September Board Meeting Minutes
September 13, 2020
Present
Gretchen, Rebecca, Zelda, Shereen, Trampes, Allan, Mickey and Ali. Absent was Mark. Guest was Mary Stip.
President
NDAB was presented the Membership Growth Award at the 2020 ACB Convention. Present to Mary during our 2021 NDAB convention. Stips will store in their home and eventually will return to NDAB. Some of Zelda’s emails have been going to spam and being blocked due to sending 700-800 emails per week. Google groups will be used for Membership as well as Leadership (Board and Committees), Coffee Chat and Tech Talk have been well attended but numbers have dropped some since using Zoom. There have been a few glitches. Amy would like VR, Vision Services and us to do a series of calls to highlight services. Our Zoom contract is only under president@ndab.org as the cost would have doubled to include treasurer@ndab.org also as first intended. During the June Board meeting someone was lurking on the call. This should not happen with Zoom since we can see who is participating via phone or computer.
Secretary
Deaths
Family of Richard Fadness-death of Richard
Gene Haugen – death of Elaine Kelm
Family of Jean Cote- death of Jean
Family of Geraldine Florence- death of Geraldine
E-mail Decisions
June meeting minutes- passed on June 28th
Equipment Loan- failed July 7th
Volunteer Hours will start sending out reminders to everyone. Gretchen will send out message to Zelda to send out individuals.
Code of Conduct will be checked on.
Treasurer
Ethin Probst has not contacted Rebecca about his scholarship. CPA review is pending. Olga Neal Estate final bequest has been released by Alerus Bank, but not yet arrived; a check had been mailed in April. Zelda would like a committee to identify suggested ways of using money from the Olga Neal Estate. Shereen, Mary and Rebecca volunteered. One suggestion is making Olga an ACB Angel which costs approximately $500.00. Olga’s name would go on the Angel Wall.
Reviewed Treasurer’s Reports. Shereen Moved. Mickey seconded. MSC
Development Director
Combine White Cane Safety Day and Walk for Vision on October 15. Would like to do a video about White Cane Safety Day along with donation request for NDAB and use of white cane and guide dog user as well. Would be the same two who did Giving Hearts Day video last year. Contacted ND Governor and Fargo Mayor about doing proclamation for White Cane Safety Day. There will be a direct mailing also. Video would not have dates in it so we can use it at other times for education and make it more versatile. Registered for Giving Hearts Day on February 11, 2021. Match funds will be requested from the Lions Clubs and Charitable Gaming groups. Proceeds from the Grace and Heart Jewelry Party that Shereen had through her sister-in-law will be used for matching funds for GHD. To get our membership involved encourage them to call a person and talk about NDAB and give them the opportunity to donate to NDAB. Dakota Impact Foundation is not doing face to face training this year for Giving Hearts Day. This will make it easier for more to attend.
Committee Reports
Communications
written report was submitted. See below.
Walk for Vision/White Cane Safety Day
Contacted folks who did the video for Giving Hearts Day
• Make a video about white cane safety day
• Include Paul Olson
• A cane user and a guide dog user
• Film it around NDSU campus
Asked Governor’s office and Fargo Mayor for proclamation
Emily Stenberg at NDVS/SB – willing to help
Want to encourage folks to donate to NDAB
Who do we want to reach?
• Allan has a list of donors from past Walks
• Direct Mail
Date – October 15th: White Cane Safety Day
Plan:
• Use Video to create interest
• Promote the video with direct mail, email, social media, website
• Call to action in mailing
How do people donate?
• Mail checks to PO box
• Donation page on website
Allan and Zelda will send out letters.
Will share wording with the rest of us for use in electronic media.
Video should be ready in next ten days
Send folks to ndab.org to see the video
New Website
Menu toppers bring up a page and is confusing
Reduce the size of images
Give access to Brant so he can properly set up the screen reader helper bits.
Next steps:
• Do a “card sort”, i.e. a brainstorming exercise to decide what should be on the website and how the pages are structured.
• Write/Review/Rewrite pages according to previous step.
Mailing Lists
We have:
• Communication Committee
• Leadership
• Board
Need to do membership lists. The ndab.org reputation is now low enough that outgoing mail is being blocked.
Zelda and Robert will finish membership list set up and import email addresses.
Set up an NDAB-News email list for announcements about Wednesday calls, tech calls, etc. This is for members and non-members.
Next:
External Mailing Lists
• Need to decide who we want to send info to and for what purpose.
• Then we can pick a technology or format
• Get it set up
Dial NDAB
It is setup? Yes. Content not finished.
Server went down again a few weeks ago.
There is some content but not all we planned.
Still not found a good and simple way to get the promoter up there.
Brant will follow up.
How do we promote this?
• Robert: Logo and hook phrase
• Another article in Promoter
Legislative and Advocacy
If voting by absentee, get applications in. We have worked with election officials here in ND and work is being done for legislation to allow accessible absentee balloting similar to the way the military overseas votes. Advocating for Talking Books program as well as NDVS/SB and Older Blind Program.
Membership
1 new member was brought before the Board:
Carol Marshall, Grand Forks
Shereen moved. Allan seconded. MSC
August 27-Membership committee members attended a call by ACB entitled How to Engage Younger Members. Hope to have something out in the November Promoter. Discussed how to engage members. Also sending out surveys to new members to find out what their wants are for involvement. Event for younger members college age-junior members, employment, education, college setting.
Sports and Recreation
2nd Annual Fall Recreational Retreat next weekend at Wesley Acres in Dazey. There will be 18 participants. Checking out a company out of Canada that sells equipment for visually impaired. They are cheaper and Trampes is unsure of the quality. Trampes purchased a blind soccer ball, blind football and beeper foam frisbee with his money. The Minot Lions Club that Trampes is a member of is interested in doing a Goalball event. Bob Moore is selling a tandem bike if anyone is interested. Equipment loan agreement is still in process.
Unfinished Business
NDOA Convention-Vendor booths cancelled
New Business
Zelda suggested that we have a Virtual Memorial Service to remember those members and friends who have died this past year. We could hold this during the November Just Talking call. Allan made a motion to do a virtual memorial service, Shereen seconded. Discussion was held. The virtual memorial service will be November 17th. Allan, Mary and Shereen will do the planning. MSC.
Zelda has talked to Janelle about doing something like Family Adjustment Seminar with a series of Zoom calls. She also talked to Loris about using the name Life After the Big “E”. Thoughts are that it should be a small group of 4 or 5. We are looking for ways to identify individuals who might benefit from these sessions.
We possibly need to review Camp and Retreat guidelines. Right now, the guidelines say that you must be a resident of North Dakota. However, we do have members that are not North Dakota residents who attend camp and pay their own way. The Board would like to bring this up before the Convention Body for consideration.
We did have a “planning for the future” Just Talking call. Zelda proposed that we have a strategic planning meeting with the Board and the Membership in October. The meeting will be on October 24th 2-5 p.m.
Announcements
Just Talking
Sept. 22nd-Mark Arneson-Hadley 100 years
Oct. 20th-Caring Clinic
Nov. 17th-Virtual Memorial Service
Dec. 15th- Jeff Thom-President Alliance on Aging and Vision Loss
Jan 18th-Accessible Voting Legislation
Shereen made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Mickey 2nd. MSC.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
Next meeting: November 8th @ 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Gretchen Campbell, Secretary