[Ohio-talk] Buckeye Update

Tue Dec 17 20:26:12 UTC 2013

Seasons Greetings To All,

This is a great dialogue! What I have learned,
1. We are concerned about the future
2. It is difficult for us to provide and accept honest constructive criticism
3. some things need to change

I am more of a solution type of person, not that anyone must use my
ideas, however there times we should think outside of the box and
someone needs to stimulate the process and I have no problem with
being that voice!

With any organization that wants to continue good, positive forward
movement,and growth a periodic assessment should be required and
welcomed. One simple method would be to survey the membership using
the SWOT method.
S Stregnths

W Weaknesses

O Opportunities

T Threats

This allows us to know where we stand,before continuing down dead end
avenues. Next, evaluate information provided from survey and
plan/structure for the future. Most Colleges and Universities have
graduate students in areas of marketing, finance, non profit
management,  and leadership development that  are seeking unique
projects for completion of graduation requirements. NFB could explore
this option, it costs nothing,will lend new energey, objectivity, and
a platform for serious renewal of organization. In addition, provides
a framework that leadership can use to tailor make into a strategic
plan that best suits us. Within this process nfb will connect to some
minds greater and a little more open than ours to change. To
accomplish this task, a special committee could be appointed, using
the wealth of knowledge and experience of our current Vice President
combined with past Presidents, a parent and a student. These
individuals can oversee the new project, report to Eric and the board
regularlly, and leave Eric free to maintain the daily/routine
obligations of his Presidency. As a member of nfb/ohio, I have every
confidence that this can be accomplished and would prove beneficial to
the affiliate.
The current and past leadership have performed their duties with the
confidence and assurance of support from the membership, safeguarding
the future of the organization, and I appreciate and applaud  each
one, it is not easy. We are in a great position for change, and
possibly providing leadership and direction for other affilieates that
are struggling with these same issues. Every company, non profit,
church, and school is facing the effects of changes in our downturned
economy.  nfb is not the exception, we may be the model!

Covention, after reading Shelby's notes, it is clear to me that we can
provide proposals for future coventions to board members and will be
allowed full consideration. If this is not true, please correct me,
soon. Because you know I believe in having a plan, smile.
It is my experience that a covention should encompass a variety of
elements that will contribute to it's success with the most important
focus being to fulfill the mission /purpose of the organization.
1. should be affordable to members, and provide some assistance to
those that cannot afford the entire expense
2. Informative and Interactive, taking into consideration those with
other disabilities and how to keep them engaged
3. Should engage and impact the community it is held in, we are
consumers and bring dollars to every city  and we should leave them
with more than just a plus sign in their profit margin
4. Has the possibility to generate funds for the organization and
others living with phisical and visual challenges
5. Participants should always leave wanting more!

 Let me be clear,
I do not think a cobention is a vacation, the many coventions I have
attended tired me out and I needed a few extra days to recover and
absorb everything. I do believe that we should get the best bang for
our buck including amenities! I never indicated that we consider a
"dunp,"I won't willingly make arrangements to spend my money at a
"dump." I agree that if people recieve assistance they have a
responsibility to participate, however everyone is an adult and there
are times when expectations will not be met. However we cannot paint
everyone with the same brush, we have dissappointed others at some
point in our lives, when you learn better you do better.
 If we want to survive this, we should pull together and not exclude
anyone from the process. Being a teamplayer is easy when everything
is going good, but when things become tight following may become
difficult. This is where short term and long range goals, budgeting
and planning play a crucial role for the success of the organization,
our National organization has not survived for these many years on
willy nilly econonomics and planning and we should not either. Trust
becomes the crucial item on the table, confidence in leaders that
exercise, transparency and inclusion is valuable and we should
reinforce these qualities during this time when so many members have
legitimate questions and concerns.

Thanks for indulging me once again, I look forward to everyone's comments!

Trying to stay warm in Cleveland!

