Unapproved Minutes
AID Meeting 8/07/07
Call to Order Aviva Householder 7:05
Members Present:
Ginger Bennett Casey Sheffield Mike Henson Kelly Strople
Nancy Murray Naomi Peschke Jay Autin Aviva Householder
John Aintablian Sue Boesen Elizabeth Ekrut Gerald McKnight
Debbie Stiles Beth Hasty Ariane Leverett Fred Newberry
Mary Beth Cannefax
Non-Members Present:
CC Rowe Roberto Sandoval Ron Hovinga
Lucy Hovinga Ronald M Elin Tucker
Quorum was established
Ginger talked about membership benefits: Discounts on workshops, opportunities to work with the community, ect..
Introduction of New Board:
President: Ginger Bennett
President Elect: Casey Sheffield
VP’s: Mike Hensen, Kelley Strople
Secretary: Naomi Peschke
Treasurer: Nancy Murray
Parliamentarian: Aviva Householder
Editor: Jay Autin
TSID Rep: John Aintablian
Guest Speakers:
Fred Newberry: Told us a little bit about his background and working as a CDI. There are 4 or 5 Deaf interpreters here in Austin.
Ron Hovinga: Majoring in education wants to work with Deaf young adults and become a CDI! Ron works with the DSA at ACC. He suggested more workshops for CDI, and learning how to work with students that have visual impairments. He went to the TCDHH Festival and that was the first time he heard about AID. We need more involvement in the Deaf Community. EX: TSD HC, Deaf club…
Roberto Sandoval: Talked about growing up Deaf. He’s in the ACC ITP. He talked about how hearing students could benefit from a Deaf mentorship.
We signed happy birthday to Ron M
Ginger asked that we read the minutes for approval.
Ariane moved that the minutes be approved
Aviva seconded
Minutes are approved.
Unfinished business:
We need to approve a change in wording in the bylaw Fiscal year. It now says that our Fiscal year runs July1-May 31. We have eliminated the month of June.
Ariane made a point of order. Do we need to motion tonight and then change at the next official AID meeting? Question was deferred to Aviva. Bylaws state that no amendment may be voted on at the same meeting.
Motion Kelley Strople made the motion that we change the fiscal year in the bylaws from July1-May 31 to July1-June 30. Mary Beth Cannefax seconded.
Website Updates:
Ariane has been working on the website to update and edit and things and it’s not working. We have files with correct info but we need to get it all connected. If we need anything updated we can email Phil. Website updates are in progress!! Hopefully will be finished by tonight!
Question: Is there a webmaster that will take that responsibility?
Phil is our webmaster and he has showed Ariane how to update things and she is helping with that.
New Business:
Membership Drive:
Why are there 200-300 certified interpreters in the Austin area and we don’t have that many members? We need to figure out what we need to do to encourage people to come. AID has been here a long time. We’ve found records from 1977.
CC Rowesaid that the postcards helped a lot!! That’s why she showed up.
Ron Hovinga asked.- Does AID get involved with the ITP program?
Yes! Emily Anderson works with her students to interpret every meetings so the meetings are always open…we always have interpreters. We can support the students who are interpreting the meetings.
Casey pointed out that another reason Deaf people should show up, is so they can support students as well. We want this to be a safe environment where they can get real experience.
Mary Beth asked- How do we get the word out?
We have postcards and membership forms that we can hand out. Jay and Casey made informational packets that we can hand out.
Mary Beth asked- do we have a booth at TSD HC?
We do not. HC is Sept 22. You can get a booth and electricity for that booth for $100 total.
Committees:
In the packet we have a paper to fill out. Please tell us if you’d like to be a part of a committee.
CC asked for an explanation of the committees.
Bylaws: We need people who are interested in parlimintary procedure. We should be in sync with TSID bylaws
Nominating: Find officers for next year…re-election or new people
Audit: Will audit the books make sure that the books are balanced and that we’re reporting to the IRS
Professional Develop. Work with VP in workshop planning
Student: for ITP students. Need people who are willing to wok with students
Events: Will help us with service projects like DHH fest and TSD HC
Community Service: Not clear… is it the same as the events committee?
We need 2 or 3 people for each one!
Service Projects: Please put down things we need to do. This is our opportunity to make an impact in the community.
Workshops and Training: BEI testing system comes up again and again- we have to make sure were helping to train people so they can pass. Let us know more workshop ideas!
What is AID supposed to be and do? Ginger is working on the history of AID. Who started it and why? What do you think? Write down your GUT response.
We have 44 members as of tonight!!
We can have many members but if we’re not focused and don’t have goals then having membership will not help.
The board will be meeting with someone that will help us become a good organization. We will learn about goal setting and having a passion for an organization. The board will go through this first and then we will offer to the membership! We represent Texas and interpreters and we need to do that well!
Ariane asked if we could take motions for new business? Yes.
Ariane has an idea for a service project- one of our ACC interpreters dealt with breast cancer this year. AID could set up a team for the Komen Race for the Cure. The Komen race supports breast cancer research. Ariane will volunteer to be the captain for the AID team. This is a 3 mile race but you can walk if you don’t want to run. The race starts at South 1st and Riverside and costs $25 per person to join. You also have the option to fundraise beyond the $25. The team will set a fundraising goal as well. Roberto pointed out that this may increase membership as well. If you don’t want to walk or run, you can volunteer to interpret. Aviva asked if this falls under the community service committee or if we need to set up a separate committee. We decided that it’s under the community service committee. Kelly asked if we were jumping in too soon? We decided that it wasn’t too soon because it’s a huge community project.
Ariane motioned to set up a team for AID in November. Mary Beth 2ond. Aviva called for a vote and the motion passed.. We have our first service project! Go to www.raceforthecure.org and join the AID team.
Roberto asked for a list of all the board members for volunteer interpreters.
You can go to the list serve for Naomi’s email address. If Ariane can get the website up, the new board’s emails will be on there. www.austin-interpreters.org
Mary Beth asked if we have a birthday club?
No, but research it for us and let us know.
Roberto suggested that ASL PAH put up something online that’s in ASL to let the community know about the meetings and such. We will talk to Phil about that. (Phil sez: "I would love to talk about that! Sounds like fun, and fun is my business!") Sue said she likes the idea of becoming more visible in the community.
We should think about doing things with the Austin community (Deaf and Hearing). This will help get our name out. Also, when we do things, spell it out AUSTIN INTERPRETERS FOR THE DEAF because people may not know what AID stands for.
Roberto asked if we have a logo?
Yes! We have the banner!
Who designed the logo?
Ailiene Smith. A past Deaf student at ACC.
Roberto suggested the we set up a Deaf mentorship program for hearing interpreters who want to improve their skills. This will allow the deaf community to have an impact on the new interpreters. We could have a connection with the DSA and expand from there.
Sue mentioned that interns from other places need a place to stay and she tries to place them in homes with Deaf families which is another connection for us and the Deaf community.
Roberto motioned to close. Aviva seconded. Motion passed. Meeting closed 8:29pm
Next meeting is SEPT 4 at HBC. Room 221 from 7p-9p.