[IL-Talk] at large minutes january 2025
Debbie Pittman
debbiepittman99 at gmail.com
Tue Jan 28 20:33:03 UTC 2025
Way to go Michelle.
Debbie P
Sent from my iPhone
> On Jan 28, 2025, at 9:14 AM, David Meyer via IL-Talk <il-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> 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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