[nfbwatlk] Fw: Meeting of NFBW Board of Directors and Chapter Presidents

[Mike Freeman]

Fellow Federationists:

Below, please find a slightly modified announcement of our upcoming 
Board of Directors meeting and pow-wow to be held in Everett on May 30. 
I urge all who are interested and who can do so to attend.

Mike Freeman, President
NFB of Washington

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
Sent: Friday, March 13, 2009 9:34 PM
Subject: Meeting of NFBW Board of Directors and Chapter Presidents


Fellow Federationists:

In view of the number of exciting or significant events affecting the 
blind both at a national level and in the state of Washington, it seems 
prudent to hold a meeting of the Board of Directors and presidents of 
the local chapters of the NFB of Washington this spring. Gary 
Mackenstadt and I contemplated holding this meeting during the last 
weekend in April at the Ramada Inn Governor House in Olympia. After some 
discussion with hotel staff, however, it became apparent that the hotel 
wouldn't "talk turkey" with us and provide room, meal and meeting 
arrangements for us at a reasonable and affordable price. Accordingly, 
that date is now off the table. Gary has spoken with the staff of the 
Holiday Inn Downtown-Everett where we held our fall convention and we 
have arranged to hold a meeting of the NFBW Board of Directors and 
chapter presidents on Saturday, May 30 at that hotel. Yes, I know; 
purists may object that this is Memorial Day. However, in fact, Memorial 
Day is the previous
  Monday so we're in the clear. Room rates will be $88 per night plus 
tax; all chapter presidents and their roommates will have their rooms 
paid for by the NFB of Washington. Of course, all others are welcome to 
attend but there will be no assistance from the NFB of Washington for 
those not members of the Board of Directors or chapter presidents. There 
may be a couple of slots open for us to shoehorn someone in, however, so 
if you have a sufficiently scintellating or persuasive personality to 
talk someone into letting you stay with him/her, there will be no cost 
to you. In any event, all are welcome to attend.

Lunch will be provided. I anticipate that either a planning session for 
affiliate activities during the next few months and/or a mini-philosophy 
seminar or "how-to" seminar, depending upon your preferences, will take 
place Saturday morning with a formal meeting of the NFBW Board of 
Directors to take place in the afternoon. There will be no banquet meal 
although many may wish to get together afterward for further discussion 
and fellowship.

Those who do not live near Everett will want to come in and stay Friday 
evening at the hotel. A few may wish to stay Saturday evening as well 
although I anticipate that many will wish to go home Saturday evening.

I am attaching two documents from the TOPS (Teaching Other People to 
Serve) handbook to stimulate thinking and discussion prior to the 
meeting. They are articles by Bruce Gardner who was President of the NFB 
of Arizona at the time they were written. A few references and ideas may 
seem out-of-date or irrelevant to us now. However, many of his ideas are 
as useful now as they were a decade ago. In particular, his idea of 
giving various officers and members of the Board of Directors affiliate 
activities for which they would be responsible and about which they 
could report at subsequent meetings of the Board of Directors in the 
interest of efficiency appeals strongly to me. I also think that all of 
us need to do a better job of reading and disseminating our literature, 
explaining our philosophy to potential members and mentoring new 
members. Whether each of these tasks needs a separate committee in a 
small affiliate is something we can discuss either on the NFB of 
Washington's list, among ourselves and at the meeting.

I look forward to your ideas, to lively discussion and to continued 
progress toward our NFB goals.

Mike Freeman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Washington
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