Solidarity ’09
Planning Committee Meeting
Franklin County Board of MRDD
April 18, 2008
Minutes
Participants: Rob Alexander, Matt Baldwin, Bob Bottarini, Joyce Clemons, Roger Flint, Tom Fogarty, Mary Hiland, Reginia Huffman, Sue Willis, Mary Smithson
Call to Order: Sue Willis, Conference Manager, called the meeting to order at 11:10 a.m.
Approval of Minutes: Reginia made a made a motion, seconded by Bob, to approve the March minutes. Motion passed.
Treasurer’s Report: Bob reviewed the reports and noted that the remaining amount that the group needs to raise for the conference is $58,351.
Hotel Meeting Rooms – The Hyatt had contacted Sue with some questions about the meeting room assignments for the conference. To assist the planning committee in making decisions about which rooms will be needed, Sue developed a proposed schedule for the conference:
- Begin at 10:00 on Tuesday with 5 concurrent workshops, followed by opening lunch with a keynote speaker. After lunch, the legislative training would last for 2 hours and there would be workshops for those who want an alternative to legislative training. Dinner would be “on your own.”
- Wednesday would begin with the breakfast during which the Governor will speak, followed by legislative visits, lunch “on your own,” a banquet with awards, and entertainment.
- The proposed schedule for Thursday includes workshops and lunch with a speaker.
Members discussed the proposed schedule, and when to add the exhibitors and other additional features, such as health fair and arts room. Comments included:
- Last year, the exhibitors were there for 2 days but the conference started at 2:00 on the first day, so the exhibitors were idle for much of that day.
- Have the Health Fair one day and the Exhibit room another day.
- Use the incentive of having participants get stickers from Exhibitors on a card that they would put in a box for door prize drawings on the last day.
- Last year, Health Fair attendance was low, probably because of location.
- Signage needs to be better so participants know where and when things are taking place.
- Announcements need to be made about everything that is going on during the conference.
- Participants liked the hands-on art room last year.
Based on comments, Sue proposed having the health/arts activities in the Delaware Room on Tuesday, and having Exhibits in that room on Wednesday. Members concurred. The committee approved the schedule with these additions.
Sue stated that the hotel had reserved banquet rooms only for
lunches. She will work with hotel staff to arrange space for a breakfast and a
dinner to coincide with schedule changes; also for availability of Delaware Room
for a karaoke event Tuesday evening. She will work with chef to accommodate the
meals within our budget.
Keynote Speakers -
Mary
reviewed the updated speaker chart which had been sent out by e-mail. Mary and
Tom also provided information about two other potential speakers, Doug Armstrong
and Ben Anderson. Members held a discussion and made decisions about all
keynoters/entertainers for the conference.
- Kathy Buckley and Bob Woodruff were deleted because of high fees.
- A number of members said they would like to have Matt Roloff and Chris Burke
- Joyce Bender would be a good opening speaker because of her enthusiasm. Rob suggested we may be able to look for a corporate sponsor for her, since her cost is low.
- It would be good to have Chris Burke Wednesday evening when he could speak first, and then he and his group could play music for awhile.
- Reginia’s relatives would do karaoke again. This could be on Tuesday night.
Reginia made a motion, seconded by Roger, to hire Matt Roloff, Joyce Bender and Chris Burke as the keynoters for the conference. Motion passed. The group then finalized these plans:
- Ask Joyce Bender to speak at the luncheon on Tuesday.
- Have karaoke on Tuesday night.
- Ask Chris Burke to speak at dinner on Wednesday, followed by music by Chris and his musical group.
- Have Matt Roloff as the closing speaker on Thursday.
Mary will follow-up with the speakers. Tom asked that she get a bio and picture of each for the website.
Fundraising – Tom has contacted the Department of MRDD. Joyce Clemons’ daughter works for the Huntington Bank. Her daughter would assist the group in asking for a contribution from the bank, or she could give an in-kind donation from her section at the bank.
Sue asked that a small fund-raising group be created. It will be Tom, Rob, Reginia, Sue and Mary. Sue said it is important to be going after funds now. The group will develop a packet including a brief budget, personal testimonies, Newsnet write-up, etc. to use in raising funds. Reginia submitted 3 testimonies she had obtained. There needs to be personal contact, rather than just letters. Sue offered to meet with OLRS and ODA, along with a planning committee member (or members). Sue also suggested that County Boards of MRDD that help pay people’s expenses to attend the conference be recognized in the program. Joyce will look into contacting County Board Superintendents to encourage them to budget for supporting people to attend.
Outreach Efforts – We need to expand the planning committee and find people with various kinds of disabilities to serve.
Marsha Nippert, who is deaf and who was a previous Chair of Solidarity, was asked to attend this meeting. Although she was busy and couldn’t attend, she plans to attend the next one held in person and will help with ideas about reaching the hard-of-hearing and deaf community.
Joyce
will look into an association or group for people who have had a stroke, the
major cause of disability in adults. Sue will work on
some ideas with Mary Hiland about involving people with low vision or who are
deaf.
In
addition, we will reach out to the mental health community.
Everyone should be thinking of others that should be invited to serve on the planning committee. By asking representatives of various groups to join the committee, it will help get their constituencies to attend the conference.
Next Meeting: May 16th, in person if possible at the Franklin County Board of MRDD.
Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 1:15 p.m.