[nfbwatlk] June chapter meeting summary + upcoming events

[mjc59 at q.com]

Hi everyone,

The Greater Seattle NFB chapter had another good meeting on Saturday, June 15th. We actually had 2 meetings that day.

First, about 15 of our members attended the WTBBL Patron Advisory Council meeting that morning. Kim Wyman, Washington's Secretary of State and Rand Simmons, Washington State Librarian were both in attendance and spoke of the legislature's proposed funding cuts for WTBBL. They made it sound like the cuts were a done deal. We let it be known that we are not yet willing to give up and will continue to work with our legislators. Everyone stressed the need for ALL of us to contact our legislators to inform them about what the library means to each of us. The website for finding your state representatives and senators is www.leg.wa.gov. The Legislative Hotline phone number is  1-800-562-6000.

After the end of the PAC meeting adjourned, we held our chapter meeting at WTBBL. There were 18 members and 5 guests attending. We wish to thank Danielle Miller, WTBBL Program Manager, for staying for the afternoon so that we would hold our meeting at WTBBL. Some PAC members stayed for our meeting. We ordered pizza and ate during the meeting.

Our current bank balance is $2,178.07. We received $1,000 from the most recent Blind Café events. Our members served as wait staff, and we also received $120 in tips. Jacob Struiksma and Tanna Shoyo were thanked for working all 3 nights. Andrea Travis, Cindy Bennett and Bo Donaho each helped for one night. We made sure that the Federation philosophy of blindness was communicated to the guests. We may participate in future events.

 We discussed our annual summer barbecue. There is no cost to attend. It will be held on Saturday, July 20th from 3 p.m. 'til closing at the home of Noel Nightingale and Jim Peterson, 3800 S. Ferris Place in Seattle. The chapter will provide hamburgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, all the condiments and the non-alcoholic beverages. Seattle chapter members are asked to bring a side dish, chips or a dessert. Those who wish to have a beer or 2 will contribute $5.This is paid for privately. We would love to see Federationists from all over at our barbecue. Please RSVP via the contact information below so that we can plan for the right number of guests. It is always a lot of fun! 

Patt Copeland and Tony Brown spoke about Vision Loss Connections, an independent non-profit organization. They have organized Goalball teams in the area. The Seattle King Cobras women's team recently won a championship tournament in Vancouver. Tony Brown is now the voice behind the audio described plays at the 5th Avenue Theater. There is also a tactile art class, open to all, which takes place at an art studio in the U-District on the 3rd Thursday of the month. This class has been commissioned to create a tactile art mural for the Mt. Baker Light Rail station. For more information, or to sign up for a VLC class or event, call (206) 282-3913 or email info at visionlossconnections.org. 

As noted elsewhere on this list we are participating in 2 fundraising events this summer. The first is a special Seattle Mariners baseball game. We have a block of seats for the game on Saturday, August 24th at 6:10 p.m. in Section 332 (3rd level, right above home plate). The Mariners are playing the California Angels that night. Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased by going to www.mariners.com/nfb. (Yes, the website is accessible) This is a special website for our block of seats. Depending on how many tickets we sell we will receive $7-$14 per ticket. We have 200 seats available, so there is plenty of room for families and friends.


Our second fundraiser is the Macy's Sop For A Cause event. Shopping passes are available for a requested donation of $5 and can be redeemed at any Macy's store in any state on Friday, August 23rd and Saturday, August 24th. We will have an information table outside the Downtown Seattle Macy's store on Saturday, August 24th from 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Chapter members will also have passes available during the national convention.

As you can tell there is a lot happening in the Greater Seattle Chapter. Come to our barbecue. Come to a meeting. We would love to see you!

Marci Carpenter
(206) 933-7971
mjc59 at q.com