[IL-Talk] at large minutes january 2025

[David Meyer]

NFBI AT LARGE CHAPTER MINUTES
January 5th, 2025
ZOOM Meeting
CALL TO ORDER
At Large Chapter President David Meyers called the meeting to order at 
7:03 PM. Persons in  attendance included: President David Meyer, Vice 
President Linda Hendle, Yvonne Agyarko, Rebecca  Heiman-Moore, Michelle 
Ault, Jean Johnson, Eileen Truschke, Debbie Pittman, Dan Tevelde, Ken 
Schad,  Jemal Powell, Marilyn Green, Leslie Hamric, Dustin Cather.
PROGRAM
Debbie Pittman introduced this months program which is about the Meta 
glasses. She asked one of our  members who has had these glasses to 
give us some personal feedback on them. Leslie Hamric started  off by 
playing a portion of The Blind Life by Sam Seely. The video gave us a 
brief overview of what  these glasses are supposed to be able to do. 
The video started to play and Sam Seeley, from The  Blind Life, took a 
look at the Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses to see how helpful they can be 
for our  community. He even tried out the AI component. Meta, the 
parent company for Facebook, partnered up  with Ray-Ban to create these 
smart glasses. Thru Bluetooth, they connect to an app on your phone.  
They have Meta AI built right into the glasses and this is what has 
gotten the Blind and visually  impaired community excited about these 
glasses. Sam Seeley asked Copilot on his computer to list  the top 
features of Meta Ray-Ban Smart glasses. Copilot told him. Sam Seeley 
then asked Copilot a  follow up question of how useful are these 
glasses for the blind and visually impaired? Copilot  responded and 
gave some insight on that question. Sam Seeley wanted to dig deeper 
into these smart  glasses, which he did, but the video was stopped 
there and Leslie Hamric shared her insights on  using the Smart glasses.
Leslie experienced using the glasses and shared what she used them for. 
She used them to identify  food in the fridge, and to read cooking 
instructions. If she is not sure she can always say Hey  Meta Be My 
Eyes and it will connect her to Be My Eyes and and there is a choice to 
call a  volunteer. She also has used the glasses with Aira. There is a 
extra step with Aira, you have to  call Aira, tell them you want to use 
the Meta glasses and they send you a link for a WhatsApp call  because 
Aira is not a Meta product but WhatsApp is. You click the link and join 
the call and the  Aira agent can see where your going and you can also 
customize the call. There is a feature called  navigation and the agent 
can see where you are at and the agent was able to keep up with her. 
She  also was able to shop independently for the first time, finding 
the mayo, checking out, and exiting  the door. She found it to be 
pretty amazing to be able to look down on the lower shelf and the  
agent told her the mayo was on the right and she asked what kind they 
have and the agent told her  what kinds and she was able to pick out 
what she liked. Aira is able to see where you are by GPS.  The 
difference with Aira and Be My Eyes was that Be My Eyes is not able to 
tell where you are at by  GPS. Be My Eyes can see what is around you 
but not GPS. There is a charge for Aira depending on the  plan you get. 
Be My Eyes does not charge.
Another thing she has been able to do was look at pictures on her 
walls. She just says Hey Meta,  what is this? and it identified her 
wedding picture.
When she goes outside with the Meta glasses using the AI she asks Meta 
what it sees and it  describes the outside and where the grass and 
trees are and what kind of day it is. It identified  the Target store 
as she was walking toward that. It also told her what street she was on.
She has identified CDs with it, and has read concert programs with it. 
You do have to tell it Hey  Meta, Look and read this out loud so it 
does not read your text messages and this is also  mentioned in the 
full video. It does not read music at this time.
A question was asked about the Aira component and using the WhatsApp 
which is free as long as your  using WIFI. The Aira minutes is being 
used because you are on the Aira call first and the WhatsApp  call 
connects you to the Meta glasses and the Agent.
At this time it can only be connected with a Smart phone and you can 
take pictures and videos with  it. Members used the glasses to get 
unstuck from a computer issue and it is really convenient to  shift 
your body a little bit to get lined up with the computer screen and it 
is amazing at how  accurate it is. WhatsApp must be set up correctly 
before you use Aira. Also your phone battery will  go down more quickly 
than it would otherwise because a lot of data is being sent back and 
forth.  Another member chimed in that these glasses were pretty awesome 
and they were able to take nice  pictures while looking at their pets. 
When you ask Meta a question it is a automated voice that  sounds real clear.
