FAD President's Blog Archives

January 2010 Hello everyone! This is June McMahon, the president of the Florida Association for the Deaf. It is hard to believe that the year 2009 has passed by. It is a time to reflect on the past year and move on to the new year of 2010. We have some exciting events happening in 2010. January 3, 2010-The movie Gerald will be shown at the Lake Worth Theater. See the website for the flyer. I hope that the movie will be shown in different parts of the state. January 11, 2010-Debbie Lauricella will be representing the FAD at a meeting with the Dept. of Health along with Sharon Caserta who is a lawyer for the Legal Aid in Jacksonville. They will be discussing medical interpreting. I really appreciate Sharon Caserta's efforts in advocating for the Deaf community. January 30, 2010-Deafhood workshop in Tampa-see flyer for details. Thanks to Susan Cole for chairing this event. This workshop is an opportunity for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing people to learn about deafhood with two excellent speakers: Ella Lentz and Genie Gertz from California. February 19-FAD Board meeting-Tampa-place will be announced. February 20-Deaf Nation Expo-Please stop by at the FAD Booth March 5-7-Academic Bowl-The FAD donated $1000 to sponsor the Hospitality room for this event which has competition of High School students from Florida and other southeastern states. April 9/10-FAD Board meeting in Daytona Beach-The movie Gerald may be shown. June 5-FAD Board meeting in St. Augustine, the day after FSDB graduation. July 5-10-National Association of the Deaf convention in Philadelphia. July 31-Wet and Wild-I am thrilled that Maureen Whetham will chair this event. Maureen, Jon Ziev and I met in Orlando on December 30th to sign the contract with the Wet and Wild and Doubletree Hotel. This event raises a lot of money for the FAD and this enables us to make donations and support our programs. September 25-FAD Board meeting at the Broward County Association of the Deaf. Happy New Year! Hope that 2010 will bring good things to the deaf and hard of hearing community. Nov 17, 2009 Blog  Greetings! It has been six months since I was elected last May. It has been an interesting journey. I have been working almost every day answering e mails, going to meetings and chatting on the Videophone. I am thankful that we have the technology to be able to reach out to each other since Florida is a big state. That is why we need the FAD and NAD to assure that we have our rights and make sure we continue to have a better life for our deaf and hard of hearing community in the future. We had a board meeting last November 6 at the Villages. The next day we had a booth at the Government Day. I reviewed our mission statement as it is important to keep our focus. To promote, protect, and preserve the rights and quality of life of Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals in the state of Florida. I have been researching the different Deaf Service Centers on the website and contacting them to learn about different services they offer. I also met with the Director of the Independent Living Center in Palm Beach County to see how we can work together. The Deafhood workshop will be on January 30, 2010 at the Hillsborough Community College in Tampa. We are excited to have Ella Lentz and Genie Gertz come from California. This workshop is for deaf and hard of hearing people and will be conducted in American Sign Language. Susan Cole and Betti Bonni have been working on this. Summit on Childhood Deafness-Lissette Molina, Donna Drake and I attended the summit in St. Augustine on September 24-26, 2009. There were over 300 educators and parents there. I would like to thank Tami Hossler, a parent who encouraged the group to include deaf and hard of hearing people. Laurene Sims of Gallaudet University gave a keynote speech. Gina Oliva, Tami and Erica Hossler and I also gave workshops. In the evening we met with the members of the deaf community in St. Augustine. NAD Leadership Training and Leadership Conference-Hilary Ainbender, Tom and Cindy D' Angelo, Mary Moore Erica Hossler and I attended the NLTC in Columbus, Ohio on October 29-31, 2009. I attended workshops on leadership, communication, Parliamentary Procedures, coalition building, conflict resolution and Fundraising. We also had regional caucuses. Our Lissette Molina and Judith Gilliam, the board members for Region 3 led our caucus. One issue was the COAT House Bill 3101 which is pushing for access for people with disabilities to the Internet, high speed broadband and other technologies. Nancy Bloch is retiring on March 2011 and there is a search committee for her replacement. The NAD convention will be in Philadelphia on July 7-11, 2010. Future Events-(Tentative) January 3, 2010-Movie-Gerard-Lake Worth Playhouse Deafhood Workshop-January 30, 2010-Tampa February 12-14-FASLTA conference in Tampa February 19, 2009-FAD Board meeting in the evening in Clearwater February 20, 2010-Deaf Nation Expo March 4-7, 2010-Southeastern Region Academic Bowl at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind-FAD donated $1000 for to sponsor this competition for High School students. April 9, 2010-FAD Board meeting in Daytona Beach April 10-2010-Casino Cruise-fundraiser in Daytona Beach-Allan H. Karp is chairing this fundraiser for the Miss Deaf Florida Pageant June 4, 2010-FSDB Graduation-I will attend and present a scholarship. June 5-2010-FAD Board meeting in St. Augustine July 31, 2010-Wet and Wild event in Orlando September 25, 2010-FAD Board meeting