[NFBV-Announce] Minutes from the May 17, 2025 NFB of Virginia Board of Directors Meeting

[jackibruce6 at gmail.com]

>From Sandy Halverson, Recording Secretary, National Federation of the Blind
of Virginia

 


National Federation of the Blind of Virginia


Board Meeting Minutes


May 17, 2025


 

President Soforenko called our meeting to order at 1 PM at Emanuel Baptist
Church in Richmond, Virginia. After thanking Mark and Melody Roane for
making our meeting arrangements, 27 participants introduced themselves,
delegates were identified after which minutes from our January 17, 2025 were
read, corrected to include Annie Ascher on our membership committee, and
approved.

 

Our treasurer reported as of April  30, 2025 our general checking account
balance was $61,806.84 explaining all financial transactions; Mark's report
was accepted unanimously.

 

Tracy next stated we had received a very warm letter from  President
Riccobono thanking us for and acknowledging receipt of our $50,000 donation
to defray some of the legal costs associated with our lawsuit on behalf of
blind prisoners in Virginia.

 

The NFB of Virginia annually reviews our youth protection, whistleblower,
and records retention policies which had been distributed via email. There
have been no changes and each policy was accepted unanimously. Our
accommodations and Conflict of Interest policies had been previously
accepted and Teisha will post all of these documents to our website.

 

We next turned our attention to chapter governance and transparency. John
Halverson, a former president of our DC and Michigan NFB affiliates,
presented some best practices guidance for our division and local chapter
presidents. Local board and chapter meetings should be welcoming and open to
all. Treasurer's reports should be shared with chapter members and each
chapter should meet monthly. Chapter expenditures should be discussed and
voted on during the chapter meeting after which the treasurer executes the
transaction. Otherwise, the chapter or division president should provide
written authorization to the treasurer to transact financial business.
Chapters were encouraged to conduct an annual audit of financial records and
documents similar to our annual affiliate audit report which takes place at
our state convention.

 

Teisha Gillespie next offered strategies for member engagement including
ways to make our messaging more persuasive using Artificial Intelligence
tools. Details from her presentation can be found at:

https://nfbv.org/AI.

 

With regard to our upcoming national convention in New Orleans from July 8
to 13, Jacki Bruce stated our McDonald Fellowship committee met on April 30
and will be awarding four scholarships and we will also have two Kenneth
Jernigan award recipients. We are pleased to have Lisa Kavitz, Debora
Hamlin, Rachel and Elmer Buenaventura, and Chris and Teisha Gillespie as
first-time convention attendees this year. Those interested in mentoring our
first-time convention attendees should contact Mary Durbin.

 

It was next moved that Tracy Soforenko serve as our convention delegate and
Joe Orozco our alternate delegate; motion carried unanimously.

 

Our NFB of Virginia caucus will take place Wednesday, July 9 at 10 PM with
location to be announced when confirmed.

 

Renee Valdez announced we will be selling multi-use wallets and coin holders
at convention and will not be ordering other items until our wallets and
coin holders have been sold. 

 

Those attending our convention virtually were encouraged to gather for
banquet parties.

 

Jacki Bruce described the progress our membership committee is making
through member to member profiles, my journey through blindness Zoom
meetings, NFBV announce list and Facebook changes. Our Prince William and
Eastern Shore chapters are no longer meeting or conducting business. An
in-depth legislative report from Bonnie O'Day was read. Our very busy year
culminated with the presentation of the NFBV Commonwealth Award to Delegate
Hope for his continuing work on prescription labelling implementation, and
Delegate Tran for her assistance with our ITAA legislation signed into law
by the governor.

 

After each chapter and division delegate confirmed donations to each of our
four national funds, NFB camp and door prizes, Jeremy Grandstaff moved the
NFBV add $15,000 to the White Cane Fund, $2,000 to Jernigan, SUN and
tenBroek funds, $250 for NFB camp and $250 for door prizes. His motion was
seconded and carried u nanimously.

 

Our Chesapeake Bay chapter is hosting our upcoming state convention in
Virginia Beach and Stewart Prost provided information about rates and dates;
registrations and reservations should be made by October 7 to avoid late
fees.

 

Our exhibit hall will be open Friday and Saturday afternoons. 

 

Our DEI committee chaired by Renee Valdez is planning a walk-a-thon for
Blind Equality Achievement month and will also be hosting an event at state
convention. 

 

On May 21 and June 5, the Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired will
be holding Zoom calls to help federal employees access employment-related
services.

 

Jimmy Mooris announced 15 Virginians applied for our national scholarship.
We will be awarding three $2500 scholarships at our state convention and all
were encouraged to remind blind students about our state scholarship
program. 

 

Joe Orozco stated there will be three Project RISE students attending our
upcoming national convention with 23 students on our current roster.

 

Sandy Halverson announced another successful year for Silver Bells, we will
be hiring a new coordinator with the job description coming soon, and we
have submitted another grant request to the Board for the Blind and Visually
Impaired seeking continued funding for this program.

 

Division reports highlighted student biweekly game nights, seniors learning
about adaptive sports and participating in exercise classes, and new
opportunities available for blind merchants.

 

After Tracy reminded us our next board meeting will take place virtually on
Saturday, August 2, 2025 at 1 PM, our meeting was adjourned at 4 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Sandy Halverson

Recording Secretary

 

 

Peace,

 

Jacki Bruce

 

Corresponding Secretary NFBV

mailto:jackibruce6 at gmail.com

tel:(757)291-1789

 

Membership Chair

mailto:membership at nfbv.org

 

Find us on Facebook @NationalFederationoftheBlindofVirginia

Find us on Instragram @nfbofvirginia

Subscribe to our Youtube: NFB Virginia

www.nfbv.org <http://www.nfbv.org/> 

STRONGER TOGETHER!

 

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