PRESIDENTIAL RELEASE
The first Presidential Release Live for 2025 will be on January 7th in 
honor of World Braille Day.  We will be listening to the Chapter 
Presidential Release. This is Presidential Release Number 545.  Our 
February live event will be on February 3rd, at 5:00 PM ET, at the 
Great Gathering 2025  Washington Seminar.
January 1st is the beginning of the Federations membership year and 
thus dues are collected in  January and going forward for 2025 dues are 
collected on a yearly basis. We collect dues ahead of  time for the new 
year. We should make sure that the national office has correct 
information for us  in our member profile which we can get to online. 
Go to  https://nfb.org , select the members link on the home page, and 
when you get to that page, you can enter your  username and password. 
If you have forgotten your password or you have never gone into your 
profile,  go to the reset your password link at the top and enter the 
email address that you most commonly  use for Federation business, and 
hopefully that is the one we have in our database and we will send  you 
a reset email. Again, if you need assistance, please write to  
membership at nfb.org . The member profile is the best way to keep your 
contact information up to date with the national  organization. For 
those of you who do not have email and therefore do not have a log on, 
please  just call our national office if you would like to update your 
information. You do need a unique email  address to use the member 
profile online.
Another important topic for January is the finances of the organization 
and some steps we are taking  to strengthen the financial position of 
our movement.  Last year, we were told that the board of  directors 
approved a deficit budget for 2024 and that we would be working on 
improving the  financial health of the organization to close that gap.
We do have an urgent need to find new long-term sources of 
discretionary funding, discretionary  meaning we can spend it on what 
we need to for the Federation. A lot of grants and other programs  that 
might give us support will do so for specific work. And so, we need 
those discretionary  dollars just like the dollars that we all can 
contribute in the PAC program, because that allows us  the flexibility 
to do any and all of the things that we need to do.
Because of our decline in our income streams, we are taking some 
significant steps to reduce our  expenditures and make our operations 
tighter and smarter here at the National Office. Our intent is  to 
continue to focus on the core mission and programs that we have and the 
support that we provide  to our affiliates and chapters in carrying out 
the day-to-day work of the organization. Our  national infrastructure 
for advocacy; legal work; supporting affiliates with materials, 
membership,  and finances; various membership-building programs and 
tools; our multiple communication channels  which are essential for 
getting out our message and our advocacy work; various support and  
infrastructure for our national events and meetings. These are just 
some of the things that we  undertake from the national organization to 
support the work of the movement. Our staff here at the  national 
office is discussing on a daily basis how we best use every dollar that 
comes from a donor  and where we can save those dollars to meet our 
needs in the future. We need you to do the same at  the local level and 
to be thinking about what you can do as an individual, as your chapter, 
and in  your affiliate to make a difference.
One example might be is getting the Braille Monitor on a flash drive? 
Well, those flash drives  represent dollars that we have spent and 
could save if we dont need to send them or if you send them  back, we 
can reuse them. Now, if you want the Monitor on flash drive, we want 
you to have it. But  sometimes our preferences, our needs change, and 
we should evaluate that.
We are reminded that sharing our communications is a great way to 
spread the word and invite people  to donate to the organization. The 
more that people know what we are doing, the more that they feel  and 
understand the impact, the more that they are likely to give. We can 
all make a difference at  the local level. And on the income side, we 
should consider what we can do for the organization  here in 2025. If 
you are not already on the Pre-Authorized Contribution program, 
chapters are  encouraged to talk about that. Its also another great 
opportunity to thank all of the chapters  across the country who are as 
a chapter contributing to the PAC plan, but we as individuals can  also 
do so. Another thing we can do is explore ways that we can ask more 
people in our community to  support the organization. Have you explored 
whether your employer has a matching gifts program that  can match the 
contributions that you are making to the Federation so that you can 
double your  impact? Have you gone to find some local foundations that 
might be a good fit for supporting  Federation programs and ask them 
for money? Have you found new people to ask to support the state  
affiliate? Because the state affiliate also should be making a regular 
yearly grant to the national  organization.
President Mark Riccobono wants to emphasize that membership is the most 
important resource we have  in this organization. The membership truly 
is something that makes us unique amongst really any  other 
organization anywhere in the world working on behalf of blind people.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR DECEMBER 2024 AT LARGE CHAPTER MEETING
Debbie Pittman moved and Linda Hendle seconded. All in favor said Aye 
and minutes were approved.
STATE PRESIDENTS REPORT
Members have been receiving emails about the Live Presidential Releases 
so we will all know when  the live ones are.
National Convention will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana at the 
Marriott, New Orleans. We can go  ahead and make our reservations, the 
room block opened on January 1st, 2025. We can go to  
https://nfb.org/convention, or The Braille Monitor. It will be held 
July 8th thru July 13th. We are encouraged to make our  reservation as 
soon as possible because last year we had a overflow. Fortunately, this 
year our  overflow hotel is right across the street at the Sheraton. 
