David Anspach opened the meeting. Pledge of Allegiance was said. There were 13 members audibly present. Melissa Johnson read the minutes from August’s meeting. A motion was made by John Carson that the minutes be accepted as read with corrections and was seconded by Janice Snow and carried. Scott Carlisle read the treasurers report. The beginning balance of general fund is $917.47. The beginning balance of the Jill Carson memorial fund is $1,235.00. We had expenditures of $56.00 for P. O. Box renewal, and $850.00 for the ad in Full Throttle Magazine which came out of the Jill Carson memorial fund. There were $0 deposited into the general fund. There was $425.00 donation from Full Throttle Magazine deposited into the Jill Carson fund. Current general fund balance is $861.47. Current Jill Carson memorial fund balance is $810.00. Motion to accept the Treasurers report was made by John Carson, seconded by Janice Snow and Melissa Johnson and was carried. The Sunshine Committee report was read by Janice Snow. Our October 20 speaker is Dann Mann from the Lighthouse. She will work on getting a speaker for November if needed. Janice Snow gave a report on the Meet the Blind Picnic. The Mayor of Seminole, Jim Johnson, will be there. Janet Long will be there to read a proclamation. The head Deputy of the Police Department, Dave DiSato, will be there. She has not had any success with getting any of the Police Department there because it is a Saturday and it is considered over time. Dave Anspach said that Marilyn Stevenson has a small article about our picnic in the Library News. Next year she is going to put us on the calendar the first of August or July so we can get a full page in the news letter. He, Melissa and Mike went to the picnic shelter to check it out. It is a really good location. The news release has to be approved and sent out. Dave took last years release and modified it. Mike Lamb is still trying to get ahold of Governor Christ. Mike Alstott can not be at the picnic. He is following up with Henry Oliu and maybe we can get a Devil Rays player or two out there. The puppy raisers will be there and that should bring in a huge amount of people. David is getting a PA system. McDonald’s is more than willing to host us. They are going to give us some drink coolers with drinks in them. They want to put their logo on the White Cane Safety Law flyers that are being printed out. They will hand them out through the drive through the days before the picnic. Debbie Hietala said the puppy raisers are double booked for the day of the picnic. The full group won’t be there but there will be some of them there. She is trying to get a trainer from Southeastern to do blindfold walks again. Also this year she is getting some Lion’s Club members out there. She wants them to do sighted guide walks. She is providing the food again. There will be a flat fee of $5.00 for food. It will be for a burger or hot dog, chips and a drink. Melissa posted information on Bay News 9's Neighborhood News link about the picnic on their website. John Carson gave the website update. We are getting a lot of hits. The flyer for the Bike Run has been put on there. Mike asked that we put South West airlines on the website as a corporate sponsor. John is working on getting the corporate sponsors on there. John went over the stops for the Bike Run. Debbie would like everyone to hang out at Rosie’s Clam Shack while the run is going on to meet and greet the riders as they come in for lunch. Dave and John are going to handle the registration at the first stop. Then they will head to the second to last stop so they can give Debbie a call when the last of the riders are leaving to go to the Lion’s Club. Further plans were firmed up as to who was going to be where. The bike club is taking care of the raffle tickets that are being handed out at each stop. Debbie has two puppy raisers that are going to handle transportation for us. All together 2100 flyers have been handed out. We already have 30 bikes. Debbie has baskets put together for that raffle at the end of the ride. There are two totally different raffles. The money for the basket raffle will go back to the Chapter. John Carson made a motion that along with the grand prize of Southwest airline tickets, $300.00 cash be given as the second prize and $200.00 cash be given as the third prize. This money will come out of the registration money collected. The motion was seconded by Debbie and carried. The grand prize drawing will be at 5:00 at the beach house. We have the beach house for the entire night. There will be a band and entertainment. Debbie remined everyone about the Sun Cruz on the 29th. The tape ran out.
Respectfully submitted
Melissa Johnson
Pinellas Chapter Secretary