted as read.

            Bell Program Coordinator Nancy Yeager announced we will have
four Bell programs. She said we need at least five students for each
program. Flyers and brochures have been sent out to local school districts,
and Nancy will send out these flyers electronically. Jeremy Grandstaff
suggested setting an application deadline for the program.

            Leadership seminar: Vice President Tracy Soforenko and Strategic
Planning and Collaboration Consultant Jeremy Grandstaff lead this seminar.
Volunteer leaders were Stewart Prost, Kim Valko, John Halverson, Nancy
Yeager, and Sarah Patnaude. We discussed qualities of a good leader and ways
to improve leadership opportunities. Participants were requested to provide
feedback questionnaire answers to Jeremy Grandstaff by no later than
Wednesday, May 6.

            Communications update: John Bailey, Chairman of the
Communications Committee, talked about internet outreach and our website,
<http://www.nfbv.org> www.nfbv.org. We also have an NFB of Virginia Facebook
page. The committee plans to build a YouTube presence to answer common
questions about blindness. The committee is looking for people good with
technology, writing, and public speaking to assist in its efforts. Mary
suggested making a video about how to treat a blind person. Chris O'Meally
and Kris Foley offered to help with videos. The Bell program is also looking
for people to assist with creating videos. Sarah Patnaude offered video
assistance from the Student Division. Conference calls for the
Communications Committee are the third Tuesday of every month.

            Organization and Arrangements Committee: Brian McCann and Joe
Hobson, co-chairs. Our 2015 state convention will be held at the Westin
Tyson's Corner in Falls Church, VA from October 30 to November 1, 2015. All
other relevant information is on  <http://www.nfbv.org> www.nfbv.org and NFB
Newsline. Tracy Soforenko encouraged people to suggest seminar ideas for
state convention. It was decided that we will have an auction at the 2015
state convention.

   2016 state convention: The 2016 state convention will take place at the
Wyndham Ocean Front Virginia Beach hotel from November 10-13, 2016. There
will be a three week cutoff for hotel reservations. The president has signed
the contract for 2016.

   National Convention 2015: Tracy Soforenko asked for convention attendees
to contact him by email if they were interested in assisting with shuttling
people between the two hotels. President Michael Kasey announced that we had
thirteen books of Jernigan tickets. We have some Independence Market
volunteers, but any additional people who were interested in helping were
asked to email Michael Kasey. Mary Durban announced we had reserved a
Virginia table. We voted to sell our Virginia peanuts at the 2015 national
convention. It was suggested that we sell flash drives or earbuds as well.

   McDonald Fellowship: We had several people apply to the program. People
interested in mentoring McDonald Fellowship winners should contact Tracy.

   Door prizes: We agreed to match our donations from last year, which were
four $50 cash prizes. We also contributed $150 for the $7500 door prize this
year. In total, we will allocate $4000 for convention, and this amount will
be allocated at the president and treasurer's discretion.

   Caucus: The Virginia caucus tentatively will occur on Monday, July 6,
2015, at 10 PM.

            Report on Richmond Seminar: We were not as successful as we
expected. Vice President Soforenko is looking for ideas on how we can be
better prepared for next year's seminar.

 

                        Committee Reports

            Membership Committee: Mary Durban will be contacting chapters
and divisions to get information on delegates.

            Scholarship Committee: Sarah Patnaude, chair. The application
may be going out earlier in the future, Sarah said.

            Fundraising Committee: Vice President Soforenko suggested our
fundraiser prize should be a fixed amount of money. A fundraising Committee
was created and Bernie Werwie was chosen as chair. Jeremy Grandstaff offered
to help with the committee. Bernie suggested we work on relationship
building with other organizations.

            Bell Program: Rodney Neely will reach out to chapter presidents
and encourage them to connect with Lions Clubs.

 

            Newsline: John Halverson has initiated discussion with the
commissioner in Roanoke to add the Roanoke newspaper to Newsline.

            Advocacy: The NFB and DVBI can work together to create more
opportunities for success.

 

Our next board meeting will take place on August 8, 2015 in Richmond.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:06 by President Michael Kasey.

 

Respectfully submitted

Jennifer Shields, Recording Secretary, National Federation of the Blind of
Virginia