We met over the weekend of 12-13 March and here are some of the outcomes of that meeting that I think might be of more general interest.
We met over the weekend of 12-13 March and here are some of the outcomes of that meeting that I think might be of more general interest.
we were deeply saddened to lose one of our members, John Corder, who recently lost his battle with cancer. He was a member of the Association for nearly thirty years, including twelve years on his local South Canterbury branch committee and the last three years on our Board. He was a man of strong personal principles, not always quick to speak but never afraid to speak up when he felt the need. We will remember him for his pragmatic, down to earth approach and his commitment to upholding the rights of blind people at the grass roots of the community. We will also remember his endless capacity to recall a wide range of facts and details, particularly about sport and music. His knowledge in these areas was phenomenal. No wonder he was also keen on quizzes. Farewell John, we can truly say it’s been a privilege to know you and to work with you.
John’s vacancy has been filled by Brian Say, Chair of the Nelson branch who comes in as the next highest polling candidate in the last Board election. Brian has had to come up to speed very quickly, attending to some committee work even before his first Board meeting. He has already started to make a sound contribution to our work.
Planning for this year’s Conference to be held in Wellington is already well advanced. The theme is “building our future”. At first glance this may seem rather ho hum, but it has real significance once you appreciate the fast changing nature of the situation the Association finds itself in. We are already booking speakers and we hope to be able to have the programme ready for you in good time. But you’ll want to make an extra effort to get there this year because it’s looking like this year’s Conference will be a real turning point for the Association as we grasp our future.
We had to make major budget cuts last year when we faced yet another year of increasing deficit and it became clear that funding from the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind would again be reduced. Despite lengthy talks throughout last year, we have been unable to secure additional short-term or long-term funding from the Foundation and recently consumer organisations were told that those talks have now concluded and we can expect funding to continue to reduce. For the last thirty years or so, the Association has been largely funded by the Foundation which has been willing to fund us in return for us agreeing to not actively fundraise in competition with the Foundation. Whilst not all our members have agreed, we feel overall that the relationship has been mutually beneficial as it has allowed the Foundation to raise funds for the whole blind community without public confusion, and it allowed us to focus our time, which is largely voluntary, on pursuing our vision of a more accessible society for blind and low vision people. But whilst we acknowledge the Foundation will continue to provide some funding to consumer organisations for the next few years, it is clear this funding will steadily reduce.
There is a feeling we now have to make up for lost time as our growth in recent years has been stifled by the funding situation which has evolved to this point over the last eight years or so. But with the matter now closed and behind us, our mood is upbeat and we are fully focused on developing the strategies that we will need if we are to survive and still be effective in the next ten years. Right now it’s too early to predict what that will really mean for us by that time, But hopefully now you can see the significance of our Conference theme. We know from our history that we have what it takes to adapt, so I hope you’ll join us in Wellington at the end of September as we focus on building our future.
We were forced to cancel last year’s leadership seminar and advocacy workshop which are held in conjunction with conference. This year we are committed to those events going ahead. Building leadership and advocacy skills is necessary for our long-term future and the positive benefits of these programmes is clearly evident when you see former participants turning up to our Conference and participating with much more confidence. So I urge anyone interested in leadership or advocacy training to take a look at this year’s programmes.
Congratulations go to Nelson Branch for their efforts in helping to raise over $52,000 to provide more digital talking book players for blind and low vision people living in the Nelson Marlborough region. The Foundation of the Blind is working through the digital changeover throughout the country. The efforts of our Nelson branch working cooperatively with the Foundation mean that their region is well ahead of the pack; already 53% of the people in that area have been offered one of the new players.
And I know this is covered elsewhere but I would just add my personal appreciation to the Wanganui branch and to an anonymous member whose donations mean that we can after all publish all four issues of Focus this year.