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]]>We had our meeting at the home of Karen Blachowicz and the following members were present: Anita Williams, Kathy Lyons, Marie Lyons, Richard and Karlene Fiorello, John Spencer, Paul Jerge, Ian Foley, Karen Blachowicz, Ken Cooper, and Kelly Blachowicz. Arnold Hudson, Marie’s and Kathy’s driver visited with us. Alex Meister was on the telephone.
Our meeting opened at 6:01 PM.
The minutes were accepted as emailed.
Alex gave a treasurer’s report: pay pal is $273.35, scholarship account is $1,154.37, checking account is $1,847.65. The bank fees may be avoided if we use online statements. A motion was made, seconded, and passed to use online statements. Alex will get that started before September 1. The treasurer’s report was accepted.
Committee reports: The state convention will be Friday and Saturday virtually. There will be a diversity training program; Saturday afternoon will be dedicated to the 50 year celebration. There will be no registration fee and anyone can listen in. We have a contract to look through for next year year’s convention. We will put in a bid to the state for Buffalo holding next year’s convention. The hotel will keep our deposit toward next year. Fund raising: Yankee Candle will not be doing fundraising. Creative Sales in Dunkirk will be sending us information for other products they handle. Legislation: Voting by on line absentee had a hearing August 13. The judge did not rule but advised the parties to discuss the matter or he will rule. Publicity: Marie wrote an article for the state newsletter. Kathy says 518:906:1820 is the telephone number for ACB radio. After calling that number one can get involved with various events. The zoom numbers can be sent through an email from ACB. Karen suggested that we have a zoom call to invite other blind people to become familiar with whr chapter.
Perhaps we could do this with Rochester. Just food for thought. Ian will send out a link to the chapter Facebook page.
Old business: Ian has been in touch with the attorney who was willing to help us with our exempt status. Donna Doncer is the accountant Karen has been talking with. As long as we are affiliated with the state we do qualify under their 501C3 status. If the individual chapter is not a Corp everything financial has !be done through the state. Thus, we do not need to get 501C3.
Constitution vote took place and the constitution vote passed.
New business: Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service can be accessed through podcasts, alexa, computer and various sources.
Karen has been asked to serve as RSVA president. Will we support her if she does that along with being the state presidency.
Our meeting adjourned at 7:30 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Karlene Fiorello Secretary
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]]>Kathy mentioned the benefit for Kelly Blachowicz on Sunday.
The minutes were accepted as emailed.
The treasurer’s report was accepted as emailed and the figures will be included in these minutes.
Pedestrian safety report from Kathy: the round-about in town of Tonawanda is on hold until spring. Marie talked to Janet Barlow who works with Access for the Blind. Marie stated that she has been waiting a year for an accessible signal at Parkside and Hertel.
Fundraising: Paul and Ian are working on the Diva by Diva program. Paul and Ian will plan to attend one of their shows soon.
legislative report: The sample ballot bill has passed the assembly and is now in the state senate and may pass soon. Quomo wants to have early voting. Gary Wagner plans to go to the mid-year convention in Washington this February. ACB and NFB are opposing house of Representatives 620. It amends the ADA to reduce “frivilous law suits”. The vote is next week.
Marie and Ian did a publicity report. Ian is still working on producing a letter to send out to organizations offering speakers from our chapter.
Scholarship committee presented by Richard: think about what should be in the application, who qualifies, how much should the scholarship pay out, and should it be for Braille users only. This will be discussed next month after the committee meets again.
A person from Apple will come in March and someone from rer cross will come in April. Marie also talked to a gentleman named Andrew who works with a peer support group at Olmstead. He will come in May.
New business: meetings at nfta are on 4 at the paratransit number. The next meeting is Feb. 22. Paratransit is planning to have cards similar to debit cards.
Our meeting ended at 7:30 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Karlene Fiorello
Secretary
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]]>Karen gave her report: The state board met twice in the last month. The insurance is not in place yet because the papers have not been signed. That is to be done soon. The website is being worked on. The scholarship committee is being co-chaired by Karen and Mike Godino. The scholarship through the state will now be $1,000.00. NY City is being questioned about their idea of updating signals to be accessible in a small part of Manhattan within 75 years.
