Spring, 2007
THE MINNESOTA MEMO
A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN COUNCIL OF THE BLIND OF MINNESOTA
P O BOX 7341
MINNEAPOLIS MN 55407
The articles and comments stated in this newsletter are not necessarily the position of the American Council of the Blind of Minnesota, but rather are the position and opinion of the article's author.
EDITORIAL COMMITTEEMarian Haslerud
232 W. Franklin, #205
Minneapolis, MN 55404
E-mail: mhaslerud@comcast.netm
Stephanie Hall
433 S. 7th St., #2227
Minneapolis, MN 55415
E-mail: sahall64@comcast.net
Bob Lockwood
3625 Cardinal Rd.
Minnetonka, MN 55345
E-mail: peggy_bob@msn.com
Michael Malver, Webmaster
1225 LaSalle Ave. #302
Minneapolis, MN 55403
E-mail: mmalver@visi.com
ACBM Info Express - (651) 642-5003, our telephone news and information hotline was established by the membership in October 2005. Its purpose is to provide important and relevant information vital to the membership, quickly and efficiently between scheduled business meetings. Please keep yourself informed by calling regularly.
Table of ContentsPresident’s Message ACB Convention Coming To Minneapolis ACBM Annual Picnic Help ACBM Each Time You Use the Internet Election of ACBM Officers ACBM Board of Directors
President's Message, Spring 2007
By Ken Rodgers
Finally, winter has arrived! As I write this message there is a gentle snow falling and it seems safe to say winter has certainly arrived. For a while I was beginning to think it was not going to come this year. But then again, this is Minnesota and when it comes to the weather... well, you know the saying, "If you don't like it right now just wait ten minutes and it will change!"
The falling snow is a great backdrop for thinking back on my term as your President. With the upcoming elections in April my term as president will end. Even though my term of president will be complete in April, my participation in ACBM activities and events will continue. Many programs have been initiated to try to build a greater foundation for leadership, social activities, advocacy and ways to better our lives as visually impaired citizens. With yearly Leadership Retreats, the board gathers with newly elected officers to draft a strategy and pinpoint focus on the immediate future direction for ACBM.
In the past 4 years, activities have been planned, fundraising projects completed, monthly board meetings scheduled, regular quarterly Membership meetings held, national events attended by ACBM members and officers and the list goes on and on.
You, our members, are the critical component in the success of all these activities.
You have driven the direction of the Board. You have driven the types of activities planned. You have attended the meetings and participated in countless ways to make your wishes known. In doing so, you have provided support to your leadership team. Without you it would not be possible for ACBM to function as it does!
I know it can be a pain to decide to attend a membership meeting at times, and how hard it might be to figure out how you will get there. It's hard enough when the weather is good, much less when the weather is especially bad. If it weren’t for your willingness to participate and serve, ACBM would be only a mediocre organization.
I have to decide for my self if my participation makes any real difference to the group. For me personally, I want to be able to contribute to that activity in a productive way. So should you too, whenever it comes to an ACBM event time and time again, you have chosen to willingly participate.
Looking back over the last 4 years, I want to tell you that each time you decided to participate with an ACBM event it has truly made a difference! Not only has it made a difference for that particular activity but for me personally as well. Your participation shows your confidence and support. Without that confidence and support ACBM would just slowly cease to exist. Your participation makes all the difference in the world!
It takes all types of individuals to make up any organization--those who are leaders, those who are followers, those who are "doers” and those who bring others into the organization. ACBM needs you to think about how to help the organization keep its strong presence and leadership within our community.
ACBM is a solid and well respected blind consumer organization at the present time. It can only continue with dedicated members who are willing to further drive us forward into the future. The annual elections held at the April Quarterly Meeting and the results presented elsewhere in this Memo has provided for continued dedicated leadership for ACBM.
At the beginning of my presidency I revived the motto, "ACBM: Looking towards the future while remembering the lessons of the past." I most assuredly know that many lessons have been learned. It is once again time to focus on looking to the future. Good luck to everyone and here is to ACBM's future!
Ken Rodgers, Immediate Past President
ACB Convention Coming To Minneapolis
By The 2007 Host Committee
The 2007 ACB National Convention will be held in our very own downtown Minneapolis June 30-July 7. The host hotels are the Hyatt Regency and Millennium Hotels located on Nicollet Mall and 13th Street. The 2007 Host Committee has been very busy working in close coordination with the national planning committee to make sure this convention will be the best ACB has offered to date!
As you know, ACB conventions offer an incredible array of varied activities. Since ACB is home of over 70 special interest affiliate groups, each with its own organization and leadership, coordinating of the yearly ACB event is an immense task. Many of the special interest affiliates use the summer convention to hold their own mini conventions with special focus workshops that are of particular interest to their own members as well as to hold annual business meetings. These activities of course, must be coordinated between the actual programming and business meetings required from ACB itself. In order to maximize limited meeting room space and to coordinate all the activities, a large number of volunteers are needed. Many of the volunteers come from within the special interest groups and from within ACB itself. However, as we have grown from year to year our need for outside volunteers has grown as well.
As you can well imagine, anytime thousands of blind and visually impaired individuals come together in one location there is bound to be an impact made on the population of the host city. In order to create a more positive interaction between the non-sighted members with the sighted host city population, ACB has developed specific opportunities to involve the community from the local host city.
Volunteers will be needed to assist the guests in moving to and from various scheduled activities and meetings in both hotels.
