[Nfbv-fairfax] Minutes from the February 20, 2014 Fairfax Chapter Meeting

[Wanda Taylor]

Hello Everyone,Below are the minutes from our February chapter meeting. Please advise on the headings of the meeting notes and provide any comments at our March 20 meeting, where the minutes will be voted on for approval. 
 

Minutes of the Feburary 20, 2014 Meeting of the Fairfax Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind
 February 20, 2014

Call to Order
The February meeting of the Fairfax chapter of the National Federation of the Blind was called to order at approximately 6:59 PM at Glory Days Grill.

The following people attended the meeting

John Halverson, Taiwan Farmer, Beverly Coney, Cathy Schroeder, Wanda Taylor, Carolina and Susan Garrison, Fred Schroeder, Susan Binbo, Jack Jack and Judy Davies, and Jack's sister, Kaz.

We did not recite the NFB Pledge.

Message from the President of the National Federation of the Blind


We listened to the NFB National President's message.  Dr. Maurer reviewed the following legislative priorities that were discussed at the Washington Seminar:  The 2014 Air Carrier Technology Accessibility Act (ACTA), the 2014 Technology, Education, and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act (TEACH), and the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act.

The NFB President's message also provided an update on the fact that we have obtained some additional cosponsors for the Space Available Program, one of the 2013 Washington Seminar legislative agenda items.

        Dr. Maurer also encouraged all of us to donate money to support the Imagination Fund.  The donation period for this fund is from March through May of 2014.

Dr. Maurer also reviewed the criteria and requested that people be nominated to receive both the Ray Kurzweil Visionary Award and the Dr. Jacob Bolatin awards.

The minimum amount of money that has been given away for the Jacob Bolatin award is $50,000.  There are a few organizations who receive the Dr. Jacob Bolatin award each year.  These organizations combined receive approximately $50,000.  This means that each organization receives part of the $50,000 prize.

President Maurer also reminded us that we should try to participate in Dr. Seuss Read Across America Day on March 3, 2014, which would be Dr. Seuss's birthday.

Dr. Maurer also mentioned his appearance on the Through Our Eyes radio show on February 17, 2014?



Dr. Maurer also told us about the fact that Parnell Diggs is running for Attorney General of South Carolina.

NFB NewsLine Program


Dr. John Halverson presented a program on NFB newsline which allows A person access newspapers and magazines from any city within the United States as well as the T V guide. This is a free service for the blind and visually impaired. 



New Web Site
The Fairfax chapter now has a new web site.  Its web address is

www.nfbv.org/fairfax

Cathy Schroeder is the new web master.



Board of Directors' Conference Call
There was a conference call of the Board of Directors of the Fairfax Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind in January 22 2014  .The people who participated in the conference call were Wanda, Cathy, Beverly, John.  Since there was a quorem, the meeting was not rescheduled. 

Some of the goals that were discussed on the conference call included sending two people to national convention and three people to state convention.  We would also like to assist students with purchasing technology.  We might also want to give gift bags to new members of our chapter.

We discussed the need for fund-raising-more on this later in the minutes.  



Financial Information


Our current checking account balance as of 2/20/2014 was $1546.82.  This means that we have to find ways to earn money.



Fund raising ideas
Beverly suggested that we conduct a 50-50 at each meeting.  

Beverly also suggested that in May, we will meet at the Schroeder's home.  Everyone could bring a bagged dinner and we could auction off each of the dinners to raise money for the chapter.

We decided to meet the week after Easter on Thursday, April 24, 2014, instead of on April 17, 2014.

Wanda will try to speak with Lonny, the manager of Glory Days to see if he can give us some money back from our checks as a donation to the chapter.

 SueGarrison-suggested that we try to talk to some restaurants to see if they would give us a percentage of their total revenue for one night.

We all agreed to bring something to auction off at one of our monthly meetings.  Each person is supposed to bring one item.  For March, Beverly agreed to bring a gift card to auction off.

   We will auction off one item per month.

Dr. Schroeder suggested that we try to contact the outback Steak house to see if they would be willing to let us have a lunch at Outback and let us sell tickets to the luncheon.  The last time that we did this, sometime in 2001 or 2002 type of event, Mary Chapelle and John Bailey organized the event.  Outback paid for the food for the luncheon.  We tipped the wait staff, and we made approximately $2000 from this event.

We could consider organizing a big fund raiser like the Capitol Steps.  But we would have to rent out a large place to have the event, like the Fairfax high school auditorium.  We also might consider asking other nonprofit organizations to partner with us to sponsor a larger fund-raiser.  We could offer our partners the opportunity to raise money by selling tickets to the event.



New Member Information


Jack Davies' email address is 

Jdavies4 at aol.com



Outreach and Publicity
  

Wanda Taylor is supposed to attend her first Lions Club meeting on Monday, February 24, 2014.  She has attended this meeting.

We discussed having a Technology Seminar and a Transportation Seminar.

Rodney is the chairman of the Transportation Seminar Committee and John is his co-chairman.

We discussed inviting transportation providers as well as discussing some transportation oriented applications for the IPhone at the transportation seminar.



Minutes prepared by:

Rodney Neely, for

John  Bailey

Secretary,

Fairfax Chapter

National Federation of the Blind



 
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