Minutes from the February meeting were accepted as emailed. The treasurer’s report was accepted as emailed. It will be at the end of these minutes.
Scholarship committee report was given by Linda. The committee would like to make the following proposals to the membership for a vote: would like to list the counties in which applicants must live; submissions can be braille, email or hard copy; handwritten submissions will not be accepted; the due date for the application is to be October 15 instead of September 15. Applicants can write on 1 of 3 topics: goals, method of literacy, and what does advocacy mean to you? A motion was made seconded and passed to make these changes to the application procedure.
Gary Wagner gave a report on the national legislation conference in Washington. He met with Brian Higgins and Chris Collins concerning HR 2050 concerning visual aids being financed through medicare. Also they discussed HR 1120 and S287 bills to spend education monies more wisely on individual student needs. National library service, independent living, and privatization of federal highways were items discussed. General Motors will have driverless vehicles in 2019 for ride sharing.
Karen mentioned that Richard is not going to the legislative weekend in May. She is going to have a board meeting to discuss money for that weekend.
Richard reported on the NFTA meeting on February 22. Two new vans which kneel have been purchased. Paratransit is working on a new system for payment.
Our speaker took over the rest of the meeting. His presentation was informative on technology and how we should not be afraid of it.
TREASURERS REPORT FOR MARCH 2018
PAYPAL ACCOUNT
BEGINNING BALANCE $ 285.35
ENDING BALANCE $ 285.35
SCHOLARSHIP ACCOUNT
BEGINNING BALANCE $ 1,151.54
INTEREST + $ .09
ENDING BALANCE $ 1,151.63
CHECKING ACCOUNT
BEGINNING BALANCE $ 6,626.90
EASTER CANDY SALES $ 481.00
MEMBERSHIP DUES $ 20.00
ENDING BALANCE $ 7,127.90
ANY QUESTIONS FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME.
ALEXANDER A. MEISTER JR.
ACBWNY TREASURER
Respectfully Submitted,
Karlene Fiorello
Secretary
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]]>Karen welcomed us. Secretary’s minutes were read. The treasurer’s report was given. Our treasury has $285.35 in the paypal account, $1,151.07 in the scholarship account, and $5,544.94 in the checking account. The checking account spent $900.00 for state convention expenses for Karen Blachowicz, Ian Foley, and Richard Fiorello. The reports were both accepted as given.
Fund raiser: Wednesday September 13. We have 12 baskets. There will also be a 50-50 raffle. Alex will help with selling tickets for the baskets and the raffle. The menu for Helium is on line and Ian will email it to the ACBWNY list. There were 25 tickets sold with $325 received by the treasurer as of this evening.
Ian gave a legislative report. State legislature has been on recess.
Pedestrian safety: The service dog walk was briefly discussed. Karen Palau, Richard, John Spencer, and Karen Blachowicz will attend this event on September 16. On September 15th there will be a presentation of a model of the round-about at the Tonawanda Town Hall at 1:30. NFB and ACB will be at that meeting. Linda and Patrick went to see the round-about which is considered to be a mini round-about.
We talked a little about the upcoming convention in Utica. Karen, Kathy, Ian, Richard, Karlene, and Linda are going to attend.
Karen talked about our board meeting. She mentioned that the board recommends that Ian represent the chapter in Washington for the national Office legislative convention. A vote was taken and that recommendation was accepted by the membership.
Our meeting adjourned at 6:57 P.M.
Respectfully Submitted,
Karlene Fiorello
Secretary
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]]>Kathy announced that the summer picnic will be at Karen Blachowicz’s house on June 17 instead of a meeting at the Placa. Please let Karen know what you are bringing so she doesn’t make duplicates.
Secretary and treasurer’s reports were given and accepted. The treasurer’s report stated that our checking account contains a balance of $6,389.94. Advances of $300 each were given to Ian Foley, Richard Fiorello and Karen Blachowicz for the legislative weekend. Kathy gave a brief pedestrian committee report. She is on the national environmental access committee with national ACB.
