President David Anspach brought the meeting to order. Chuck Huber led everyone in the flag salute. Role call was taken; 14 members plus one guest was present.
Kim Ellsworth read allowed October’s Meeting Minutes. A motion that the Minutes be accepted as read was made and seconded by Grant Downey and Charlotte Bogadi, respectively. Motion carried.
The Chapter welcomed guest speaker Dan Mann who is the President and CEO of the Lighthouse of Pinellas, which is located at the Watson Center. He spoke to the Chapter about what is currently happening with the Lighthouse of Pinellas, he gave a report with regards to the strategic planning in which the Chapter participated in a while back and he talked about some of his own concerns with regards to funding. He answered members’ questions throughout his presentation.
Next, Paul Prescott gave the Treasurer’s report. The previous balance was $1,664.59. The Chapter received $34.80 from the selling of State raffle tickets, $175.00 was obtained from the Splash Fund, $32 from fifty-fifty, $47.00 was collected in donations during the White Cane Safety Awareness event and $157.45 from Debbie Hietala. The banner cost was $72.45 and one $50 check also came out. Current balance is $1,988.49. A motion to except the Treasurer’s report was made and seconded by Mike Lamb and Jim Ellsworth, respectively. Motion carried.
Approximately one week prior to November’s meeting, Jim came across an e-mail that Dave had written to Muvico Baywalk 20. Jim found an e-mail address in the message and took it upon himself to send a message to the address, which is that of Jim Lee, the Marketing Director. Jim’s letter basically said as Muvico has spent money on the equipment for descriptive video and closed captioning, shouldn’t the equipment be utilized? Also, when descriptive and closed caption movies are being shown, how is anyone going to know about them as there are no listings on the internet or anywhere else. Jim said in the letter that there are many people who are very interested in watching and listening to the audio Described and closed caption movies. The same day that the Message was sent, Mr. Lee responded to Jim. Mr. Lee wrote that he understood Jim’s concern and that one of the problems Muvico is having is they do not receive the disk until the day prior to the actual airing. This causes a challenge for being able to post information about show times of the movie. They are hoping to have some listings online in the near future. Jim will keep in touch with Jim Lee for further news and information with regards to this topic.
Next, the Fundraising Committee report was given by Jim Ellsworth. A fundraising Committee meeting was held two weeks prior to the Chapter meeting. They talked about the success of the Meet the Blind event in the park, things that can be improved on for next year’s event, holding a “casino night” sometime around or in April of ’07 and the topic of corporate sponsorships by local companies and posting them on our website. The casino night would take place at the Lyon’s beach house on Sunset Beach. Some game ideas are possibly Trivia Pursuit, card games and maybe even a human chess match. Nothing has been cast in stone and there is much to accomplish in a short amount of time, which is many people’s concern. An idea with regards to the corporate sponsorship is to get some local companies such as restaurants and Pets Mart to offer two for the price of one deal. John says that it would not be difficult to have coupons on our website so they could be printed out for use and Jim pointed out that this would be for accountability. The next Committee meeting has been planned for December 2 at the Carson’s’ house.
President Anspach concluded the meeting by reminding the Chapter that the Christmas party will be held at Chuck and Debbie Hietala’s house. Also, January is election month and everyone can be thinking about either running for a board position or who they would like to nominate for a position. Jim announced that earlier this year, NFB and the California affiliate filed suit against Target for their website not being accessible for blind people to shop on. It has drawn national attention and the Kim Komando’s newsletter, which Jim subscribes to via e-mail will be talking about this during their one minute weekly computer show around the nation. A motion to adjourn the meeting was made and seconded by Jim Ellsworth and Charlotte Bogadi, respectively. Motion carried.
Written and submitted by:
Kim Ellsworth
Pinellas Chapter Secretary