[Ohio-talk] Fw: BUCKEYE UPDATE - April 13th, 2009

[Dr. Smith]

See you on April 25th.

JW

Dr. J. Webster Smith
President National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
P.O.BOX 458 Athens, Ohio, 45701-0458
Phone Number - 740-592-6326
"Changing What it Means to be Blind"
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "J. W. Smith" <jsmith1 at ohio.edu>
To: <Dr. John W Smith :>
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 3:46 PM
Subject: BUCKEYE UPDATE - April 13th, 2009


>I trust you all had a wonderful Easter holiday time with your family and 
>friends. I took my youngest daughter Joshelyn to Chicago with me this year 
>for my annual Easter visit and as I expected, she was the star of the 
>weekend. For the past 19 years I have spent Easter at a particular church 
>and it was an added attraction to have my daughter to sing a song before my 
>sermon.
>
> April 25th Board Meeting
>
> I hope you are all making plans to join us for our spring board meeting to 
> be held Saturday, April 25th from 10-3.  We will be meeting at the 
> Gethsemane Lutheran Church located at 35 East Stanton in Columbus. I hope 
> that all committees and divisions will be prepared to report on your 
> progress to this point of the year, and once again we will be having our 
> gourmet food basket fundraising drawing.  I'm sure that Cindy Conley would 
> want me to remind you once again to bring your money for the raffle 
> tickets and great products for the baskets.  Additionally, for those of 
> you who do not have access to email, if you would like to have a lunch for 
> the meeting from Wendy's please contact Cindy at 513-608-1399.  Of course 
> those of you on email can contact her at cconley at fuse.net and clarify in 
> the subject area your specific lunch order. Lunch will be served from 12-1 
> and we will be providing a variety of beverages.
>
> I will be sending out the agenda probably early next week, but I want to 
> highlight that in our afternoon session we will have a presentation on the 
> Ohio State School for the Blind Marching Band trip, a legislative update, 
> and we will discuss the findings of our ad-hoc committee.  It is important 
> that we start on time so please try to be there, even early if possible, 
> so that we can use our time efficiently.
>
> Many chapter presidents have already received your Jernigan fund raffle 
> tickets and some of you have requested that I bring them to the meeting. 
> For those of you unfamiliar with this fund, these tickets sell for $10 
> each but the winning prize is $1000 and an expense-paid trip to next 
> year's national convention. Also, the chapter that sells the winning 
> ticket will receive $500 so you should write your chapter name on the back 
> of your stubs. I will be bringing the unclaimed tickets to the board 
> meeting for anyone that would like to purchase them there or sell them. 
> Remember that you should make your checks out to the NFB of Ohio but we 
> will submit one check for all the tickets sold. Make sure to put in the 
> memo line that your check is for these Jernigan tickets.
>
> Toledo and Wooster
>
> I am pleased to tell you that our membership committee had a wonderful 
> turnout for the March 21st meeting in Toledo.  They tell me that there was 
> great interest and enthusiasm and it is highly probable that we will be 
> forming a new chapter there on April 18th.  Join me in commending Chairman 
> Payne and President-Emerita Barbara Pierce for their excellent work in 
> Toledo on March 21st.  Colleen Roth has been doing an excellent job in 
> every respect as it relates to the establishment of this chapter.  Please 
> join me in thanking her for all of her efforts to this point and for her 
> continued service to this organization and to the future success of this 
> chapter. She is an excellent example of someone who is willing to do the 
> work irregardless of any kind of title or label.
>
> On March 28th we had a good meeting in Wooster, and although we did not 
> formally establish a chapter that day I think we made some more positive 
> steps in that direction. Please join me once again in thanking Richard 
> Payne, the chair of our membership committee, for his presence and 
> effective input. I think though the stars of that meeting were Crystal and 
> Macy McClain.  I asked Crystal to come to that meeting because in our 
> previous time there, we met several parents that I thought could benefit 
> from her experience and expertise as a parent of a blind child. Crystal 
> left her home early on the morning of March 28th and picked up Chairman 
> Payne and myself and made considerable contributions to that meeting in 
> Wooster. Macy also contributed and utilized her excellent communication 
> skills effectively.  We will continue to work with Diane Johnson and I 
> firmly believe that when the time is right we will have a chapter in 
> Wooster as well.
>
> I am continuously reminded of the service that many of you provide to this 
> organization, and I want you to know how appreciative I am of your 
> efforts.  We are all volunteers in this organization and I know that most 
> of you have very busy lives, and the fact that you continue to demonstrate 
> your commitment to our movement is refreshing and exciting to me.  It is 
> such a joy to work with you and it makes my job just a labor of love.
>
> I'm sure that Chairman Payne will have much more to say about these kind 
> of activities and where we go in the future as it relates to chapter 
> building and revitalization. At the end of this update I will list our 
> annual goals again so that we can all keep them fresh in our minds.  They 
> are all important and the one about chapter building and revitalization in 
> my mind is crucial for the future of our movement in Ohio.
>
> Special Event
>
> I just want to inform you about a special event that I will be hosting 
> here in Athens on May 31st.  I am calling it Sunday With Dr. Feelgood and 
> Friends. As some of you may or may not know, Dr. Feelgood is my stage name 
> for my secular performances. I hope to make this an annual fundraising 
> event and you are certainly welcome to join me on May 31st or in future 
> years.  I plan on making this event an annual gathering the Sunday after 
> Memorial Day. This year's event will be held at the Athens Community 
> Center which is located at 701 East State Street.  The event will run from 
> 2-6 and will feature musical performances by myself and several local 
> bands.  All donations will go to the NFB of Ohio and each year these funds 
> will be used to help us support as many people as possible to attend the 
> National Convention.  I'm not asking any of you to do anything for this 
> event this year.  It is my small way of making a contribution to our 
> organization.  I am so excited that many of my friends convinced me that 
> this would be an excellent way to provide some entertainment for our local 
> community and to raise funds for a worthy cause. We have raised about 
> $2000 in donations to this point with a goal of at least $5000, and I 
> firmly believe that we will be quite successful.
>
> Conclusion
>
> As I conclude this update, remember to contact Crystal McClain at 
> 937-935-6188 or mcmcclain at charter.net to reserve your seat on the bus for 
> the national convention.  The bus will depart from Cincinnati, Ohio on 
> July 2nd and make stops in Dayton and Toledo, arriving in Detroit at about 
> 8pm.  It will make the return trip using the reverse route leaving from 
> Detroit on July 9th.  We are asking for a $20 deposit which you will get 
> back once you have claimed your seat.  But finally as we get ready for the 
> board meeting, let me reiterate our 2009 goals.
>
> 1. To get as many people to the convention in Detroit and our state 
> convention to be held in Columbus, Ohio.
> 2. To build new chapters and revitalize existing ones.
> 3. To fill the Director of Field Services position.
> 4. To explore and pursue new funding sources.
> 5. To promote Braille literacy and the 2009 Louis-Braille coin.
> 6. To solve the NEWSLINE funding stream problem.
>