Richard gave an NFTA committee report. NFTA says they are getting new vans. They are trying to make the subway ticket machines and the paths to the trains more accessible. They are also trying to make the subway doors more accessible.
Ian talked about issues for the legislative weekend. 1 Funding for aid to blind and deaf students which will include readers, interpreters, and additional needed adaptive equipment up to $6,000.00 per student per year; (a6515 and s4831) are the bills; 2 licensing of OandM and rehab instructors; 3 voting accessibility; and 4 making the funding for newsline be limited to actual expenses demanding accountability. Marie Lyons stated that she has not had a reply to her letter about audible signals. New business: Kathy stated that the Town of Tonawanda is planning a traffic circle at Decator and Parker Avenues. She believes our chapter should call the town trying to discourage this circle. Marie suggested that a letter should be written to the newspaper addressing both audible signals and traffic circles. Marie will work on the letter. Ian mentioned the gift baskets for the legislative weekend. Money can be given to either Richard, Ian, or Karen.
We briefly discussed whether out of area residents should be eligible for our scholarship. This issue will go back to the scholarship committee for further clarification.
Our meeting adjourned at 7:20 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Karlene Fiorello
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]]>Karen welcomed everyone and mentioned birthdays in May. Our picnic will be June 17 at Karen Blachowicz’s house. We will have chicken. The picnic will replace the June meeting. The minutes were summarized and accepted. Alex gave his treasurer’s report: $6,402.94 is in the checking account. It was accepted as presented.
Committee reports: Marie gave the pedestrian report. She wrote a letter concerning the status of signals in Buffalo. She wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper. Patrick read that letter. She finally got a reply from the traffic engineer. Less than 5% of accessible signals have been installed. They hope to reach 50% by the end of 2021. Linda stated that the DOT is working on similar problems in Batavia.
NFTA committee report was given by John. There is an increase of trips booked by telephone. Some trains are being repaired at south street station and they do not take passengers. May meeting will be in Niagara Falls. There are more no-shows.
Legislative committee report was given by Ian. He summarized the weekend and the actual visit to the legislature on Monday. State board meeting report was jointly given by Karen B. and Richard. The board talked about how we need to seek younger members. They formed a committee to see how social media could be used to increase state membership. The membership is down so we have 7 votes at national instead of 8 as we had in the past. Liability insurance was discussed. The state can get the insurance but if we have a fund raiser which needs insurance we have to give 20% of our profit from that fundraiser to the state as “payment”. Our chapter agreed that the state should purchase this insurance. Richard will propose that the required percentage be lower than 20%.
New Business: Linda attended the Lunch in the Dark at NYSSB. Our meeting adjourned at 7:30 PM.
Respectfully submitted
Karlene Fiorello
Secretary
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]]>Karen B. welcomed everyone and gave announcements: She stated how proud she is to have her members elect her president. She thanked the other officers for being willing to be officers. Our chapter is at a crossroads. We need goals and need to decide how to reach them. Doug Whittford lost his dad late in December.
Secretary report was given. The November minutes were approved and accepted as summarized by the secretary. The treasurer gave his report. It was approved as presented. Patrick graciously Brailled the treasurer’s report. A motion was made by Kathy and seconded by Linda that the convention account be closed and the money moved to our general checking account.
Richard gave a report of the state board meeting: state is still attempting to get insurance which will cover all state chapters. State wants to work on the web site. The Legislative meeting is May 6-8. The state convention will be held in Utica October 19-22.The leadership seminar will be an evening meeting instead of a morning meeting. The Same convention committee will plan 2017 and 2018. The convention in 2018 will be in Rochester. The national convention will be in Rochester in 2019. Karen was asked to be on a national education committee and she is glad to serve on that committee. The committee is working to keep schools for the blind opened. We spent some time discussing this topic. Karen Palau stated that Teachers of the visually impaired often are general education teachers and do not even know Braille.
