[Nfb-kzoo] January Meeting minutes

[Emily Curl]

Notes for the NFB Meeting January 20, 2011

 

Tyler opened the meeting. Tyler had nothing to report. Megan
opened a discussion about having a consistent meeting spot. She brought up the
issue there needs to be either a member vote or a board vote before we change
locations.  Tyler agreed with this point.
Tim brought up the point that we should have a location downtown. It would be
more accessible to new comers. Mangia Mangia was suggested for a downtown
location. Megan volunteered to call Mangia Mangia to gather information if it
would be an appropriate meeting space. The group agreed that Megan should book
the restaurant if it meets the needs of the group. There was no secretarial
report. Matt, the treasurer is working with PNC Bank and Tyler to sort out the NFB
account. The password cannot be reset online. Tyler presents on old news with
the topic of the goalball pizza party. At the November meeting we had discussed
adding a $5 fee for the pizza, but Tyler thought that would be received with
hostility. He thinks that the Mbaa may pick up 
$150+ of the pizza bill. If this does not happen, Leanne and Tyler feel
the athletes should not be charged so they will cover the bill. Megan discusses
her concern that we may not have enough in the account to cover that portion.
The account may be overdrawn. Last year, we spend approximately $400. Megan
stated that we have around $200 dollars in the bank at this time. Someone
suggested we should take donations.  Ian
suggested we should charge $3-$5 fee. The athletes are being housed at Best
Western. It was suggested that we could serve hot dogs since there will be
space to set up cooking equipment. Tyler stated that even if we did charge
$3-$5, we would still be paying at least $150 for supplies.  Ian stated that we need to find a way to show
what benefit this pizza party will have for awareness of the NFB. Will/has this
party generate new members of the NFB? Jacki said from the female players’
perspective, the NFB wasn’t taken seriously last year because only print was
handed out. She also brought up the point that many people view members of the
NFB as anti-leader dog, Nazis. She suggested we should explain how the NFB
helps Blind and visually impaired people. Tyler said that we need to focus on fund-raising. Jacki also suggested if we don’t want to participate in the pizza
party, the NFB could buy an $80 Tarsh ball to raffle at the tournament to show
support to the players. Leanne said that the meal on Saturday night of the
tournament was already in the literature. 
The literature didn’t mention a price. The idea of using hot dogs came
up again. There was an issue with this since many of the players are Jewish.
Last year we paid $6.50 a pizza and left about a $40 tip. Tyler stated again
that the MBAA should be donating $200, 
and we could give around $150 from the NFB. Tyler proposed a price cap
of $150 from the NFB. We would rely on outside donations for the
remainder.  Megan also brought up the
point that we would only have $50 left in our account. Jacki stated that most
of the ladies who would be playing at the tournament would are of a stable
income and would most likely donate. Tyler proposed this price cut off and four
people agreed to this price cut off. Angie started a presentation on the i
Phone. The i phone is touchscreen, but it has many features that are
accessible. It has a magnifier, voice over feature that allows the user to hear
what is on the current screen, and many other features. It may be slightly
complicated to learn at first, but once the user learns how to use the features
of the phone, it will improve the life of the user and make their world more
accessible. The i phone is only available currently with at&t customers,
but will be available to Verizon workers and customers on February 10,
2011.  Hailey also gave a presentation
about her business. She created tactile greeting cards Called Heart Sight. She
will be donating 10% of the cards profit to NFB programs. She is creating a
website and has placed advertising into the Braille Monitor. She will offer
cards that can be mailed. Her cards will start at $6.30 which includes shipping
plus the donation to the NFB. She passed the cards around for the members to
generate feedback. The cards will be labeled with braille. Matt volunteered to
help Hailey with her website.  Tyler
suggested that the cards be sent directly to the recipient instead of the buyer
of the card. Tyler proposed to dismiss the meeting. It was seconded and the
meeting was dismissed.