[IL-Talk] at large minutes draft two

[datemeyer at sbcglobal.net]

NFBI AT LARGE CHAPTER MINUTES

January 5th, 2025

ZOOM Meeting

CALL TO ORDER

At Large Chapter President David Meyer 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 are 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 Meyer 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

Date:

Friday, January 24 at 8:49 AM

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