Committees: Paul is sergeant at arms, scholarship Karen Palau and Richard Fiorello,fund raising is Paul as chairman, Ian and Karen Palau, Pedestrian safety is co-chairmen Paul and Kathy no one else is on that committee, sunshine Alex and Peach, nfta committee Karen B. will attend meetings, but as yet there is no committee. Karen gave a fund raising report. We need the candy orders by Feb 28 so they must be in by next meeting. We still have candy bars which could be sold at a grocery store or someplace like that. Pedestrian safety report by Kathy: nationally the committee works on signals.Locally work is being done on Delaware Ave. Some signals are handled by the state and others are handled by the city. Some are installed by the state and repaired by the city. Linda stated that independent living in Batavia is working on 5 signals in Batavia.
Budget: Kathy took over this part of the meeting. The state does not give money to any first time attendance of the national ACB. Alex read the budget which is proposed by the board. The total is $3,650. Linda stated that this is not actually a budget because it is not showing income sources but just expenses. Richard moved that the budget be accepted and Paul seconded that motion. Ian suggested that there be an allowance for the president to also attend conventions because she is required to be there as vice-president of the state organization. Linda stated that she questions having an amount designated for the Christmas party. She also stated that the discretionary fund should not be $500.00. The reasons for that amount should be listed. Patrick wanted to vote on each individual item. There was a role call vote to do that. Patrick wants to delete the Christmas party and summer picnic. Alex took over for the raising of hands voting on each budget item. Each budget item passed as originally presented by the board. Alex Moved that the dollar amount in items 1 and 2 be divided by the number of representatives we are sending. That motion was seconded and passed.
Our next topic was on the new law that Cable Companies have to provide accessible cable boxes to the visually impaired. Patrick stated that he had an extensive discussion with his cable co to get the box to talk. Peach said that she got TWC to work through her iphone. The technicians brought her a laptop which did not work for her.
Marie Lyons talked about a talking pill reminder that Walgreens gave her and she was supposed to record her own information on it. Kathy will check with national office about what is available for blind persons. Paul moved for adjournment at 8:03 PM
Respectfully Submitted,
Karlene Fiorello, Secretary
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]]>,karen Blachowitz gave her report. We have been asked to do a presentation at Beachwood Nursing home.
A summary of minutes was given by the secretary. They were approved.
Treasurer’s report: convention account is closed $6782.00 is our total assets. That report was accepted as given. Alex was commended for his work with the Treasury.
Karen stated that there is some misunderstanding about the budget. Kathy made a motion that the president be allowed $300 for legislative weekend. Karen Palau believes we do not have !send 3 people !the legislative week end. Kathy stated that legislation is one of the primary purposes of the organization. A vote was taken and there was one opposing vote.
Fund raising committee will meet on a telephone call Feb. 20. There will also be a scholarship meeting that evening.
Kathy gave a pedestrian safety report. They will try to get a list of existing signals in the Buffalo area from the department of transportation.
Richard volunteered to be on the NFTA committee with Karen. It is on the second Thursday of each month. John Spencer also volunteered. Richard questioned if we want to pursue pushing NFTA to produce their correspondence in an accessible format. Marie stated that there is an ap called moovit which gives bus information. It is available on iphone and Android.
Ian gave a legislative report. National office is having a legislative meeting Feb. 27-28. ACB worked with 4 Washington DC cab companies to improve service especially with guide dog users. Accessible currency is still an issue. State legislative seminar is scheduled for May 6-8. Topics may be Uber and licensing O and M instructors and vission rehabilitation therapists. (note: our chapter agreed to support such licensing early in our existence.) We spent some time discussing the Uber Bill which has already been passed by the state Senate. Karen encouraged everyone to look at the bill as it is presented. We will further discuss this matter next month. Announcements were made about the Kenmore Lions Club pancake breakfast and the lunch in the dark at NYSSB on April 27?. Kathy will chair the September Guide Dog awareness committee.
New business: Kathy made a motion that events involving our chapter should be sent to the chapter members before being put on the state email list. It was seconded. Karen Palau stated that this motion was not necessary because the state contacted Karen about the Beachwood invitation. The motion was not passed.
Alex said he has candy bars left. Our meeting adjourned at 7:50 PM.
Respectfully Submitted
Karlene Fiorello
Secretary
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]]>This event is free to blind and deaf blind children and young adults under 18 years old. Please contact us for more information.
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