President David Anspach brought the meeting to order at 1:00 PM. Chuck Huber led everyone in the flag salute. Role call was taken; 15 members plus one guest were present. The Chapter voted in Ron Miller and Richard Wells as new members.
Kim Smith gave the Secretary’s report. Correction: In reference to the person from Southeastern Guide Dogs, Dennis Norris was once mistakenly written up and read aloud as Chuck Norris. This was corrected prior to the Minutes being posted to the web page. A motion that the May meeting Minutes be accepted was made and seconded by John Carson and Ron Miller, respectively. Motion carried.
Bonnie Prescott gave the Treasurer’s report as Paul Prescott was unable to be in attendance. The balance last month was $2,621.15. Total amount of deposits: $491.00. There were 666.56 in checks, which included the van rental and the hotel accommodations for Jennifer Madsen’s family who were our guests at the State Convention banquet. Current Statement balance is 2,445.59; however, the check in the amount of $840.00 for the State convention registrations and banquet tickets has not cleared yet. Once this clears, this will reduce the balance to $1,609.59. There is a $300.00 check from the State to go in for the National Convention; the treasury has $90.00 back of what was paid to State for banquet tickets for the other part of the family that went to the convention that the Chapter paid for. Money from the sale of flashlights, raffle tickets and membership dues total to $163.00, which will be deposited and will be on next month’s statement. A motion to accept the Treasurer’s report was made and seconded by Debbie Hietala and Richard Wells, respectively, Motion carried.
This month’s guest speaker was Ross Silvers of the Tampa Mayor's Alliance for Persons with Disabilities. He is legally blind and he talked about his background and how it eventually led him to his current job as the Disabilities Rights coordinator in Tampa. This is a position within the city’s office of human rights. He stated that his job is to be a liaison to the community and help people with disabilities in Tampa to be able to have equal access to local government services, programs, facilities, etc. He works on educating people in the city government and the community about what’s involved in being accessible for people with disabilities. His job is also to help make sure that the efforts of the Mayor’s Alliance are successful. He recounted his own personal experiences with regards to dealing with PSTA and he talked about ADA coordinators in various surrounding cities and counties. Ross answered various questions from the Chapter members. To find out who the ADA coordinator is for a particular municipality, folks may contact Angel Watson with Caring and Sharing. Telephone number is: (727) 531-1000.
Next, members who attended the State Convention shared their experiences, gave brief reports on what is happening on the State level, their likes and dislikes about the convention, etc. Debbie Hietala gave the Guide Dog Committee report at this time as an incident occurred during the Convention. Marion Gwizdala and Mary Schoch, President and Vice-President respectively of the East Hillsborough Chapter, went across the street from the hotel to have lunch and were refused access with their guide dogs on the porch. After they had purchased their food and they went to sit outside, the person at the restaurant told them the dogs had to be off the porch and had to be tied up outside the premises. After the banquet, a group of 23 people that included guide dog users and their dogs, cane users and two sighted people visited that same restaurant and had ice-cream. Debbie said it made a great statement and the two people who were in charge of the restaurant at that time were overwhelmed. Debbie also gave a follow-up report regarding the puppy raiser being denied access by the condo association board. It was thought that they had a definite win after recommending that the board be given the dog guide access law and have them take it to their lawyer. However, the lawyer stated a whole bunch of fair housing laws and said that because the puppy raiser is not disabled, the Board does not have to comply. Debbie and Chuck have a friend who is a lawyer and who is quite passionate about dogs; and, he knows condominium law and they are hoping to hire him pro bono. Virginia Carlisle, who also attended the State Convention, briefly talked to the Chapter about the SUN (shares unlimited NFB) and PAC (pre-authorized checking), which are donation programs that support National, which in turn supports the affiliating Chapters. She has been in contact with Pat Mauer and by the next Chapter meeting, will have some materials that will contain further details about these two programs and how someone can become involved in them. President Anspach stated that in the past couple of years, the Chapter has had some successful fundraisers and it is important that we give back to the State and National and one way to do this is through one or both of the above mentioned programs.