Cheryl Fields

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front,
especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take
the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your
leadership.
Nelson Mandela

On 12/15/13, COLLEEN ROTH <n8tnv at att.net> wrote:
>  Hi Cheryl,
> I do want as many people to attend the Convention as possible and I am aware
> that many people do not have the income to attend without assistance.
> My concern is the people who attend any event and do not actively
> participate.
> When someone's way is paid by anyone to attend anything the expectation is
> there that the person will be an active participant and not use this
> opportunity as a Vacation.
> I am not against people having fun but I want people to pull their and
> attend the Sessions which is the main reason they are given assistance.
> No organization will just give people money to have a Vacation at xs'
> expense.
> I certainly feel that those who are attending any organizational meetings
> should be active participants or people we are trying to mentor.
> Those attending should help with fund raisers and help with their expenses
> to whatever extent the" are able to do so.
> Unfortunately at this time worke need to think ways to stimulate some
> donations to the NFBO.
> For many years we were fortunate to have a good fundraiser which meant that
> some of us got spoiled because we didn't have to work as hard to get the
> funds we needed.
> We were also able to help many people attend the Convention and we were not
> as careful when allocating funds to people who did nothing or very little or
> could not even be bothered to attend Sessions or the Banquet.
> I hope people are more concerned about participating when they have
> contributed more and that they will do more.
> I do agree that people will learn and be more involved when they attend a
> State or National Convention.
> It puts things into perspective and energeizes all of us.
> We would really need some phenomenal fundraising events to get as many
> people to the State and National Conventions as we would like to be able to
> do.
> The one caveat I have about getting people there is that those who do not
> attend Sessions and other meetings should not expect assistance in the
> future.
> This is not meanspirited, this is just good economics.
> It shouldn't matter where you live in the State, we should be able to get
> everyone to the Convention who wants to attend and we should be able to get
> that done with good fundraising.
> Local Chapters do need to do some fundraising to help this process along.
> Hats off to those who worked so hard on the Malley's Chocolate fundraiser.
> I do not know anything about smile_amazon_com but it might be good for some
> people who like to order online.
> I think the two Chapters in Cleveland could put on a good fundraiser and
> help a lot of people attend the Convention.
> When I suggested Toledo I wasn't indicating that I wouldn't work on such an
> event.
> We do need to think about the time it takes to get from one part of the
> State to the other when Conventions are planned.
> I am sure that if we got the money we wouldn't have any problem spending it
> to get people to the Convention.
> Colleen Roth
> President
> At Large Chapter
> NFB of Ohio
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Cheryl Fields <cherylelaine1957 at gmail.com>
> To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List ohio-talk at nfbnet.org
> Date: Saturday, December 14, 2013 9:29 pm
> Subject: Re: [Ohio-talk] Buckeye Update
>
>>
>>
>> Hi colleen,
>>
>> I respect your sentiments about the convention. Just 1 little item,
>> the word spoiled!
>> for the last 2 years the Cleveland Chapter has been able to work
>> towards providing transportation and room accomadations for first time
>> convention goers, outside of the present financial framework of the
>> nfb, this is actually a long held tradition of the Cleveland chapter.
>> Most recently, The Cleveland sight Center has contributed greatly
>> towards this effort and so have our own chapter members, and I might
>> add at a great sacrifice. We did this so that people would have the
>> experience. I realize there are some that look for handouts at every
>> turn, but these are not the folks I am speaking of.  For the continued
>> growth of the organization we must consider financial stabilityeaand
>> some ways to provide introductions to newer members at the state level
>> of nfb, and this requires funding. Very few groups and organizations
>> do not provide some assistance to members for cobentions. There are
>> several reasons behind this, first economics, all members are not on
>> the same economic playing field and need the assistance, secondly,
>> incentive, some members will blossom and become more involved after
