1. I am Donna Brown from Romney, WV, and President of the Mountain State Council of the Blind. I am chair of the ACB Walk committee, and I serve on various other ACB committees and Task Forces. I am also the treasurer for the American Association of Blind Teachers. Personally, I have recently retired from 37 years of teaching and serving as a technology specialist at the WV School for the Blind. I am an active member of the Romney Lions Club, and I serve as the director of the Sunday School program at my church. I am currently serving in an unexpired term on the ACB board. I wish to be elected to the ACB board for my first full term.
2. At the national level, I think my greatest contribution has been fund-raising. Taking that a step further, I have worked with various state and special-interest affiliates to help them increase their fund-raising activities. As a member of the Berl Colley Leadership Institute committee, I have assisted with presentations to affiliate leaders on fund-raising, and more importantly, the documentation and processes that need to be in place so they can raise funds legally.
At my chapter and state level, as well as with some special-interest affiliates, I have worked hard to bring their record keeping processes up to date. This includes: setting up online banking access, creating processes for members to pay dues online, and establishing ways to store important documents so that more than one person has access to them.
3. In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges facing ACB is twofold. First, to my knowledge, we currently have no established programming to engage middle and high school blind and visually impaired students. They are our future future. In my affiliate, I am hoping to include programming for this age group during our state convention in November. At the national level, I plan to contact affiliate leaders to see what programs for school-age students they offer, what they have found to be successful, and what has not worked. Oftentimes, middle and high school students with a visual impairment are looking for a place to feel like they belong. I think if we can engage these students, we may have a better chance of keeping them involved in ACB through their college years and beyond.
Second, I would like to see more involvement in ACB of our scholarship winners. As a board member, I would like to be more involved in activities with ACB Students. Perhaps if our college students got to interact with some board members, they would feel more welcome and more comfortable in participating in ACB activities at all levels. I do think with the emergence of the Next Generation affiliate, we have a better chance of keeping our scholarship winners.