The Sheraton will be the location of the  Exhibit Hall but The 
Marriott, which is our convention hotel, will be where the convention 
itself  is held. The nightly rate for both the Marriott and the 
Sheraton is $119.00 plus applicable taxes.  You can check these prices 
on The Braille Monitor. When you make your reservation you want to let  
them know that you are with the National Federation of the Blind so you 
can get that room block  rate, otherwise you will end up paying $200 or 
$300. They will ask you for a credit card and you  will have to put 
that down for one night as a deposit. It is different than when you 
usually book a  hotel room because we always have to put down that 
first night hotel stay. It was also mentioned  that we have our 
Jernigan Convention Scholarship for first time National Convention 
Goers. There is  also an article in the Braille Monitor that talks 
about that and the process for how you can apply.  Its an excellent 
opportunity to apply for some grant money to get to your first National 
Convention.
The National and the State Scholarship program are now open so if you 
or someone you know is  legally blind, lives in Illinois, plans to go 
to school in Illinois, and will be attending school  full time in the 
Fall of 2025, they can go to nfb.org/scholarships and get all the 
information  there for our National Scholarship program. The deadline 
is March 31st, 2025 at 11:59 PM ET. Our  State Scholarship application 
opened on January 1st. The web site for that is nfbofillinois.org/scho 
larships. The application is completely online and the deadline for the 
State Scholarship Program  is April 30th, 2025, 11:59 PM Central time. 
You will need a interview with the State President or  someone that she 
designates on the Scholarship Committee.
The State Affiliate board voted back in August to try our National 
Stem2U Program. We will be  sending Alaula Sprecher out to Baltimore 
this coming weekend to learn more about the program. More  information 
will be coming out about the Stem2U Program and if you know any 
students who could  benefit from the program, which is mostly geared to 
middle school students, please reach out to  Debbie Stein. If anyone 
has any ideas, questions, or would like to help out in any way you can 
also  reach out to Debbie Stein at dkent5817 at att.net.
Bell 2025 programs. Our Chicago BELL program will be at the Chicago 
Lighthouse from July 21st until  August 1st. Its for students aged 4-12 
and it is a day program. Our teachers will be Bridget  Hickey and 
Carson Cross. If you are interested in being an adult mentor for BELL 
or STEM2U please  reach out to Debbie Stein. The Springfield dates are 
not confirmed yet.
State Convention will be held the third weekend of October at the 
Chicago Marriott Naperville  Hotel. More information will come out 
about that Convention. It will be our third year in a row  there and if 
you have any ideas for hotels in the future reach out to Patti Chang 
who does our  special events and goes through these contracts or you 
can reach out to Marilyn.
Washington Seminar. We have a team of seven going this year and the 
Great Gathering In is February  3rd. We are back at the Holiday Inn 
Capital Hill. We are looking to do all 19 of our appointments  on 
February 4th and 5th. Our team this year is Marilyn Green, Michelle 
Ault, Olivia Cichowlas,  Kaitlyn Ryan, Jean Johnson, Tanisia Bowman, 
and Tasabih Elfaki. We will have plenty of work for  people to do who 
are not able to go or who were not selected once we come back from 
Washington  Seminar 2025. The issues we are covering are available at 
nfb.org/Washington Seminar  You can also  reach out to Denise Avant or 
Dustin Cather, our federal legislation co-chairs.
Committee List for 2025 went out on Friday, January 3rd. Please look at 
the list and see what  committee you are on, what you are not on, and 
if they any committees you would like to be added to  or taken off of. 
Please send Marilyn an email at  president at nfbofillinois.org  or text 
at 3 1 2-3 4 3-8 3 9 6.
OLD BUSINESS
none
NEW BUSINESS
Chicago Chapter is having a comedy fundraiser on January 16th. The cost 
for a ticket is $25.00 for  in person and $30.00 for Zoom. Food and 
Drinks are extra. The doors open at 6:00 PM and the show  starts at 
7:00. Please let David Meyers know if you are interested in attending. 
You can email him  at  datemeyer at sbcglobal.net  or call at 7 0 8-6 0 
6-7 0 9 1. You will be sent a link for the stream on January 13th. The 
Zoom link  will be different than what we normally use.
The next At Large Chapter meeting will be Monday, February 10th.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:20PM
A motion to Adjourn was made and Marilyn Green, Jemal Powell seconded 
and all in favor said Aye.
Respectfully Submitted,
Michelle Ault
Secretary
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