THE FCB ANNUAL CONVENTION MEMBERSHIP MEETING


SUNDAY, JUNE 7th, 2009
DAYTONA BEACH, FL


TABLE OF CONTENTS
CALL TO ORDER AND FIRST BUSINSESS
TREASURER'S REPORT
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
COMMITTEE REPORTS
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND ADJOURNMENT


CALL TO ORDER AND FIRST BUSINESS

President, Debbie Grubb called the meeting to order at 8:33 AM. Sharon Youngs offered the invocation. Robert Miller led in the flag salute. Sally Benjamin called the roll and established a quorum. Sharon Youngs read the minutes from the 2008 convention. There were 2 minor corrections noted. Robert Jones moved for the approval of the corrected minutes. Barbara Grill seconded the motion and it carried.


TREASURER'S REPORT

Treasurer Patti Land gave a detailed Treasurer's report. Robert Miller moved for the adoption of this report. Loreen Darby-Henry seconded the motion and it carried.


PRESIDENT'S REPORT

Debbie gave her President's report. She first praised the hard-working people on the ACB Host Committee for doing an outstanding job and doing it on time. She talked briefly about her trip to Washington for the legislative program. She also mentioned going to the ACB Presidents' meeting. Other accomplishments included Paul Edwards was appointed to the Rehab Council and is acting as the Vice Chair. FCB was instrumental in selecting Joyce Hildreth as Director of DBS. She said we are still working on some voting issues and are part of the Voters' Coalition. Other issues we are working on is transportation and AEIT. She thanked people for attending meetings that were held in Tallahassee. She said she would be unable to attend the ACB Convention in Orlando because of her husband's illness. Robert Miller will act as the host in her absence.


COMMITTEE REPORTS

AWARDS COMMITTEE - Debbie Drylie
Committee reports were the next order of business. The first committee to report was the Awards committee. Debbie Drylie reported the presentation of the awards for this year as follows:

R. Henry P. Johnson Award to Paul Kimensky
Dolly Gamble Award to Rosanna Lippen
W. A. Outzs Award to Bill Probst
"Just Bill" Ferrell Award to Sharon Youngs
Cooke Chapter President's Award to Barbara Grill
Mobility Award to Joany Orozco
President's Special Awards to Barbara Grill and Sheila Young

EDUCATION & LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE - Barbara Grill
We then heard from Barbara Grill about those selected to receive the scholarships for this year. They include:
Gayle M. Krause-Edwards $2,000 to Jermisa Lee
Terry Blessing $2,000 to James Robison
Timothy Turpin $1,500 to Tara Tripathi
Bobbie Probst $750 to Danny Minor

CONSTITUTION & BY-LAWS COMMITTEE - Jim Kracht
The next committee we heard from was the Constitution and By-Laws Committee. As Chairman of that committee, Jim Kracht reminded everyone that each chapter is supposed to send in a copy of their constitution to the state committee for review once a year. He further reported that a new chapter has received their charter as of this convention – the Nassau chapter.

RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE - Paul Edwards
Paul Edwards reported in the absence of Jesus Garcia about proposed resolutions. There were 6 resolutions for our review and approval.
The first two resolutions were the usual ones thanking the host chapter and the staff of the convention hotel. These were proposed by John Richards and seconded by Jay Bader. They both carried.

Resolution #C3-2009 addressed Mo-Pix and making more descripted movies available. This resolution was proposed by Paul Edwards and seconded by Robert Jones and carried.

Resolution #C4-2009 was to endorse the order of selection plan proposed by DBS. Again, this resolution was proposed by Paul Edwards and seconded by Robert Jones and carried.

Resolution #C5-2009 addressed the problem of USF eliminating the program to train people to teach blindness rehabilitation skills. Paul proposed approval of this resolution. Sheila Young seconded this motion and it carried.

The last resolution for our consideration concerned the reinstatement of funding for radio reading services by the legislature. Paul moved for the approval of this resolution also. Larry Turnbull seconded the motion and it carried.

CONVENTION COMMITTEE - Sila Miller
Sila Miller reported for the Convention committee next. She said that 175 people had pre registered for this convention and, all together, there were 187 registered. Next year we will be back at the Holiday Inn Airport in Jacksonville. The dates for that convention are May 20th - 23rd, 2010. The room rate for that hotel will be $90 per night.

Our Board Meeting is scheduled for the Hilton in St. Petersburg for the dates of December 4th - 5th, 2009.

PUBLIC EDUCATION COMMITTEE - Carl McCoy
Carl McCoy, as chairman of the Public Education Committee, gave us some more information about his proposal that we declare one week in November as Legislative week. We are all urged to try to speak with our local and state legislators during that time.

TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE - John Richards
John Richards reported for the Technology Committee. He said that the one-on-one approach to tutoring people on technological issues seemed to work much better than the speech type presentation.

Bill Freeman told us about the winners of the raffle drawing. The $100 prize was given to J. Howe. The $200 went to Bernice Lazerow of Sarasota. The $300 was given to Arial Taylor of Orange Park. The $400 went to Loretta Brophy from Largo. The $500 went to Glad Brown of Miami and the $1,000 grand prize was awarded to Bonnie King of Middleburg. He said that over 8,500 tickets in all were sold.

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE - Sally Benjamin
The next committee we heard from was Membership. As chairperson for this committee, Sally Benjamin reported that our membership numbers are actually up a bit from recent years. We have over 850 members again. Sally reported that some addresses she has are incorrect and when the White Cane Bulletin is sent to these people, it comes back as undeliverable. Robert Miller made a motion that if this happens and the newsletter is returned, those people should be put on a list of "incorrect addresses" and shouldn't be sent another issue until a new address is obtained and confirmed. This motion was seconded by Loreen Darby-Henry and carried.


UNFINISHED BUSINESS

We moved to Unfinished Business. Shelly Justice from Mid-Florida Chapter has a question about that chapters' constitution. Jim Kracht will take care of this.


NEW BUSINESS

Under the general topic of New Business, Paul Edwards made a motion for FCB to donate $3,000 to ACB Radio. He is hopeful that this donation may make it possible to pay the director a nominal amount beginning possible in January 2010. Carl McCoy seconded the motion and it carried.


ANNOUNCEMENTS AND ADJOURNMENT

Announcements followed. Sila Miller recognized Lillian Reilly for her many years to FCB and blind people in general. Nancy Burgess-Hall publicly thanks those people in the Halifax chapter who worked so tirelessly to make this a great convention.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:40 AM.


Respectfully Submitted,
Sharon Youngs


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