[IL-Talk] at large minutes for May 2024

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NFBI AT LARGE CHAPTER MINUTES

 

May 5th, 2024

ZOOM Meeting

 

CALL TO ORDER

At Large Chapter President called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Persons
in attendance included:  David Meyers, Linda Hendle, Bill Reif, Debbie
Pittman, Marilyn Green, Jemal Powell, Yvonne Agyarko,  Ken Chadd, and
Michelle Ault.

 

We introduced each other and shared what we found most memorable about
Memorial day or Memorial day  weekend.

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The next item on the agenda was the approval of minutes. We had two sets of
minutes to approve and  started with the approval of the minutes of the
March meeting. March meeting minutes were approved.  Next, the April minutes
were approved.

 

PROGRAM ITEM

We did the long range program first and had the National PAC Chairman on our
call. The floor was  turned over to Marilyn Green. PAC stands for
Pre-Authorized Contribution, when it was first started  it was called
Pre-Authorized Check. PAC is a way to make a monthly contribution to our
National  Organization. We can start with as little as $5.00 a month and
that can be taken from our debit  card, credit card, or our bank account.
This is the way we fund our movement. All of the programs  and services we
have grown to love and appreciate is funded by our Pre-Authorized
contribution, the  PAC plan. We have programming for Washington Seminar,
National Convention, BELL, STEM, and the White  Cane Program. There is also
a song that goes along with the PAC plan, which we joined in and sang  over
ZOOM. PAC can also help fund our ZOOM accounts when we go virtual. This is a
great way our  Chapters and Affiliates can get involved. Our Affiliates
contribute to PAC along with our Chicago  Chapter. The floor was open for
questions and members wanted to know how to get involved with PAC.  We can
call 877-NFB-2PAC or 877-632-2722 and for our friends that do not access to
Internet we can  call that number. Leave a message at that line and let them
know we want to start a PAC plan  contribution or that I want to increase my
contribution or if we need to decrease our contribution.  Do not leave any
critical financial information. You can also go to NFB.org/PAC. We will also
be  hearing a lot more about the PAC plan at our National Convention. It is
one of the biggest events  that we currently have to raise funds for PAC.
Illinois is currently 25 on the ranking list. The  minimum for a PAC
contribution is $5.00 but there is no maximum contribution. We can also get
organizations or a business involved and see if they are interested in
donating on a monthly basis.  It is just a wonderful opportunity and it is a
great way to make a monthly contributions for our  great programs. The phone
number was confirmed. There was a reminder that if we do it thru credit
card to keep in mind that every couple of years our credit card expires so
we will need to call  877-NFB-2PAC to update card or we can give them our
bank account information.

 

PROGRAM TWO

 

Debbie Pittman discussed our fund raisers. Our Popcorn sales was a total of
$1508.00. We got out of  that $754.00 and we had $250.00 in donations. We
raised a total of $1004.00 for our popcorn  fundraiser. Flyers are sent out
to us regarding fund raisers and we were encouraged to send out  those
flyers through text messages and emails. We covered 10 states and the first
day we sold over  $700.00 in popcorn. She is now sending out the Honey Baked
Ham flyer and we were encouraged to send  them out to people we know for
that fundraiser. At Large was congratulated for raising over $1000.00

 

PRESIDENTIAL RELEASE

 

There were technical difficulties with ZOOM playing the Presidential Release
and connecting us. The  meeting will be resumed at a later date.

 

MAY 13th, 2024 (Resumed on this date)

ZOOM MEETING

 

CALL TO ORDER

Members Present: President Dave Meyer, Debbie Pittman, Linda Hendle, Ken
Schad, Marilyn Green,  Michelle Ault, Eileen Truschke, and DannyMandrell;

 

PRESIDENTIAL RELEASE

 

This is Presidential Release 528. We are two months away from National
Convention in Orlando,  Florida. We also will be celebrating Global
Accessibility Awareness Day later this month and many  Spring Conventions.

