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April 2006
The spring Board meeting is over; however, due to time constraints we will be holding a teleconference call for the Board on May 9. The majority of the Board meeting time was taken with working on a new contract with the thrift stores. The present contract expires on October 1, 2006.
The hotel was really filled with all kinds of groups -- three baseball teams, YWCA gala and Amvets. (I understand that Sandler, Franklin's guidedog, has no problem finding the party rooms.)
A few of our people went to Power Up which was held on April 10-11. As was approved by the Board in its November 12 meeting, MCB was one of the sponsors of the Power Up Conference. In addition, we had a table where Bev Kaskadden had some p. r. materials for attendees of the Conference to pick up. Along with being a sponsor and having a table, MCB gave a couple of door prizes.
Following the closing of the Power Up Conference, Kathey returned to Kansas City to have eye surgery. The office wishes you well, Kathey.
The ACB grant applications have been mailed to the affiliate presidents.
They may also be downloaded from our website www.missouricouncilofthe blind.org going to the link Forms and Applications.
The deadline for all grant applications being submitted to the office is four p.m. on May 15. None will be accepted after that date.
I am pleased to tell you that the Preregistration Form for the MCB State Convention is now on our website under the link Forms and Applications.
This form may be downloaded and printed out. You will need to send the completed Preregistration Form by regular mail to the MCB office since you will need to enclose your check. No refunds will be made after September 15. Also, the registration fee needs to be paid by everyone attending the Convention.
There will be a Preregistration fee of five dollars. Those registering on site will pay ten dollars. Also, any registrations being mailed to the office that are postmarked after September 15 must pay ten dollars registration fee; so, you may start preregistering for our State Convention which will be October 19-22 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City.
The room rate is $64 plus three percent tourism tax. Be sure to tell the hotel when you make your reservation that you will be coming for the MCB Convention in order to get the $64 per night rate.
The Host Affiliate, Blind of Central Missouri, is hard at work. The menus for the banquet and hospitality meal are as follow:
Banquet: baked ham glazed with cherry sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, rolls, butter, coffee and tea, and apple crisp for dessert.
The hospitality meal will be:
sub sandwich, chips, drink and cookie. The hotel is looking into also including some veggies such as celery and carrot sticks.
I regret to have to report that two of our members could not attend the Spring Board meeting. Merle Chaffin fell at the hotel and injured his foot.
He returned home before the Board meeting began. Then on Saturday morning I received a phone call from a friend of Jarrell Holt, letting us know that as he was preparing to leave for the Board meeting Jarrell experienced chest pains and was taken to the emergency room where he was then hospitalized.
We hope both of these folks will recover quickly. I had a phone call from Jarrell on April 19. He is home and getting stronger. They did put a stent in the artery in the back of his heart.
We have the new brochures. The new Braille alphabet cards will soon be here, too. If you have need for either or both of these items, just give us a call.
It is about six months till our MCB state convention. All of you who are "crafty" need to get busy. Of course, we will have the craft room again this year. The more items, the better.
Following the Board meeting, Bill Burris was hospitalized. There are many folks thinking of you, Bill, and wish you well.
The minutes for the Board meeting have been mailed to the Board members as well as the notice of a teleconference call.
You can tell it's spring by the whirring of the lawn mowers. Our grass here at the office has been cut at least twice.
If you submit an expense form and have a reimbursement check coming, please be patient. For some reason unknown to us here in the office, two checks addressed to the same household and mailed at the same time are not reaching their destination at the same time. Once they leave our office, there is nothing we can do to get them to you any faster. Recently, two checks were mailed to one address at the same time. The second check arrived almost two weeks later than the first. A similar thing happened with checks going to another address in another town; however, it didn't take the second check quite as long to reach its destination. This is a postal problem.
At the Spring Board meeting the Board voted to allow $500 to be spent on the purchase of a new refrigerator for the building. The refrigerator will be delivered on April 21.
Spring makes everyone think of flowers. Well, it is no different for the MCB building. Plans are to soon be planting flowers in the front of our building. Hopefully, the bunnies will leave them alone.
It's always a good feeling to share in someone's achievements. Patti Dexter, who has cleaned our MCB building since we moved here, was in nurse's training the past several years. Prior to going into nurse's training, Patti was a teacher. Well, she completed her schooling and graduated in December. Fortunately, she passed her state exams, also. Patti now has a nursing job with St. Anthony's Hospital here in St. Louis. As far as we know, she will continue to clean our building for us. Her work schedule requires her to work three twelve-hour days one week and two twelve-hour days the next. That, coupled with having a home, husband and three young children makes her life very busy.
In closing I would like to share the contents of a phone call I recently received. Jackie and her husband live in a small town in northern Missouri and both are disabled. Jackie was run over by a truck some years ago. Her husband has MS and is now in a wheelchair and is also legally blind. Last January their house burned. She has not been able to get help from the officials in their town. They are currently leasing a house, but her husband cannot leave the house as it is not wheelchair accessible. She has contacted the Independent Living Center that serves their county. They in turn referred her to us. Jackie did receive some kind of a settlement when the truck ran over her, but it has been pilfered from her. After a lengthy conversation, I gave her two referrals. One was RSB Older Adult Blind Services and the other was Missouri Protection and Advocacy. We also sent them applications for Adaptive Tech grant and Special Services.
Till next month, count your blessings.
Beverly Armstrong
Executive Director
Missouri Council of the Blind
(314) 832-7172
ExecDir@MoBlind.org
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