>> attending a larger assembly, last but not least, the greater the
>> attendance the greater the exposure of the nfb to the community the
>> event is held in creating opportunities for education and an open
>> invitation to others that never herd of nfb. It is my opinion that we
>> must start somewhere to make our convention appealing to everyone.
>>  Toledo would be a great location for a convention and Cleveland is a
>> great location, too. The difference is that I am asking for future
>> consideration and volunteering to be part of the process. keeping with
>> inclusion and dibversity having people from other locations around the
>> state would add balance to the convention, where ever it is held. It
>> is entirely possible to be involved in planning from a remote
>> location, actually you can plan any event remotely quite nicely.
>> In the end, I am sure Eric, Richard, and the board will weigh all of
>> the factors and make intelligent decisions as we move forward.
>>
>> Stay Warm!
>>
>> Cheryl
>>
>>
>>
>> On 12/13/13, COLLEEN ROTH <n8tnv at att.net> wrote:
>> >  Hi Eric,
>> > Please check the dates for the 2014 Convention.
>> > I think you might want to send something changing the dates.
>> > Thanks,
>> >
>> > Colleen Roth
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: Eric Duffy <eduffy at deltav.org>
>> > To: ohio-talk at nfbnet.org
>> > Date: Friday, December 13, 2013 3:55 pm
>> > Subject: [Ohio-talk] Buckeye Update
>> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
>> >> Buckeye Update, December 13, 2013
>> >> It is Friday the 13th. For those of you who are superstitious this
>> >> is not a good day. For those who don't believe in such things it is
>> >> just
>> >> another day, unless the thirteenth has significance in your life for
>> >> another
>> >> reason. I thought of this because I just passed a car accident while
>> >> getting
>> >> on the highway to travel back home from Brookville.
>> >> The Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind of
>> >> Ohio met Tuesday evening. We had a good but short meeting.  I
>> >> appointed
>> >> the
>> >> committees that will do much of the work of the organization in 2014.
>> >> The
>> >> committee appointments will be sent out with the minutes of the
>> >> meeting
>> >> next
>> >> week. Shelbi was very quick in finishing the minutes, and we are now
>> >> giving
>> >> the board the chance to look at them before sending them out.
>> >> I can tell you that it was decided that the 2014 and 2015
>> >> conventions will be in the Columbus area. Specifically we will be at
>> >> the
>> >> Holiday Inn at 7007 North High Street in Worthington. The date for the
>> >> 2014
>> >> convention is October 31 through November 2. Room rates are $76 plus
>> >> tax.
>> >> I have been highly involved with planning conventions for this
>> >> organization for about 26 years. I first started traveling to look at
>> >> hotels
>> >> with Barbara Pierce and Pat Eschbach. Once I demonstrated my ability
>> >> to
>> >> select appropriate hotels for the organization and to successfully
>> >> negotiate
>> >> with the hotels, Barbara turned the responsibility for finding
>> >> suitable
>> >> convention sites over to me. Yes Mary Pool chaired the convention
>> >> committee
>> >> for many years, and she assisted me in this process. But the
>> >> responsibility
>> >> was mine, and I didn't take it lightly. If all went well with the
>> >> hotel,
>> >> people were happy, and Mary and I received a lot of praise. If things
>> >> didn't
>> >> go well with the hotel, then our selection of hotels was questioned.
>> >> That
>> >> really never happened.
>> >> Yes, we had a time or two when we said let's not go back to that
>> >> hotel, but by and large the membership has been pleased with the
>> >> hotels
>> >> we
>> >> have had and the rates we have enjoyed.
>> >> It seems to me that in the early part of this decade the board
>> >> decided that we should hold the convention in Columbus for several
>> >> years
>> >> and
>> >> we did that. We have been in the Dayton area for the last three
>> >> conventions.
>> >> I have come to understand that many who attend convention on a
>> >> regular basis prefer Columbus, because it is centrally located. We
>> >> have
>> >> certainly discovered that we save money by holding our in person board
>> >> meetings in Columbus.
>> >> It seems to me that when everything else is equal among hotels,
>> >> people want a hotel that is easy to get to and good room rates.
>> >> Richard
>> >> Payne once said to me that perhaps people would be willing to pay a
>> >> little
>> >> more for a hotel with some extra amenities. I believe that we must have
>> >> a
>> >> nice hotel that is affordable. Only those who can afford to do so will
