To: ALL WORKERS FOR THE BLIND MEMBERS
From: Kenneth R. Yahne
Chairman, Board of Directors
On Wednesday, November 4th, the Fort Wayne Chapter of the Indiana Association of Workers for the Blind held its monthly Board meeting by telephone conference call.
We continue to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic. We are all aware that the numbers in Indiana are not going in the right direction. Masks, social distancing and limited gatherings continue to be recommended. Given that Thanksgiving and Christmas are two of the highlights of our year before we descend into what has become to me a winter that is way too long (yes, it is coming even though we are experiencing unusually-warm temperatures this week). Limiting Thanksgiving and Christmas family gatherings is a disappointment to all of us, but I think we have to agree that it is best for our collective health in the long run. All we can do is pray that God will get us through this.
In that respect, we also discussed our Christmas Gathering. At our meeting last month we expressed hope based on the numbers at that time that the COVID crisis was coming under control and that by early December it would be much less of an issue. Clearly this is not the case. Thanks to the efforts of Rose Baily and David and Judy Didier, we determined that we had sufficient drivers to take our members to a Christmas Gathering. We also determined that most of our members would attend this event. However, in our discussions today there was a clear consensus of opinion that having a Christmas Gathering was not a good idea. Consequently, we will forego having this event this year. We may consider doing something in the spring, and we certainly anticipate that we will resume our Christmas event in 2021.
All members will be receiving a Christmas card in early December. In the cards of our visually-impaired members we will be including a “special gift”. We hope to have our annual “Driver Appreciation” event in February, at which time drivers will receive their “special gift”. We hope to resume our monthly meetings shortly after the first of the year, but that depends upon what happens the next couple of months. We will continue our Board meetings conducting the business of the Chapter.
If you have issues that you believe we should address, or any questions about what is going on, please contact any Board member. Alternatively, please feel free to call me at (260) 484-1889. If I am not immediately available, I WILL return your call.
Sincerely,
Ken