Middle Tennessee Chapter

MINUTES OF JULY 10, 2004

Present: Ruth Hollingsworth, Keith Anderson, Heather Field, John Brown, Tony Garcia, Joyce Hollingsworth, Johnny Jones.

• Call to order.
• Apologies from Gayle Prillaman, Joe Shaw, Dominique Lawless and Ryan Smith.
• Minutes of the June meeting were read and approved.

Treasurer's Report:

John Brown reported that the balance was $433.10. No other financial activity during the month.

President's Report:

Heather Field briefly discussed the NFB convention in Atlanta. She encouraged those present to invite those who couldn’t attend the convention to our next meeting for further discussion of the issues and resolutions dealt with at convention.

• Dominique Lawless received an NFB scholarship and she is the first person from TN to receive it in 10 years.
• The “Imagine Fund” has been established to fund the research endeavors of the Jernigan Institute. Miss Field reminded us that the Jernigan institute is the only one like it in the world; funds raised, built and owned entirely by blind people and all this achieved in just over five years in accordance with the dream of Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, second president of the NFB.
• Now the “Imagine Fund” will be funding research done at the institute. $285,000 was raised at the NFB convention for the “Imagine Fund”.” Also, they want names of people to contact in order to send them literature on the Institute and it’s research and to request donations. Names should be given to National Office.
• Visuade was a “gold” sponsor.
• Some speakers at the convention included:

1. A blind pilot, who has a co-pilot as a back up, flies ultra light airplanes and has broken a number of records.
2. A man discussing his involvement working on a car to be driven by blind people, ie., robot cars.
3. A man discussing Global Positioning Systems (GPS) being incorporated into various machines/instruments for blind people.
4. A woman who described herself as “a recovering rehabilitation professional”. She saw that blind people were not getting jobs, etc. even after going through the rehabilitation instruction. She saw a need to change her approach, after exposure to the NFB people and philosophy, and is now taking time of work to attend schooling on mobility instruction at Louisiana Tech where the NFB philosophy and methods are taught.

• The Braille monitor is available in various formats.
• Numerous resolutions were passed (more explanation next meeting).
• NFB is still backing efforts to get a bill passed to eliminate the earnings limit for blind people on SSDI.

Local outreach efforts: Heather Field has been talking to vendors in Tennessee, informing them as to our activities and plans at the local level and encouraging them to become more involved with the organization. She has also spoken with a very enthusiastic mobility instructor about familiarizing herself with the NFB approach to mobility, and to a number of High School students about the planned TN student division.

Two new members: David Wright, and Douglas Dunlap who is a veteran.

Miss Field also said she was very pleased to report that Mr. Joe Shaw has volunteered to be the chapter’s Newsline coordinator. She reminded us that it’s very important to tell people about Newsline and help them get signed up, so we don't lose funding for it in TN due to non-use.

Business Arising out of the Minutes:

a) Kernel books – in accordance with motion in the June minutes, Heather Field purchased $80 worth of Kernel books (about 250 books) at convention. We will make up packets for distribution to places where newly blinded people may visit, such as the veteran’s hospital. Packets include brochures, an application form for Newsline and a Kernel book. Gayle Prillaman and Heather Field plan to begin by giving some packets out to ophthalmologists.

b) Motion put by Ruth Hollingsworth that Miss Field be reimbursed for the purchase of the Kernel books. Seconded by John Brown and carried.

c) Motion put by Keith Anderson that Heather Field be reimbursed the $60 deposit lost due to late cancellation, on room, booked on behalf of the chapter at convention hotel. Seconded by Ruth Hollingsworth and carried.

d) There were not enough students at NFB convention to form TN division there, but will be working on it this month as a priority.

e) Constitution – ad hoc committee to go over constitution and present it for approval at next meeting.

f) Membership list – Joyce Hollingsworth and Tony Garcia joined the chapter and each paid $6 dues.

g) John Brown has resigned as treasurer effective last month.

h) John Brown has not had success in contacting lottery people about a request form for holding a lottery.

i) Keith Anderson will get a Tax Id number for the chapter (Form SS4)

j) Heather Field will continue to work with John Harris to set up a time to meet with blind students at Tennessee State University.

 New Business:

a) Ryan Smith nominated for the position of treasurer, seconded by Keith Anderson and elected by unanimous vote.

b) Meeting decided that we need to get information from National office on ideas for October as “Meet The Blind Month” and decide what our chapter will do.

We want to emphasize in our outreach that blindness can be reduced to a inconvenience level and that it is not the tragedy it is often portrayed as.

c) Johnny Jones said that there is no further progress on the formation of a Nashville chapter.

d) John Brown mentioned that White Cane safety day should be discussed at the next meeting.

e) Joyce Hollingsworth's birthday is August 25 th. She'll be 13! Correspondence secretary to be informed.

Meeting Adjourned. Next meeting scheduled for Saturday, August 14, 2004 at 2PM at the Downtown Public Library, conference room 2.

Respectfully submitted by Keith Anderson.

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