>> >> attend the convention. Now that we no longer have money to offer
>> >> convention
>> >> assistance affordability is even more important than it was for many
>> >> years.
>> >> We are in the Columbus area for the next two years, but we should
>> >> think about future conventions and whether or not we want to move
>> >> around
>> >> the
>> >> state each year as we once did.  Is moving around the state important
>> >> enough
>> >> that we want to put time and resources in to finding convention
>> >> locations
>> >> as
>> >> we once did. This certainly food for thought.
>> >> We have the money to make three scholarships available in 2014.
>> >> Deborah Kendrick chairs the scholarship committee and will get
>> >> applications
>> >> out soon.
>> >> The folks at Malley's Chocolate have extended our ordering
>> >> opportunity through the end of the business day on Monday. We have
>> >> passed
>> >> our sales goal of $1,000, but the Cleveland chapter is putting together
>> >> a
>> >> nice order that won't be finalized until Monday. So if you want
>> >> Malley's
>> >> chocolate the clock is ticking, but you still have time.
>> >>
>> >> The winter edition of the Buckeye Bulletin is out. It is another
>> >> good issue. I want to thank Barbara for her work and also thank
>> >> everyone
>> >> who
>> >> contributed to the issue. I read many affiliate newsletters, and I am
>> >> proud
>> >> to say that ours is second to none.
>> >> This is a reminder that our friends at Vanda Pharmaceuticals are
>> >> running a campaign to raise awareness of Non-24 Hour Disorder and
>> >> raise
>> >> funds for the National Federation of the Blind at the same time.
>> >> Non-24-Hour
>> >> Disorder (Non-24) is a serious circadian rhythm disorder that causes
>> >> significant nighttime sleep problems and a wide range of daytime
>> >> difficulties, including an overwhelming urge to sleep during the day.
>> >> According to Vanda, Non-24 affects nearly 70 percent of people who are
>> >> totally blind. Sign up to learn more about Non-24-Hour Disorder by
>> >> calling
>> >> 1-855-856-2424, and a portion of $24, divided among several other
>> >> blindness
>> >> organizations, will be donated to the NFB! And even better, every time
>> >> you
>> >> share the program with someone you know and he or she signs up, Vanda
>> >> will
>> >> make another $24 donation. Sign up and spread the word! I have done
>> >> this.
>> >> It
>> >> is an easy way to get a few dollars in to the treasury of our national
>> >> organization.
>> >> Next week Richard and I will to be traveling to Cleveland to meet
>> >> with the Director of the Cleveland Sight Center and to attend the
>> >> chapter
>> >> Christmas party. I am looking forward to both things.
>> >> I will write again next week. Here is my last reminder about
>> >> Malley's.
>> >> The National Federation of the Blind of Ohio is conducting a
>> >> fundraising activity with Malley's Chocolates of Cleveland, Ohio.
>> >>
>> >> A website has been setup specifically for the National Federation of
>> >> the
>> >> Blind of Ohio fundraising campaign. All purchases made on that site
>> >> will
>> >> directly benefit the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio. To
>> >> connect
>> >> to
>> >> this site, please visit
>> >> http://www.malleys.com/national-federation-of-the-blind-of-ohio
>> >>
>> >> Thank you very much,
>> >> Eric Duffy, President National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
>> >>
>> >> http://www.malleys.com/national-federation-of-the-blind-of-ohio
>> >> Our mailing address is:
>> >> 13400 Brookpark Road
>> >> Cleveland, Ohio 44135
>> >> Contact us by phone: 1-800-275-6255
>> >> Fax: 1-800-211-0567
>> >> All website content C Copyright 2013 Malley's Chocolate. All rights
>> >> reserved.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> Ohio-talk mailing list
>> >> Ohio-talk at nfbnet.org
>> >> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ohio-talk_nfbnet.org
>> >> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> >> Ohio-talk:
>> >> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ohio-talk_nfbnet.org/n8tnv%40att.net
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Ohio-talk mailing list
>> > Ohio-talk at nfbnet.org
>> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ohio-talk_nfbnet.org
>> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> > Ohio-talk:
>> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ohio-talk_nfbnet.org/cherylelaine1957%40gmail.com
>> >
>>
>>
>> —
>> Peace
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ohio-talk mailing list
>> Ohio-talk at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ohio-talk_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Ohio-talk:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ohio-talk_nfbnet.org/n8tnv%40att.net
>
>

-- 
Peace