From: Earlene Hughes 
Subject: Re: DILLON COUNTY NFB and other chapters elsewhere
Hello to all,
I too, am from Indiana.  I would like to say a few things about this
subject, and hopefully, maybe shed a positive light on all that has been 
said.  
I am a former state President from the state of Delaware.  I moved to
Indiana in 1993.  I wanted to be able to contribute to NFB work here in
Indiana in the same way that I had an opportunity to do in Delaware.  I have
never been forgiven by some members here because I ran for office.  In 1995,
state President Paul Howard, appointed members to chair state comittees.
Paul distributed this information to Chapter Presidents here in Indiana.
Members were invited to volunteer to serve on these comittees.  When I
volunteered to be on the legislative comittee, I was told by Joe Money, the
chairman of that comittee, that "well, I don't think there will be any work
for the comittee to do this year".  There have been many times when I
thought that perhaps, it would be best if I just gave up my membership and
went away quietly.  Each time, when I considered doing this, I would sit
myself down with a cup of coffee and ask myself, "Why did I join the NFB"?
"What would have happened to me, if no one had helped me at a time in my
life, when I needed support and guidance"?  I have experienced many happy
moments while working with others in the NFB, and I have also experienced
the same things that Deb Lumbardy has written about.  In October, the
majority of the Lafayette Chapter members voted to dissolve.  I have written
an article about the Lafayette Chapter which appeared in the most recent
issue of the Watchword which is the newsletter for the Indiana affiliate.
At the state Board meeting which was held in March, newly elected President
Ron Brown, appointed a Chapter development comittee.  I was appointed to
serve as co-chair along with former state President Paul Howard.  In April,
a new Chapter was organized in the Lafayette area.  I am happy to be able to
tell you that many of the members who voted to dissolve have joined the new
Chapter.  The problems which exist here in Indiana did not happen overnight.
When things began to change in the 1980's, many people left the Indiana
affiliate.  The Chapter development comittee has a lot of work to do.  We
cannot go back and undo the damage, but we can certainly try to make things
better in the future.  Members must come to state conventions and work on
things that will help to solve some of these problems.  You can also help by
electing people to office that will work with others to make things better
for all blind people.
As co-chair of the chapter development comittee, I have offered to come to
Valparaiso and try to resolve some of these outstanding issues.  I too, have
been removed from the Presidential release list which is maintained by the
National office.  That may have happened when the National Office learned
that the Lafayette Chapter had voted to dissolve.  I was offended at first,
but I decided that I wouldn't get very much done if I woried more about the
things that have gone wrong instead of  trying to do things that might make
things go right in the future.  
Let me leave you with this final thought.  Anyone can be elected to office.
Leadership starts in the heart.  You have to believe in what you are doing,
and be prepared to accept the good along with the bad.  Don't give up on
Indiana.  There are too many things that need to be done.
At 08:03 AM 5/18/97 +0000, you wrote:
>
>
>> From:          David.Andrews@NFBnet.org (David Andrews)
>> Date:          18 May 97 02:44:14 GMT
>> Subject:       Re: DILLON COUNTY NFB and other chapters elsewhere
>> To:            NFB-Talk@NFBnet.org (Multiple recipients of NFBnet
NFB-Talk Mailing List)
>> Reply-to:      NFB-Talk@NFBnet.org (Multiple recipients of NFBnet
NFB-Talk Mailing List)
>> Organization:  NFBnet -- Telnet to NFBnet.org
>
>> 
>> 
>>  -=> Quoting "Melvin Lumbardy" to All <=- 
>>  
>>  "L> From: "Melvin Lumbardy"  
>>  "L> Subject: Re: DILLON COUNTY NFB and other chapters elsewhere 
>>   
>>   
>>   
>>   
>>  > Hi Mike and all other interested listers, 
>>  
>>  "L> I have been reading this list and have decided to comment on what  
>>  "L> didn't happen here in Indiana. I first  joined the NFB over 2 years  
>>  "L> ago. The first time our chapter organized, I sent in a letter to the  
>>  "L> national office letting them know who was elected to office etc. i  
>>  "L> did this because I was elected secretary. Well to move on with the  
>>  "L> story, the chapter president quit and then we re-organized.  I was  
>>  "L> then elected treasurer. After letters once again being written to the 
 
>>  "L> national office we had no response again.    We were a small  
>>  "L> fledgling chapter with not any money to donate at all.  Our chapter  
>>  "L> has since dissolved due to lack of communication with the national  
>>  "L> office, we were never even posted in the Braille Monitor . There was 
a 
>>  "L> lack of communication with other NFB officials in Indiana as well. 
>>   
>> I suspect your chapted disolved because it didn't receive adequate
support from
>> the state affiliate in Indiana.  Chapters are generally supported by their
>> parent affiliate, and the national office can then work with affiliates.
This
>> is more efficient then the NationaL Office trying to work directly with 
ll
>> chapters.  It can't be done.
>
>> David, Thanks for clearing up that matter for me. We did try to get 
>some help from the state people but nothing was done to help with 
>information we needed. The other new people who were getting excited 
>about the NFB became discouraged when we didn't even get any 
>presidential releases. They were VERY disgusted with how the state 
>president and VP did not communicate.
>
>> Not all chapter notices are published in the Monitor.  Decisions are made
based
>> on available space, geographic spread, the last time a similar notice was
>> published, and other factors.
>
>Our chapter was probably lost in the shuffle of papers,  I even sent 
>a request to the national office about getting some information for 
>our members but I did not hear anything.
>
>  You shouldn't consider nonpublication as
>> nonsupport from the national office.  Also, if a chapter needs help, it
should
>> reach out, or no one else will know it needs help.
>
>We did try and I am very sorry other members just gave up  on waiting 
>for some answers and information. I believe the NFB has a very good 
>philosophy on what it believes and I just wish that information 
>would be more readily available.
>
>Deb & Mel Lumbardy
>
>> 
>> 
>
>
Earlene Hughes
hughese@nlci.com
http://www.nlci.com/users/hughese/	
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