October 28 Chapter Meeting – Getting “Techie” and More Farewells

It was another great turnout for our October chapter meeting with so much to cover. Many highlights to note starting with our now traditional “WOW!” awards. This month the awards go to Katie for her always helpful and all-around efforts and to Diane who has been fantastic as our Facebook administrator.

For our meeting transcript, please click here.

The meeting continued with announcing possible dates for our upcoming holiday party either for December 2 or 9 at a location yet to be named. We’ll use our Yahoo Groups page to determine the date but if you are interested in hosting the party with plenty of fine folks to help set-up and clean-up, let us know!

Gary provided our treasurer’s report and we are doing well. We raised $4,856 from the Walk4Hearing with a goal next year of $5,000…we can do it! Ken and Lisa donated $300 from their moving sale as a thank you from them for all the chapter and members have given to them. And we actually got some $$$ for the Kitty Jar this time!

Our President, Heather, then discussed the teams that were set up last month and members. The teams will include Hippie (advocacy), Social Media (visibility), Young & Restless (younger members) and Cool Tech Crew (assistive devices). More information coming soon but remember, this is meant to be a fun and rewarding activity!

We spent some time discussing and doing tech demos. Jenna showcased the Pocket Talker (Mitzi’s company has a 10% chapter donation set up); Ken the Innocaptions apps and Quattro ALD; Heather the Slack app for communicating online. Tim answered questions about using Yahoo Groups and the chapter website while Diane discussed Facebook.

Our meeting concluded with some more farewells (let’s hope this is it for awhile!). Ken will be leaving us to join his partner in crime, Lisa, in Washington D.C. in November. Ken has done countless contributions to the chapter and the hearing loss community. He was president of the Santa Monica chapter for two years, joined TADDAC (Telecommunications for the Deaf and Disabled Administrative Committee), and joined the LAX Disability Committee. We could go on but that would be “annoying” (inside joke).

Marcia also is leaving us to join her daughter in Alabama. Marcia never looked or acted her age and just defies aging in general. Also a smile, helpful and just a sweetheart, we’ll definitely miss one of our long time members. We wish Ken and Marcia all the best in their new journeys!

Some additional notes:

1. We have brochures available for distribution to audiologists and other possible outlets to get our word out.
2. Lisa Beth Snyder will be on the Jeopardy! episode airing December 19. Mark your TV calendars!
3. A big thank you to Melodie Stuart for stepping in to provide our captions. See above for the meeting transcript.

And a big thank you to Diane for taking the time and effort to set up our new Facebook chapter groups page. This will be an excellent opportunity for our members and friends to easily share their experiences. In coordination with our web dude, we’ll work together to optimize our website and Facebook experiences and exposure!