[Nmabs] Minutes from NMABS meeting for January.

[NMABS President]

New Mexico Association of Blind students meeting minutes
Meeting for January 24, 2010 via teleconference
The meeting was called to order at 7:13 PM
Roll call of members:
Tara Sena
Monica Martinez
Terese Garcia
David Abraham
Britannie Burden
Brianne Kotschwar
Michael Postlethwait
Amanda Youngblood
Christopher Chavez
Alexandria Odonoghue
There were no guests.
Treasurer’s Report: As of 1/08/10 the balance in the account is:
$1,738.85 deposits during this statement totaled $901.00 and
withdrawals totaled $2.67. Tara and Chris ordered and received debit
cards for the student division which will be canceled as soon as the
account is turned over and the new president and treasurer can get new
cards.
David moved, Britannie seconded, no discussion, motion passed. The
treasurer’s report was approved.
Minutes from previous meeting: The minutes from the November meeting
were approved as read with a motion from Brianne and a second from
David, the motion passed.
Fundraising: T-shirts: Tara and Chris will order the t-shirts this
week and they will come in within the next two weeks. The cost for the
shirts is $825.29 including tax.
Mugs: We are selling the mugs with pictures of different NM themes on
them for $10.00. NMABS gets 25% per mug which translates to $2.50 per
mug we sell. Michael and Alexandria are going to take brochures of the
mugs with them to Washington Seminar next week to help us sell them.
We hope to sell the mugs and T-shirts at both State convention and
National convention.
Washington Seminar will be taking place next week, January 31-February
4, 2010. Thank you Michael and Alexandria for attending! The topics
that will be lobbied in front of our legislators are: -- Passage of
the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act;
-- Passage of a Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind; and
-- Passage of the Blind Persons Return to Work Act.
The Commission for the Blind is being threatened by the Governor’s
Commission on Disability because the GCD wants to consolidate the
Commissions for the Blind, Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the Governor’s
Commission on Disability. This would severely hurt the blind community
in New Mexico. The NFB state and Albuquerque chapter have written and
approved resolutions opposing the consolidation. There is a meeting in
Santa Fe on Monday February 1st from 10:00-2:00. There will be a 55
passenger bus transporting all who can come to and from the meeting
that day. The bus will leave the Coronado Mall by Mervyns at 8:00 AM.
We will be returning from Santa Fe no later than 4:30 PM.
We discussed the idea of not having elections for the officers and
board members this year and having elections every other year. Some
concerns were brought up and we will discuss the idea further at the
next meeting.
We also discussed possible activities for the seminar at State
Convention which include: a high school student talking about their
experiences, Michael and Alexandria speaking about their experience at
Washington Seminar, interactive game/ice breakers for new students,
representatives from other colleges, etc.
We also discussed the idea of having a mentoring program such as Big
brothers, Big Sisters with the younger blind children and working with
the parents of blind children on this program. A tentative date for
the first meeting for this will be Saturday February 6, 2010. Tara
called Claudia and is waiting for a return phone call. We would mentor
the parents and let our parents hopefully talk to the newer parents
about the challenges they faced and how they overcame those
challenges.
David moved, Brianne seconded, motion passed, the meeting adjourned at 8:27 PM.