In regards to voting, if we are a registered voter we do have the right to
cast our ballots  privately and independently. We want to make sure that
blind people report any barriers that blind  people may face in the voting
process. First of all, we want you to report it to the United States
Department of Justice. To do that you can send a email to
voting.section at usdoj.gov <mailto:voting.section at usdoj.gov>   and if you need
to call them you can do so by calling 800-253-3931. We would also like you
to  notify the Federation about your incident. The easiest way is if you are
sending a email just copy  Jeff Kaloc, at jkaloc at nfb.org
<mailto:jkaloc at nfb.org> . He is one of our governmental affairs specialist.

Everything convention can be found at NFB.org/convention. The nights that
are sold out are July  2nd, 5th, and 6th at the Rosen Center. We have two
overflow hotels. One is the Rosen Plaza and it  can be reached at
800-627-8258. The other is Rosen Center Shingle Creek, which is farther away
and  they can be reached at 866-996-6338. The $129.00 and $139.00 room rates
remain available at both  overflow hotels. There should be no problem
transferring reservations among the three hotels and a  cancellation fee
should not be triggered if we are getting the NFB rate.

We are planning for our convention ambassadors. Our convention runs because
of the efforts of  literally hundreds of volunteers. Our members make sure
the convention runs smoothly and our  convention ambassadors are a big part
of that effort. If you are willing to give some of your time  at the
convention to help be a convention ambassador that would keep the lines
moving, help make  sure people find their rooms effectively, and help people
know where various things are. You can  sign up to be a convention
ambassador at NFB.org/convention. There is a simple form there to  express
your interest and we will be appointing ambassadors later in the next few
weeks. If you  have any questions about being a ambassador you can email:
ambassadors at nfbmn .org. Our co-chairs of  the ambassador committee are Corbb
O'Connor from Minnesota and Dan Burke from Colorado. Thanks to  these
gentleman for coordinating the effort of our convention ambassadors.

The deadlines to submit proposed resolutions is Tuesday, June 4th at
midnight eastern time. You can  submit a proposed resolution by email to:
resolutions at nfb.org <mailto:resolutions at nfb.org>  .

Our career fair activities start Wednesday July 3 from 1 to 4 Eastern Time
the career fair is  scheduled. This is an event for blind people seeking
jobs to connect to employers who want to hire  talented individuals.
Registration is now open and is required by our employment committee to
either be a job seeker or a employer. The deadline for this registration is
Friday May 31st, just  like convention registration but it is a seperate
registration form. Register for the job fair or  register as a employer.
Elevating your career fair experience is an online seminar that will provide
tips and techniques for creating the most positive experience while
attending the career fair.  Members will be automatically notified about
this event when you register for the career fair. It  is a webinar. For
information on the career fair or webinar you can reach out to our co-chair,
Lia  Stone from New Jersey. Her email is  evangeliastone at gmail.com
<mailto:evangeliastone at gmail.com>  . If you are a job seeker and have
questions you can email Jennifer Wenzel and her email is
jenwen319 at gmail.com <mailto:jenwen319 at gmail.com>  .

We have a new fundraiser which will allow us to dream a little bigger in
2024. Dream Big Give $25.00  Drive. When you give $25.00 or more between May
16th and July 6th your entered into the Dream Big  Give 25 drive drawing.
Each $25.00 contribution is a chance to win. You can win prizes like round
trip transportation for two to the 2025 National Convention, hotel
accommodations, registration and  banquet tickets or $2000.00 cash. Thanks
to our partners, you could also win a Monarch, a dynamic  tactile device.
The drive supports funds like the Kenneth Jernigan Fund and the White Cane
Fund,  and you can choose one when you donate. To enter, visit
NFB.org/give25donate or call 410-659-9314  ext. 2430 or send a check to the
National Federation of The Blind and mention Give25 and the fund  in the
memo. New this year, friends and family can make donations in your honor and
you'll get  extra entries. The winner will be announced July 8th 2024.