In previous convention locations ACB has been the recipient of generous volunteer services from local corporations and companies. We are keeping our fingers crossed that Minneapolis will be no different. With numerous large community minded companies located right in the downtown area we are hoping many of their employees will want to volunteer to be a part of this historic event. In past years ACB has benefited from local civic groups such as Lions, Eagles, Masons, Elks, Shriners, Women's Clubs, Junior Leagues, Boys and Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and Eagle Scouts. Local schools have contributed volunteers from middle and senior high schools. Students have been recruited from colleges and universities as well.
Many churches located within the downtown area inspire members to actively volunteer in the community. our pool of potential volunteers is expansive. Most importantly think how the volunteer potential could link the conventioneers with the members of the Minneapolis community. The volunteer experience can be enlightening for everyone.
If you know of any group or individual that might be interested in volunteering at our 2007 Convention a volunteer training meeting will be held Saturday, June 2, 2007 at the downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel starting at 9:00am. Other training opportunities will be announced as the Convention approaches. For additional information regarding volunteering, anyone interested can contact the ACBM Host Committee by calling Ken @ 612-236-4115 or Janet @ 651-428-5059.
The 2007 Convention is shaping up to be the best convention to date. Have you marked your calendar?
ACBM Annual Picnic
By: Picnic Committee
The ACBM annual picnic and auction will be held on Saturday August 25th. Anna Olsen has graciously
offered to be the hostess this year. Her address is
6211 Sheridan Ave S
Richfield MN 55423
The picnic will be catered by TST Creative catering. The menu consists of:
Chicken
Hamburgers
Hot dogs
Water melon
Potato salad
Baked beans
Coleslaw
The cost is $10.00 per person.
The picnic and auction is our biggest fundraiser of the year. Once again Michael Malver will be our auctioneer. Baked goods, services such as dinners, bottles of wine and jewelry are always big sellers.
Feel free to be creative with your auction donations Any new item or service WILL BE GLADLY ACCEPTED. If you have any questions about the picnic please leave them on Info Express.
The Picnic committee:
Marian Haslerud
Sue Lindgren
Janet Dickelman
Help ACBM Each Time You Use the Internet
How many times do you use GOOGLE to do a search to find something on the Internet? What if American Council of the Blind of Minnesota earned a penny every time a member of ACBM completed a search. Well, now we can!
GoodSearch.com is a new search engine that donates half its revenue, about a penny per search, to the nonprofit charities its users designate. As of now, American Council of the Blind of Minnesota has been established as a certified registered organization, which means that you can select ACBM to earn a penny each time you do a search!
When you do a search using GoodSearch.com you will be helping American Council of the Blind of Minnesota continue its work. The best part is that it costs you nothing! GoodSearch is a search engine with a social conscience, donating half of its revenue to a variety of non-profit organizations. The advertisers pay Good Search to pay its users for doing an internet search. How cool is that?
GoodSearch is a Yahoo-powered search engine so you will get that same great quality information
whenever you search using GoodSearch.com. To help out ACBM, go to:
www.goodsearch.com
Once there, be sure to enter American Council of the Blind of Minnesota' in the box
labeled: "Nonprofit charity you support"
The first time you enter American Council of the Blind of Minnesota' Please you will need to click on
the link that says, "VERIFY your Nonprofit". After that, the American Council of the Blind of Minnesota
will always appear in that box.
Help us spread the word! And better yet, why not make Goodsearch.com your new home page? Then any
time you want to do a search you are there already. To make GoodSearch.com your new home page, paste
this link into your browser:
http://www.goodsearch.com/MakeHomepage.aspx
Just 500 of us searching four times a day will raise about $7300 in a year, without anyone spending a dime!
Using GoodSearch.com will make ACBM a little money! It is a no-brainer! Please tell your family and friends to use Good Search as well.
There has never been an easier way to help nonprofit charity organizations before GoodSearch.com entered our world. Please give it a try. It costs you nothing and American Council of the Blind of Minnesota has everything to gain.
Election of ACBM Officers
Election of officers was held at the annual membership meeting on April 28, 2007. At that meeting
the following slate of officers and directors were elected:
President, Janet Dickelman
Treasurer, Juliette Silvers
Directors, Robert Lockwood, Christopher Bell and Jo Taliaferro
Because the secretary position was vacant, Sue Lindgren was elected to finish the term of Janet who had one year remaining in her position as secretary.
Congratulations to all of the newly elected officers and directors. With their leadership, ACBM will continue to move forward.
ACBM Board of Directors
Janet Dickelman, President
St. Paul, MN
Phone: (651) 698-5059
E-mail: Janet.Dickelman@comcast.net
Michael Malver, Vice-President
Minneapolis, MN
Phone: (612) 673-0664
E-mail: mmalver@visi.com
Sue Lindgren, Secretary
Minneapolis, MN
Phone: (612) 605-4526
E-mail: slingren@mindspring.com
Juliette Silvers, Treasurer
Minneapolis, MN
Phone: (612) 824-2131
E-mail: jsilvers03@comcast.net
Chris Bell, Director
Minneapolis, MN
Phone: (612) 859-4938
E-mail: christophergbell@comcast.net
Carolyn Coby, Director
Forest Lake, MN
Phone: (651) 464-5935
E-mail: cs_coby@hotmail.com
Bob Lockwood, Director
Minnetonka, MN
Phone: (952) 938-7190
E-mail: peggy_bob@msn.com
David Moseman, Director
St. Paul, MN
Phone: (651) 340-4217
E-mail: moseman@comcast.net
Jo Taliaferro, Director
Minneapolis, MN
Phone: (612) 722-1195
E-mail: soaringeagle7@comcast.net
Ken Rodgers, Ex-Officio Member
Minneapolis, MN
Phone: (612) 236-4115
E-mail: kenrodgers@comcast.net
 | Copyright © 2001 American Council of the Blind of Minnesota kenrodgers@comcast.net |