[Mi-abs] MABS Draft Meeting Minutes

Wed Jan 3 17:44:03 UTC 2018

Draft Meeting Minutes
December 3, 2017

Meeting called to order at 4:08 pm. All board members were present except for Lizzy. Taylor left the meeting early at 4:36 pm

Ozman asked if everyone had received the agenda for the meeting. Several people indicated they had not received the agenda before the meeting. These people were not subscribed to the MABS email list, and Ozman was going to follow up with those who were not subscribed to the MABS email list.

Rachel provided a report on ideas for advocacy. These included interviewing people at the training center in Kalamazoo on being independent and a goalball fundraiser at Western Michigan University. She thought perhaps we could borrow their equipment at no or low cost.

Rachel said she would follow up with Western to receive more information about the goalball equipment. And jeff said he would provide contact information for the three different NFB training centers to provide a comparison to the Kalamazoo training center.

Elizabeth asked questions about the purpose of the individual tasks and how they fit into the greater picture of what we were doing as a collective board. It was explained that there were three different committees of advocacy, fundraising, and membership, and the individual tasks were to support these three committees.

Dakota and Haley provided a report on fundraising. The first two ideas included a fifty-fifty raffle at the Ski for Light event and a game night Tournament at Camp T.

Haley made a motion to hold a fifty-fifty raffle at the Ski for Light event in January splitting the proceeds between MABS and the Ski for Light Organization. Taylor seconded the motion. The motion passed.

The Camp T game night was discussed with the possibility of everyone bringing an accessible game to play and charging people $5 to play the games with gift certificates being awarded to the winner of the games. Jeff made a motion to table this idea due to a lack of details. Dakota seconded the motion. The motion passed.

The third and fourth ideas for fundraising included volunteering for holiday events and Grandmas cookies for Washington Seminar.

It was discussed that volunteering for various events during the holidays would get our name out into the public. However, this idea was considered to be more for advocacy rather than fundraising. Rachel was interested in following up with this idea as a part of the advocacy committee.

It was discussed that Grandma's cookies would be a good thing to sell at Washington Seminar as it is different than what other people sell. Each box of cookies contains 60 packages of cookies and costs $26.14 per box. If we sold each package of cookies for $1 then we would make a profit of $0.54 per package of cookies or  $32.40 for each box of cookies. It was suggested that each board member who attends Washington Seminar would be responsible for selling one box of cookies while attending Washington Seminar.

Questions were asked about how to bring cookies to Washington Seminar and how and when to sell cookies at Washington Seminar. Details for shipping could be figured out among those traveling to Washington Seminar. Although, purchasing cookies at Washington Seminar and shipping from Michigan for a small fee were also mentioned. The cookies could be easily sold before and after the great gathering in meeting or the student division meeting.

Jeff made a motion to sell the Grandma's cookies as discussed. Rachel seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Jeff provided an update on Washington Seminar. It will be taking place Monday, January 29, through Thursday, February 1, 2018. The NABS student seminar will be taking place 9:00 am on Monday morning with the Grate Gathering In meeting taking place at 5:00 pm Monday evening. Legislative appointments for Michigan will be scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

The state affiliate is sponsoring two rooms for Washington Seminar. The deadline to sign up for Washington Seminar with financial assistance from the state affiliate is December 15, 2017. Those who attend Washington Seminar will be sharing a room with other people.

Elizabeth provided an update from the National Association of Blind Students. This report included information about Washington Seminar and the various committees and membership conference calls that are hosted by the national student division. Board members were asked to contact Elizabeth for contact information regarding how to get involved in these various committees.

Ozman provided a Presidential report. He reported that we have $814 in our treasury account after state convention. There was $400 in the previous account. So MABS gained $418 from dues and fundraising from state convention. He will work with Haley to secure a bank account for the treasury in addition to securing a tax identification number for our bank account.

Fred Wurtzel provided a report regarding a student seminar the state affiliate would like to host in Ann Arbor in the spring centered around the theme of Autonomous Vehicles. The basics for the agenda included technology, careers and employment, and building our organization.

The seminar did not have a set date. However, there was an interest in holding the seminar sometime in April either before or after a larger international conference on Autonomous Vehicles. Hopefully this would allow us to obtain some of the speakers from the larger conference to speak at our seminar.

The state affiliate is looking to receive funding from the Michigan Bureau of Services for Blind Persons for this seminar as the agency is looking to expand its services to youth between the ages of 14 and 26. There are 300 identified blind people this age bracket, and this seminar could serve as a good event for building up membership. The cost to attend the seminar would be free for people between the ages of 14 and 26. The cost of attending the seminar for those who do not fall into this age bracket has yet to be determined. However, the goal is to make the price reasonable.

The state affiliate would like the assistance from the student division to make this seminar fun and exciting for young people. After a bit of discussion and questions about the seminar, Haley made a motion to participate in the seminar to serve as a baseline for growing our membership and supporting the state affiliate. Jeff seconded the motion. The motion passed.

Ozman asked how the state affiliate would like the student division to be involved in this project. Jeff stated that he was already delegated as the liaison between the state affiliate and the student division. However, Fred wanted to work with Ozman as the President of the student division, and board members were asked to send ideas for the student seminar to Ozman as Fred believes this would be the best way to streamline communication for this event.

Next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, January 7, 2017 at 4:00 pm.

Meeting adjourned at 5:40 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Elizabeth Mohnke

Board Member,

Michigan Association of Blind Students