Some discussion took place on related topics such as the Imagine Fund and possibly piping Kevin Worley or Sheryl O’Brien in on a cell speaker phone to talk to the Chapter about this program, which supports programs and activities for blind and visually impaired children; during one of their previous meetings had said that once the Chapter Treasury was doing quite well, that 25% of the money raised would be sent to National. One member believes, however, that it has to go directly to State because State then passes a percentage of to National. Also, Kim and Jim talked about their experience regarding the Parents of blind children division and discussed some concerns with regards to feeling that there needs to be a separate support group created for Blind Parents and grandparents of sighted children. While the current division is a great resource for parents of blind and visually impaired children, Kim and Jim feel that it doesn’t really seem to address issues and challenges faced by blind parents. Some discussion took place as to how a group like this can be formed and this is something that Jim and Kim will look into and will call upon the Chapter if their assistance is needed in some way.
Next, the Committees gave their reports. Janice Snow reported that Bay News 9 has contacted her and they have recommended Julie Marquez, one of their meteorologists, as a speaker. Discussion took place regarding the best time to have Julie come and speak to the Chapter as Mike Lamb had also been working on getting Henry Olio, the Spanish announcer for the Devil Rays, to also come and speak to the Chapter. It was decided that Debbie Hietala, Mike Lamb and Janice Snow will stay in touch so as not to have conflicting times for the speakers. The Website Committee reported that the online membership application went live the night prior to the meeting, it still needs to be visually formatted but screen reader users won’t notice any difference. When the applications have been filled out, they will go to John who’s the webmaster and then he will forward to the appropriate officers that handles the member information. He received two pictures from Jennifer Madsen’s mother and with the help of a friend of John’s, he was able to size them down without losing any quality in order to post them to the web page. Chuck Hietala supplied John with a photo that he took of the Chapter’s scholarship recipient winner along with the Madsen family members who attended the banquet and these photos will also be posted on the Memorial page for Jennifer Madsen. John suggests that a scholarship committee be formed and start getting applications in order to start working on a local level as well as State. The Constitution Committee reported was completed and read at the last Chapter meeting. The night prior to the meeting, Jim went through and made some minor corrections such as taking out the word county so that now the Chapter is referred to as the Pinellas Chapter and found a number of areas that contained grammatical errors, which he also corrected. He has sent the corrected and finished draft to David in order to have it properly formatted in Microsoft Word. It will then be sent on to State President Kathy Davis and it is just a matter of waiting for State approval. The Fundraising Committee held a meeting on June the 3rd. A few non-committee members and guests also participated. Everyone worked hard on composing a news release which has been printed and was read allowed via Bonnie. The news release will be posted on the web page to announce the Meet the Blind Picnic for October 14. John recommends that there be three or four more committee meetings prior to October’s event as there is still much to get accomplished. Ross Silvers offered to e-mail Jim a media list.
A motion that the Chapter holds its Chapter meeting on July 22 was made and seconded by Scott Carlisle and Janice Snow, respectively. Motion carried. July’s meeting/party, which will take place at Vice-President Mike Lamb’s house, has been postponed to July 22 rather than July 15 due to some officers and board members having some prior obligations. David would like to hold a short business meeting prior to the party. David volunteered to coordinate this party and will contact everyone in regards to who will bring what. The meeting will start at 1:00 PM and the ending time of the party will be determined by the first of July. The Chapter will furnish hamburgers, bratwurst and hotdogs. Bonnie read aloud a thank you letter from the Florida Department of Education thanking the Chapter for the 200 dollar donation to assist in the food cost for the children attending the DBS summer camp. A motion to adjourn the meeting was made and seconded by Janice Snow and David Anspach, respectively. Motion carried.
Written and submitted by:
Kim Ellsworth
Pinellas Chapter Secretary