at the Broward County Association of the Deaf The FAD officers and Board wish you all great Holidays and Happy New Year! June McMahon Nov 17, 2009 August 1, 2009 President's Vlog July 26, 2009 We had our first board meeting of the new administration on July 10, 2009 in Orlando. There were 13 representatives present and some visitors. We were thrilled to have George Boyd make a presentation on Camp Endeavor's program for deaf and hard of hearing children. We ratified the e mail motion to donate $1500 to Camp Endeavor and $500 for the picnic lunch. We also presented packbags with the FAD logo. The board also approved a motion to purchase a water trampoline for the Camp. Cindy D' Angelo gave a report on the 2011 Convention and she has chosen her core committee. We will have Jon Ziev explore the hotels in the St. Augustine area. The FAD presented a check of $2000 to the convention committee to be used as startup/seed money to host the convention to be held at St. Augustine, Florida. I am thrilled to announce that Arnold Hatton from St. Augustine has accepted my appointment to be member-at-large and I am looking forward to having him on the board. The board has approved to send 6 representatives to the NAD Leadership training and conference in Columbus, Ohio on October 29-31. Hilary Ainbender, Tom and Cindy D'Angelo, Mary Moore, Arnold Hatton and I will be attending. The Wet and Wild event was a great success as over one thousand people attended. I would like to thank Sarah Harris and Jon Ziev for their hard work. I would also like to thank Danny Harris, Hilary Ainbender, Judy Ricca, Dolores and David Tropp and Bob McMahon for their assistance at the booth. We sold raffles for Z and Purple products as well as two printers. I would like to thank the sponsors for their support. People filled out forms for free membership for one year. The board also voted that we offer free membership for the month of September. A great fundraising opportunity for FAD: if you want to purchase a Z340 at a cost of $99, please fill out the form and the FAD will be profited $50 for each product sold. Please fill out the form on the website. I have been getting calls and e mails asking for information and I have made some referrals. This shows that there is a need for a Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. We will work on a bill for the establishment of a state Commission in Florida. Upcoming events are: Educational Summit - September 24-26 at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine. The FAD will have a booth along with Northeast FAD and the Deaf Bilingual Coalition Florida. The next board meeting will be on Friday, November 6th in the evening at The Villages. There will be a Government Day on Saturday, November 7th, 2009. June McMahon July 26, 2009 June 20, 2009 To My Fellow Deaf Floridians: Thank you for electing me as your President for the next two years, 2009-2011. I am looking forward to working with you for a better life for all deaf Floridians. The first thing that I took on was to work on the website and FADEZINE. I am grateful that Jon Ziev has accepted to be our new Webmaster and Sarah Harris has accepted the responsibility for the FADEZINE. The officers have met twice since our election last May. We have appointed the chairs of different committees. You can check the website www.fadcentral.org and see the list of different committees. On June 3, I attended the graduation at the Florida School for the Deaf and gave scholarships to two graduating seniors. Bethany Baker, the valedictorian received $1000 and Kimberly Kearney, the Salutatorian received $500. Bethany will attend Gallaudet University and Kimberly will attend the St. Johns River Community College. I also gave out free memberships to all the graduating seniors. In the evening, I met with Cindy D'Angelo who is the chair of the FAD convention in 2011 and gave her some materials to get her started with the convention planning. She has already chosen some committee members and they are ready to go. The convention will be in St. Augustine. The Northeast Florida Association for the Deaf hosted a lovely gathering a winery in St. Augustine. I met the community and said a few words. I am impressed with the enthusiasm of President Tom D' Angelo and his team. Check their website: www.nefad.org. Our first board meeting will be on Friday July 10 at 2 pm at the Rosen Plaza. In the evening will be a show given by a CODA, Keith Wann. The Wet and Wild event is on Saturday, July 11 and is a major fundraiser for the FAD. Please check the website for more information. I want to thank Sarah Harris and her committee for their hard work on the Wet and Wild weekend! Membership Directors, Aurora Solomon and Cindy Jacobs are working on the membership cards. Director of Communication Jordan Nassar has been given the task of revising the pamphlets. These should be ready sometime this summer. Donna Drake, the chair of the Education Committee and I will attend the Summit on Childhood Deafness which will be in St. Augustine on September 24-26. FAD will have a booth along with NEFAD, the Deaf Bi cultural Coalition and other organizations. I have been in contact with George Boyd, the director of the Sertoma Endeavor Camp for the deaf and hard of hearing. We are in the process of making a donation. We also discussed having a youth leadership camp next summer. I hope to have a monthly blog to keep you up to date what is happening with the FAD. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at june@fadcentral.org.  June McMahon, President June 20, 2009