[Missouri-l] Weekly Report

[Jennifer Parker]

Activities from the last two weeks:

*	

	On April 26 and 27, I attended the Power Up Conference in Columbia,
Missouri.  It was a good conference and seemed to be very well attended.
Leroy and Loretta Welch worked the MCB booth in the exhibit hall and, from
the number of entries for our door prize (a 7 inch digital picture frame the
would hold up to 1,000 images), our booth received quite a bit of traffic.
Thanks to Leroy and Loretta for taking time to travel to Columbia and staff
the booth.  I also had the opportunity to sit in on part of Denny's
presentation at the Conference.  His presentation turned out to be very
popular (standing room only) with all the seats filled and people standing
against the back and up the side walls.  Good job, Denny! 
*	

	Leroy and Loretta collected contact infomation on almost 100
individuals at the booth at Power Up.  Virginia has entered those
individuals into a database for future use in fundraising activities, etc. 
*	

	I was contacted the representative from the Willard Cross County
Times and the Ash Grove Commonwealth  papers in Green County, Missouri.
Both papers have a total distribution of approximately 2,000 people.  We
will be sending them a supply of our new tri-fold brochures to be included
in an issue delivered to all of their recipients.  This should get MCB's
name out there and made result in some increased donations for our thrift
store, increased cash donations, and possibly new members for the local
affiliates there. 
*	

	Linda Dawes forwarded to the office a copy of a wonderful article
that was published in the Bolivar Herald-Free Press.  The article was
entitled, Many Services Available to Blind State Residents, Missouri Council
of the Blind Says at April 20 Meeting.  The article was quite lengthy and
was a result of a meeting that was held in Bolivar and includes many quotes
from MCB officers about the services offered by MCB.  
*	

	Bank statements for the checking and debit accounts have been
received, scanned and sent to Mary Jo for preparation of April financial
reports.  They have also been sent to Bev Shockley (as always, thanks Bev)
to be put in braille format and forwarded to our Treasurer. 
*	

	Virginia and Eleanor continue to fine tune our new database.  They
have thoroughly verified all member information in the database for accuracy
and Virginia has already developed several queries.  This work in progress
is coming along beautifully! 
*	

	We have received and installed QuickBooks.  Mary Jo provided us with
opening journal entries as of the end of March and Virginia has been busy
back entering all of April's transactions so that we will be current.  From
May 1 on, Quickbooks is being used exclusively.  We are all very excited
about all the reporting potential this will enable us to provide. 
*	

	One new Member-at-Large has been approved and welcome letter sent.
The new member is Margaret Miller. 
*	

	We received two Member-at-Large renewal applications -- Barbara and
Richard Rowland. 
*	

	Three Member-at-Large reminder letters were mailed. 
*	

	One Adaptive Technology grant application was received and forwarded
to Janelle Edwards. 
*	

	A new fax machine has been purchased for the office.  Rather than
using an obsolete carbon-paper type cartridge, this new machine is a laser.
We opted for laser as opposed to ink jet because toner is less expensive per
sheet than ink jet and lasts much longer.  The paper tray holder will hold
250 sheets of paper (as compared to the 10-15 sheets our old machine would
hold), so it should not run out in the middle of receiving a fax.  In
addition, it has expanded memory capacity. 
*	

	We received 3 ACB grant applications.  A total of 30 applications
have been received to date. 
*	

	MCB's current membership is 764. 
*	

	April's financial information has been sent to Mary Jo for
preparation of the financial reports. 
*	

	We received the May payment for James Vaughn's restitution. 
*	

	The Member of the Month letter and gift card was prepared and
mailed. 
*	

	Virginia installed a link to our new database on my computer so I
now have member information at the tips of my fingers! 
*	

	We have received $130 in donations (through memorials, etc.).  Thank
you and acknowledgement letters have been sent out to the donors and
Virginia has built a database containing contact information for all donors
for use in future solicitations. 
*	

	At the direction of the Board of Directors at its April 28 meeting,
a letter has been prepared over Denny's signature and mailed requesting
refund of the $287,000 donation made to set up the Encore Thrift Stores.
The text of the letter is below:

Upon the combined advice of both their CPA and legal counsel, the MCB Board
of Directors voted, at their meeting on April 28, 2010, to rescind all
previous motions pertaining to establishment of a new thrift store and to
request a refund of the unexpended portion of the $287,000 donation made to
set up the Encore Thrift Store (check #51107).  In addition, if possible,
can you please provide us with an itemized listing of any expenditures made
from that $287,000 so that a full report can be given back to the Board of
Directors.

 

Bill, we are aware of and greatly appreciate all the time and hard work you,
Shirlene, and everyone else put into this endeavor.  However, in order to
ensure compliance with the Internal Revenue Service and any other
governmental entities, it is necessary that this step be taken.

 

Again, thank you so much for all of your efforts on behalf of the Missouri
Council of the Blind.
 

Lowell will have a report next week.
 
Have a great weekend everyone.
 
Jennifer Parker, CAE
Executive Director
Missouri Council of the Blind
5453 Chippewa
St. Louis, MO  63109
Phone:  314-832-7172
Fax:  314-732-7796
 <http://www.moblind.org/> www.moblind.org
 

The purpose of Missouri Council of the Blind shall be to promote the general
well-being of our members and legally blind people in Missouri, and to
support or participate in other programs promoting the best interests of
legally blind people everywhere.

 

 
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