National Federation of the Blind of Utah August 2024 Board Meeting
National Federation of the blind of Utah www.nfbutah.org<http://www.nfbutah.org>
801-631-8108
"You can live the life you want; blindness does not hold you back!"
June 11, 2024
7:30 - 8:55 PM. MST.
1. Roll Call:
NFB of Utah Board of Directors:
president - Everette Bacon: Present
1st Vice President - Cheralyn Johnson: late
2nd Vice President - Karl Smith: Present
Treasurer - Mark Turley: Present
Secretary - Barbie Elliott: Present
Board Members:
Willie Black: Present
Laura Vincent: Present
Ken Duke: Present
Ned Lindholm: Present
Jesse Kramer: Present
The general public was invited to join the meeting. 21 participants were in attendance.
2. Reports from chapters and divisions:
a. Red Rocks: Jessie delightfully shared that they enjoyed having over 12 participants yesterday at their end of summer themed meeting, with described outfits, humor, and fun. They had a guest speaker talk about dating challenges and relationship styles. Alzheimer's walk on September 14th in Cedar City. October is BEAM month with fund raising membership and planning committees. Jessie will send out an email about the Alzheimer's Walk, and she is having her birthday on September 14th in the evening and invited anyone who is coming to the walk to her family and friend event.
b. Utah Valley chapter: Laura announced that Saturday was their hike and BBQ. Students joined them. The second week of September will be their chapter meeting. Public library BEAM in October with 2 possibilities either a community fare with booths and parents' division or a described movie at the library open to the public. November will be a thankful for technology theme.
c. Salt Lake Kenn reports that their July event was a couple of weeks ago at Gardner Village at the Happy Camper's Café pavilion. It was rainy so using their pavilion with purchases of food was a happy win win. In August their annual BBQ will be at Murray Park at 5:00 PM on Friday. Everette will be bringing pulled pork. There will be fun and games etc. September will be a chapter meeting at DSBVI. BEAM is possibly a booth at a table in Gardner Village to present to the public during their October fall festival. November Chapter meeting and Christmas party.
d. Weber-Davis: Willie stated that they enjoyed a fun BBQ at Barbie's house with 51 participants. They had a bounce house, burgers and a jam session. Later in August, they will continue their annual tradition of attending the Ogden Farmer's Market and Far's Ice Cream Parlor. September will be a hike, October will be BEAM, November game night, and December 7th Christmas party.
e. Students: Zachary reflected that the students are busy. They voted Sean Fletcher as their new secretary. They joined Utah valley with a fun hike and BBQ. 2 new students joined this event. August 10th will be on Zoom at 7:00 playing jeopardy and having fun. September will be a membership drive with a transition open house with speakers to include high schoolers to prepare to transition to higher education. October spooky advocacy meeting.
f. Spanish Division: Ulvia responded that their next meeting will be on September 7th at the Latinx Health fare. September 30th will be a zoom call. They will meet every 2 months.
g. Science without sight is exciting: Ned communicated that their activity on July 20 was super fun for the 5 of the 9 registrants that showed up. They had a chemistry experiment with gravity and chemicals pouring liquids together to create a solid non-visually. Ned's Highlight was hearing Kailie get excited when her detector went off. Ned was grateful for the volunteers who came to help.
h. BELL Academy: Karl chimed in and proclaimed that this year there were more students and fewer staff than ever before. 20 children came. Sarah Erb, Laura, Barbie and many other wonderful volunteers came to help during the 2-week program. Tara did a fantastic job in her first year as coordinator and has lots of good ideas for next year. Lisa at the library had a fantastic job with a planets and fun things. Karl thinks we should make a resolution recognizing Lisa for her amazing work with the BELL Academy.
i. Museums: Karl added that the natural History Museum has 3 accessory bags for people who want a tactile experience. Karl is brailing labels for these bags. Karl will send us the exact date for a free night at the museum for this to be shared. AIRA is free at the U of U museums.
3. Public Comment:
a. Laura reported that the disability fare was well done including a mention of the NFB with questions and answers including asking for information about making parks accessible. Mayor Mendenhall was there.
b. Ned has a request. He wants someone to help him get audio descriptions of pictures. Everette will send Kirt Manwaring's contact information to Ned offline.
c. Melissa has a job interview on Monday and she would love our good luck wishes.
d. Cynthia says that they had 15 people at the Red Rocks chapter meeting.
4. National news:
a. Everette sent an email with national information and links to Barbie that she will forward to the board with the minutes.
b. President Riccobono would like ideas for the presidential release. Everette reminded everyone to please play it at chapter meetings.
c. There is a survey about the national convention for all participants virtual and in person.
d. Washington Seminar has been set for February 2.
e. Blind Equality and Achievement Month has a website send email to web@nfb.org<mailto:web@nfb.org> to get chapter and division events on the national calendar
5. State news and updates:
a. There are a lot of sponsors and cosponsors for the bills that have been presented. Unfortunately, we have no Utah congress sponsors for our bills. If you want to get involved to send letters to our congress people contact Everette.
b. If you have pac plan donations questions, contact Kriss Wycoff to find out if your donations have been working correctly.
c. to get publicized on the national website.
d. Everette says that the accessible farmacy bill has been started.
e. Karl is in contact with his local representative about getting the property tax abatement increased.
f. Next year's state convention is May 1, 2, and 3. The Provo Marriott has offered us rooms for $129.00 which includes a grant of $5 per night. The BYU Woman's Conference is going on that same weekend but shouldn't be a conflict. Provo Marriott has been very aggressive about having us there, they are also having a ski for light event in February. Everette plans to encourage some NFB participation in that event. We will go ahead with holding our convention in Provo next year.
g. Everette has resigned from the HearSee Mobility board. Everette felt that some of their new fund raiser ideas such as holding a "dining in the dark" event are not things he supports and doesn't want the NFB of Utah's name listed as a supporter. He is encouraging members who want to participate and support them to please do so. Everette said that he and their president are still friends, and that he still supports them as they work on their cane, but does not want his name or the NFB of Utah's name listed in any of their PR announcements at this time due to their fund raiser strategies.
6. Shary Newton with Disability Law has a survey.
A. They are setting goals for the next 2 years and would like some survey responses. Shary had questions about how the disability law center can help blind people as they create their goals for the next 2 years.
7. Adjourn: The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 PM.