THE BULLETIN
Of the
San Mateo Council of the Blind
________________________________________________
January 2003
Vol. 4 No. 1
________________________________________________
President's Message
By Frank Welte
This is the second of a
series of messages in which I explain specific ways that SMCB’s
committees will serve our community.
Jeff Thom, the newly elected
president of the California Council of the Blind, has issued a challenge to
each member of CCB to bring one new person into the organization this
year. The San Mateo Council of the
Blind has all ready been working hard to bring more members of our local blind
community and other concerned people into our chapter. I believe we have the ability to grow
to at least 100 members during 2003.
While it is important for each of us to reach out to our friends and
neighbors, the primary responsibility for finding and retaining members lies
with our Membership and Phone Tree committees.
The membership committee
plans and implements member recruitment and retention activities. Such activities could include finding
and contacting potential members, telling them about SMCB and encouraging them
to join us, maintaining contact with all members, keeping our membership
database current, and finding ways to keep all members involved in the
chapter. The Phone Tree committee
contacts each member on a monthly basis, and reminds them about pending
meetings and other chapter activities.
Do you like people? Do you want to increase your circle of
friends in the local blind community?
Join the Membership or Phone Tree Committees, and help build a stronger,
more cohesive blind community in San Mateo County.
I hope all of you are
starting this New Year on a positive note. My year is starting off busy as usual. Last week-end, SMCB member, Margie
Donovan, and I helped train new ski guides for Sierra Regional Ski for
Light. During the next few months
I will be participating in the ACB’s winter meetings in Pittsburgh, PA,
attending the ACB Legislative Seminar in Washington, D.C., going to the CCB
convention in Sacramento, and working on various committees and projects for
SMCB, CCB, and ACB. Oh yes,
I’ll be doing some more skiing, too.
Speaking of being busy, do
you struggle to keep track of all the appointments, phone numbers, and random
ideas that clutter your mind, not to mention your desk? Do you envy your sighted friends with
their little, high tech electronic organizers? During our February meeting our speaker, Dan Peterson, will
demonstrate the Parrot Voicemate, a talking electronic organizer that will let
you keep a calendar, phone directory, and more in a cute, little package
that’ll fit in a shirt pocket.
Who knows, this thing just might give you the organizational edge you
need to keep up with those many New Year’s goals we all have.
Our February meeting will
also mark the kick-off of our annual candy sale fundraiser. Your efforts made last year's sale a
great success. With your help on
this project we will raise the funds that will allow us to extend our reach
further
into our local communities.
Coming Events
Saturday, January 25, 2003,
2:00 PM to 5:00 PM, bowling outing, AMF Redwood Lanes, 2580 El Camino Real,
Redwood City, CA.
Saturday, February 1, 2003,
11:30 AM to 1:00 PM, SMCB meeting, A.P. Gianini Branch, Bank of America, El
Camino Real & 3rd Ave., San Mateo, CA.
Speaker: Dan Peterson, will
demonstrate the Parrot Voicemate talking electronic organizer.
Thursday, February 20, 2003,
10:30 Am to 12:00 PM, SMCB board meeting, Depot Café next to the San
Carlos Caltrain station.
Saturday, February 22, 2003,
2:00 PM to 5:00 PM, bowling outing.
For more information about
these events contact Frank Welte, (650) 508-8329, E-mail: fwelte @
sbcglobal.net.
To submit items for this
newsletter, call Phil Kutner: Editor
at 650-349-6946 or send
E-mail to [email protected]
Website http://www.smccb.org
Philip and Sally Kutner Free
Matter
1128 Tanglewood Way for
the Blind
San Mateo, CA 94403