NFB Rock County Meeting Minutes December 2025
Amy Snow
Greetings,
Please find minutes from the meeting held December 11, 2025 below. Barring any weather related issues, in person meetings at the library will resume in January 2026.
Thanks,
Amy
NFB of Rock County Meeting Minutes December 11, 2025
Officers Present:
President Chelsea Dallin, Vice President Nikki Wolf, Secretary Amy Snow, Treasurer Ben Dallin
Members Present:
Lynzie Ashley, Icy Hunt, Dave Hyde, Lekshmi Mendez
The meeting came to order at approximately 7:23 PM. The minutes were read and approved. The treasurer’s report indicates a balance of $1,182.50. Ben indicated that the PAC donation has not yet been deducted, but this may be due to the changes on the national offices. The Red Robin check will be transferred over to our account from the state affiliate.
State Affiliate News and Committee Reports
State Affiliate News
Please continue to monitor the lists for more information regarding the State Convention in March.
State Advocacy Committee
Nothing new to report at this time.
State Legislative
Nothing new to report at this time.
News from the National Office
A friendly reminder that anyone who has interest in attending Washington Seminar being held January 26-29th should reach out to Ben as soon as possible. Please monitor the lists for further information. For more information, please see the resources on the Washington Seminar page of the NFB website
Other topics of interest nationally may involve the museum project and some changes in how content would be collected, archived, and gathered as well as a physical space would be organized. This project is obviously ongoing and will likely change and evolve over time.
The National Office has also been investigating some concerning issues involving Vispero in recent months. In particular, at their 2025 national convention session, representatives showed some advanced features, but did not make it clear that these features would only be available to those holding a “professional” rather than “home” license. It is uncertain whether this was deliberately misleading or an oversight. There is also concern regarding the company’s recent elimination of blind employees.
Rock County Committee Reports
Rock County Advocacy Committee
There is nothing new to report at this time.
Rock County Membership Committee
Over the next few months, we will be meeting virtually due to scheduling conflicts.
Rock County Fundraising Committee
- Buffalo Wild Wings does a couple of different fundraisers. One of them runs for several hours on a given day, and allows for 10% of sales to be donated to the “team” (which is what they call the organization seeking assistance). There is a different fundraiser that runs for a full month and requires some longer term planning
- Texas Roadhouse has a lot of fundraising options, including rolls, salads, and other ideas. Chelsea will be working with a coordinator in the near future.
- Chelsea is working with Dane County on a Scentsy fundraising event. The party link will be sent out when it becomes available. Please also watch the list for a fund raiser for Rock County in the next few months.
- Dane County has agreed to do a joint bowling fundraiser in Madison, which will likely take place in January. More details, (including exact dates costs and locations) with be shared as they become available.
- Candy sales will continue and Chelsea has been attempting to order more bars, but has encountered some challenges. She will continue to make attempts.
Old Business
Passio Go and Stop Annunciation.
Amy was contacted by Becca regarding a new update coming in early 2026. They also hope to provide a video showing how the app would work. She would like to meet with any interested individuals (perhaps January 12th) and record a video of how the app is working like we did back in September. She shared this was very helpful for Passio. Amy will make a reservation at the library and make sure that Becca is free
Milton and Holiday APH
There has been no more news on this topic, though Nikki and Lekshmi both plan to follow up with the city.
Christmas Party
As Mac’s is closed temporarily, we will plan to meet at Red Robin at 11:00 AM. Amy will make the reservation.
New Business
Pedestrian Safety
Nikki brought up a concern regarding the Festival Foods area and access to businesses surrounding it. In particular, there is no sidewalk area that allows safe pedestrian travel between the businesses. She called the city with this concern and hopes to connect with city personnel on this in the near future. Dave shared that he believes there may be some challenges here since the parking lot (where a sidewalk would potentially go to allow pedestrians safer passage) is private property and we may need to move forward to speaking to the businesses that own the parking lots. Nikki will keep us up to date on this as she learns more.
Shopping Assistant
Chelsea wanted to bring to our attention that there has been a challenge with getting a shopping assistant by one of our students at Sentry. Chelsea will be following up with the student’s O&M instructor to see what the circumstances surrounding the issue may be. Discussion on positive experiences at other stores ensued, followed by the opportunity to work with students and members of the community to educate Sentry and advocate for change. It is a good reminder that it is possible the store and employees are not aware of the importance of providing shopping assistance.
Presidential Releases:
The Presidential Release was played and is linked below. In addition, there are also links to past releases and the Braille Monitor.
- Presidential Release #555, December 2025 (Audio for Chapters)
- Presidential Release #555, December 2025 (Chapter Transcript)
- Braille Monitor December 2025
If you have missed prior releases or publications, please visit the links below.
Meeting adjourned approximately 8:49 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Snow, Secretary