Hello,
This past Saturday, April 23rd, the NFB of Greater Louisville held it's annual April Luncheon. Although the sky outside was gloomy and Mother Nature was pounding us with unnecessary rain, the weather did not discourage the 38 Federationists in attendance.
Our guest, Mr. Ron Gardner, NFB of Utah President was excited and was pleasantly surprised over the turn out. Mr. Gardner could not get over the rain and the river. He kept saying, "I'm from the desert, I'm not used to this much water." Mr. Gardner gave a motivational speech and I truly feel it inspired our members. Our plan of breaking out into small groups was crushed due to the area of the restaurant we were placed in, but we did get member involvement and positive feedback.
The outline for the upcoming year I have is "Out of the Box." Breaking away from the norm and really getting hands on with projects and activities. As I explained at the luncheon, with the amount of information one can find sitting in the comforts of home, there is no need to talk "blindness" to death.at a meeting. If you want to know what's happening on a National level you can visit www.nfb.org and find out. If you have questions about a piece of technology, you can Google it. Due to the amount of NFB e-mail lists and the world wide web the "traditional" meeting is no longer prevalent. Getting in touch with one another, our community and educating the public should be our main focus.
With many thanks and great appreciation to, Sandra Williams, Melanie Peskoe and Anna Gregory who served on the nominating committee, a new board was elected as well on Saturday. I'm very excited and anxious to get down to business with my girls! The Greater Louisville board is, Nickie Pearl, President. Tonia Gatton, Vice President. Maria Jones, Treasurer. Denise Franklin, Secretary. Sarah Williams, Director and Hellena Keaton, Director.
A few weeks ago our chapter lost a dear friend and a long time Federationist. Ms. Mittie Lake was an amazing woman, she always had a smile on her face and a joke in heart. Cathy Jackson, President of NFB of Kentucky ask me if she could honor a chapter member with the first annual Mittie Lake award. Cathy wanted to honor a chapter member who has the same Federation spirit and dedication to this organization as Mittie did. Over the years Mittie made countless affghans for the chapter and affiliate to raffle off, she was also the first one with her check book out ready to buy reverse raffle tickets. Cathy and Denise Franklin choose Kevin Pearl to receive the first Mittie Lake award. Just like Mittie, Kevin wants no praise or attention when it comes to the organization. Kevin will set up, clean up and everything in between behind the scenes. Kevin works hard everyday to change what it means to be blind. Congratulations Kevin!
The winner of the Great State Convention Giveaway was drawn at the luncheon. Mr. Kenny Jones is getting an all expense paid trip to the 2011 NFB of Kentucky State Convention in Frankfort. I must say, Kenny has to be the luckiest person I've ever known. His name or split pot numbers seem to be drawn a lot. Congratulations Kenny! Our chapter also gave away a Louis Braille Coin, and that winner was Josie Kennedy. Josie is a GL member from Hardinsburg. Josie was able to join us due to her good friend Gretchen who drove in the horrible weather. Gretchen really enjoyed the luncheon and positive message behind Mr. Gardner's motivation.
I'd like to thank everyone who attended the luncheon and for those who did not, I hope you can join us this year so you can take advantage of what you missed at the luncheon. Our first activity will be a gardening project. This will take place at the Kentucky School for the Blind on Saturday May 14, 2011 from noon till 3pm. On this day you will learn all about gardening. What flowers and plants are good for our area. Which flowers like sun or shade, which ones need lots of water or not so much. You'll be given a chance to plant your own flower in a pot to take home with you. We encourage everyone to bring a sack lunch and bring your kids. Kids like playing in dirt and they may even learn a thing or two about flowers! If you have any questions about this project, please feel free to contact me.
Thank You!
Nickie