It is the 50th Anniversary of the Rubik's Cube. We are pleased to announce
the NFB has partnered  with Spin Master who owns the Rubik's Cube Brand.
Because of our work together, Rubik has now  created the Rubik Sensory Cube,
which re imagines the classic Rubik Cube by including non -visual  tactile
elements. The packaging also includes Braille on the front. It is a real
Rubik's Cube and  will soon be available in our Independence Market and
through other sources. We want to promote  this partnership.

A number of passing's to share is Sheila Brown, William Messing, Emanuel
Caddy (Manny), Waltraut  Staggs, Imani Graham.

The next Presidential Release will be on Thursday, May 30th, at 8PM Eastern
time.

 

STATE PRESIDENTS REPORT

 

Marilyn Green has the floor. She would like us to go ahead and make our
hotel reservation for  National Convention. There is still some rooms left
at the Rosen Center but most likely we will end  up at the overflow hotels.
We can go to  http://www.NFB.org/convention  to get the phone numbers to
book our hotels. The deadline for registration is May 31st. The
registration is $25.00 and the banquet ticket is $75.00. As we get closer to
the National  Convention we will have information for the caucus and the
social.

The State Scholarship has closed on April 30th and we have a number of
candidates to choose from  this year and that information will go out by the
end of June. We also have the Chicago Bell  Program. We have 8 students who
are registered and another one who may be coming. We may actually  have a
wait list this year. We also have 2 students registered for Springfield Bell
program. If we  know any students in Springfield or Chicago please get in
touch with Debbie Stein. It is for  children between the ages of 4 to 12
years old. The Springfield Bell is a residential program and we  provide,
lodging, hotel, and food allowance. There is a lot of great opportunities
for the families  to network. The date for Springfield is July 15th thru the
19th and the Chicago program is July  22nd thru August 2nd. The Springfield
is a residential program and the Chicago Program is a two  week day program
held at the Chicago Lighthouse with our sponsors. If you would like to be a
mentor  for Bell or if you know any likely candidates please reach out to
Debbie Stein at 773-203-1394 or  email her at  dkent5817 at att.net
<mailto:dkent5817 at att.net>  .

The face to face board meeting is scheduled for August 17th at our State
Convention hotel which is  Chicago Marriott Naperville hotel. If anyone
would like to go in for the day at the face to face  board meeting they may.
We start at 9:00 AM and take lunch around 11:30 for half an hour and we come
back into session and usually end around 2 or 3. We can also call in on the
same zoom information  that we zoomed in on tonight. The room rate for one
king executive suite is $139.00 and the room  rate for two queen beds is
$149.00 plus taxes. These room rates also apply to our IL State  Convention
which is being held October 18th to October 20th. If anyone has theme ideas
or any ideas  please email them to  president at nfbofillinois.org
<mailto:president at nfbofillinois.org>  . For assistance with State Convention
the deadline will be September 1st.

NEW BUSINESS

Next month we will be making some financial decisions. The financial
decisions that we will be  making will be contributing to NFB National
Funds. There is a very good article in the Braille  Monitor that explains
what those funds are. If you don't receive it you can find the monitor on
the  Internet you can find it at yeah it would be at NFB .org go to the
publications and media link then  go to the Braille Monitor link and you
will run into the issue under 2024 maybe the first one and  that is for May.
You can also find the issue on NFB Newsline. If we have a podcast device it
is  also available. We can get it on a Amazon Device (Alexa) or Apple
podcast, anywhere that we get our  podcast. The Amazon device is Alexa, we
can ask Alexa to play NFB Braille Monitor. We will be  prepared to define
those National Programs at the next meeting

Thanks to the Popcorn Fundraiser we have over $1800,00 in the Treasury right
now so we can think  what we want to do in regarding to donating to National
Funds.

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

We are still looking for some feedback about the Honey Baked Ham Fundraiser
and Debbie Pittman is  looking into that.

 

The next At Large Chapter Meeting will be Sunday, June 2nd.

Meeting Adjourned at 7:51 PM

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Michelle Ault

Secretary