[Ohio-talk] Fw: Fw: BUCKEYE UPDATE - June 11, 2009

[Dr. Smith]

I thought I would send this one out again and remind you that our Caucus 
will be on Sunday July 5 in the LaSalle B room on Level 5 of the Marriott.

It will be held from 5.30 to 6.30 and perhaps some of us could continue our 
time together at least informally right afterwords.

Schedules will be very busy so do what you can ok?

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: "Dr. Smith" <jwsmithnfb at verizon.net>
To: "NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List" <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 7:30 PM
Subject: [Ohio-talk] Fw: BUCKEYE UPDATE - June 11, 2009


>
> 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: <jwsmithnfb at verizon.net>
> Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 12:12 PM
> Subject: BUCKEYE UPDATE - June 11, 2009
>
>
>>I am so excited because my academic year comes to an end this Friday. Yay! 
>>What this means is that if you really need to get an email message to me, 
>>don't use my office address because I will be over here very little until 
>>I return to teaching this summer on July 27th. It has been a long year and 
>>learning my new job as NFBO President has been exciting, but it has added 
>>to my list of things to do, so needless to say, I am really looking 
>>forward to these next 6 weeks.
>>
>> Transportation and the National Convention
>>
>> Here is the official bus schedule.  The bus will depart from Cincinnati 
>> on July 2nd at 3pm. The pickup spot will be the Hyde Park Community 
>> Methodist Church, located at 1345 Grace Avenue, 45208. The next stop will 
>> be in Dayton at 4pm, and the pickup spot will be the Denny's restaurant 
>> located at 1136 Main Street downtown. The next stop will be at the 
>> Holiday Inn French Quarter in Toledo, located off I-75 and route 20, at 
>> 7pm. Arrival time at the convention hotel is scheduled for 8:15pm. Our 
>> return trip will begin on July 9th at 9am. The first stop in Toledo will 
>> be at 10am at the same location as before. We are scheduled to arrive in 
>> Dayton at 12:30pm and arrive back in Cincinnati at 1:30pm. It is 
>> important that you be on time for all of these pickups. In fact, you 
>> should plan on being at the locations at least 30 minutes before 
>> departure time.
>>
>> For those of you driving to the convention, please keep in mind that 
>> parking will be expensive ($25 a day I believe).  Some of you have asked 
>> for assistance in this area, and in general I will assist with any 
>> reasonable transportation cost. For those of you taking the Greyhound, 
>> the station is not very far from the hotel, probably about a $5 cab ride 
>> at the most. I would not recommend that you try to walk to the hotel, or 
>> if you do, that you keep your wits about you, especially if you are 
>> arriving after dark.
>>
>> The OSSB Presentation
>>
>> On Thursday, June 4th, Eric and I attended the OSSB Awards Assembly. 
>> Eric distributed the Braille Readers Are Leaders packets, and we should 
>> be particularly grateful for his service and commitment.  This is just 
>> one of the things that Eric used to do for us in his previous position. I 
>> am pleased and delighted that he was able to do it again this year, and 
>> that his employer allowed it to happen. Eric continues to do as much as 
>> he can for us, and I want to convey my personal gratitude for his 
>> efforts. I was excited to be able to present our financial contribution 
>> to the marching band at this event as well. I'm not sure if they were 
>> more excited about the musical card or the money, but it was clear that 
>> they were most appreciative for our contribution. I tried to convey to 
>> them, in no uncertain terms, how proud we are of their opportunity and 
>> that we will be behind them throughout this process.
>>
>> Conference Calls
>>
>> On Monday June 8th there was a conference call which included myself, 
>> Barbara Pierce, Barbara Fohl, Richard Payne, and our Lake County chapter 
>> leaders. It is clear that there is a need to revitalize that chapter, and 
>> so on September 12th we will be holding a meeting in the area to 
>> ascertain interest and to try to identify new leaders. Our membership 
>> committee will be spearheading this effort once again, so keep your 
>> fingers crossed that we will be successful. On Tuesday June 9th, the 
>> personnel committee met to discuss the present and future of our 
>> mentoring program, and subsequently made an offer for Debra Kendrick to 
>> consider, which includes a scaled-down version of our present program for 
>> 2010. It is my hope that we will have something to present to board 
>> members at the National Convention for consideration.
>>
>> Finally, I don't know about you, but I am getting excited about the 
>> convention this year, and it seems as if it's going to be well-attended 
>> and that we will have a very nice Ohio delegation. I would like for you 
>> though at this time to pray for and send positive thoughts to several of 
>> our members who are experiencing life's challenges right now. I don't 
>> want to be more specific here, but let it suffice to say that several of 
>> our members can only be helped by the love and warmth of our Federation 
>> family at this time in their lives. I will probably not write an 
>> extensive update before the convention, but I will as usual send out 
>> small reminders of importance when I feel they are warranted.
>
>
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