[Oabs] Meeting reminder and important information

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi all,

We will have our meeting for October this Thursday night at 7:30 PM
using our usual line.  I'll send out another reminder closer to that
time, but please keep reading for some important information about the
division.

At this point a majority of the board of directors has indicated to me
that the wind has effectively run out of the sales.  I wish I could
say otherwise, but for the past several months I too have felt as if I
were pulling teeth, and looking back on the fundraiser I can see in
hindsight there were critical points when we did not have enough
people to make our project happen the way we wanted it to.  I was
talking to Barbara Pierce about it this weekend, and she said it best.
We needed to have a critical mass of people who were willing to show
up and put in some help with projects, and we never did quite get to a
point that was successful.  Even small projects like raffles at
affiliate conventions were huge undertakings for the 3 or 4 people who
consistently made it all happen, and in any situation like this sooner
or later those people are going to burn out.  This is what has
happened here, and after trying to ask for help, pump the membership
up with exciting emails and topics for calls, and emphasize that an
organization can't run with just a board present and in action all
failing, I don't know of anything else to do as president.  I feel
more at a loss for what to do than when I first was elected and was
still learning how everything worked.

Another part of the issue is that Aleeha, Emily, and I, who have been
faithful to the division for the past 3 years at least, are all
entering different phases of our lives or schooling.  Emily is in her
masters program, My music therapy academia is picking up dramatically
and I'm going to start researching with my professors over the
Christmas break---not to mention start applying for internships, and
Aleeha is attending the Louisiana Center.  Furthermore, the leadership
positions we have held in OABS have led each of us to different levels
of involvement in the NFB.  Aleeha and I now sit on National division
boards and Emily is treasurer of her local chapter.  I also recently
joined up with the Miami Valley chapter and hope that I can contribute
there.  It's time for some fresh faces to step up and take on some
leadership for this division if it is going to remain active.

That being said, if nothing is done by other individuals to take
charge the division will be disbanded.  We will vote on this on
Thursday's call as we have to know what we're getting into before
convention next month, so if anyone has strong objections Thursday
would be the time to call in and step up.  If not the division and the
affiliate will follow the prescribed guidelines in our constitution,
and the affiliate will assume control of our assets.  They will be
held for safekeeping in the event that a division is revitalized in
the next several years.  I will read the exact text of the particular
article/section on the call before we make the vote so that everyone
is aware of what will happen.

On a lighter note, we did submit our Gavel Award packet on time with
the information we had.  We also will have a pizza lunch at the
convention no matter what, but the outcome of Thursday's meeting will
decide whether or not we use it for primarily business or social
purposes.  I believe that we may have to take a vote of the membership
to officially disband in a business meeting, but I'll doublecheck that
before Thursday.  I will remain the student contact for NABS until
sufficient interest has been gathered to form the division again.
Aleeha, Emily, and I along with the rest of the board don't intend on
going anywhere in terms of sticking around the Ohio affiliate, but we
just can't carry on as is in the division.  Emily and Aleeha have each
expressed to me that they'd be willing to help the next group get
going and I would be as well.

Student divisions do tend to go through cycles of high and low
activity, with the exceptions of huge states like Texas, but I do want
to emphasize that even though this may seem like a failure we've paved
the way pretty nicely for the next group.  We didn't have a bank
account at all until May of last year, and since that time we've put
over $600 into that account.  We've contributed to two BELL programs,
and also started giving to the affiliate in meaningful ways.  We
contributed to expenses for door prizes for the National Convention,
and I'm sure that we'll probably make a good sized contribution in our
last Money for the Movement for this phase of OABS to go out with a
bang.  If/when another group of students takes over they won't have to
start from nothing as we did, and although I'm personally sad and
disappointed that we didn't quite make it I'm proud of what we *have*
accomplished.

As always, if you have any questions or comments for me between now
and Thursday send them my way.  I hope everyone has a great week.

-- 
Kaiti Shelton
University of Dayton 2016.
Music Therapy, Psychology, Philosophy
President, Ohio Association of Blind Students
Secretary, NFB Performing Arts Division
Sigma Alpha Iota-Delta Sigma