20210716 - Ridgewood Access Committee Meeting Minutes

Ridgewood Access Committee

Meeting Minutes July 16, 2021 

The ZOOM meeting opened at 2:02 pm. 
Present: Ines Bunza, Robin Ritter, Ashley Loria, Deanna Schlabik, Lisa Gardner, Joanne Van Sant, Joanne Stolfo, Jan Philips, Charles Gallo, Jesse Schwartzmann, Marc Douaihy, Caroline Meier, Nancy Reilly, Erica Dunckley 
Ines welcomed everyone and introduced Marc Douaihy, a student at BF who is the president of the Unified Club and Special Olympics at BF, GW and RHS. 
The plan for the July and Aug. ACCESS meetings will be to discuss ACCESS Weekend with our smaller group. 
ACCESS Weekend Friday Oct. 8 - Sunday Oct.10 
The weekend will be almost all virtual except for Deanna's seniors' activities, which will be held indoors with masks required. 
Robin said that the library is covered for the weekend. 
Activities already decided: 
Deanna - in-person with seniors. 10/8: 10-11 :30 am "emergency preparedness." Marianny will speak to them. Deanna is meeting with her next week. 
The Office of Emergency Management will also speak. Ridgecrest had issues with heating and ale this year and he can address what actions they can take if it happens again. 
Fire Dept. - They will come and check batteries for the seniors. Deanna will check with Jackie Ludtke about the cards that the county Sheriff's office used to distribute. 
Deanna asked what we need from her. Robin would like a blurb for the newsletter. 
Robin - Birdability - Oct. is a big bird migration month, therefore the program person will not be available for our weekend. Robin suggested still having it, but perhaps in March. 
Robin - "25 Prospect St.", the film. She has been in touch with them. We can stream it for 48 hrs. Say, 8:00 Thurs. through Sat. night. One of the producers could do a Q&A, for $250. Maybe the Friends of the Library and ACCESS can split the cost. 
30 second intro to the weekend, perhaps by Tammy Adkins, Jim Thebery's replacement. 
Sat. am concert with Marlene Pillow. Facebook Live. 
Caroline -Karen reported to Ines, Robin and Caroline that Sharing the Arts taped Shrek in the Spring. Video is all set for Access weekend. 
Fashion Show: start off maybe a band. The models are lining up again. Last year we had some from Canada and the Midwest. She has reached out to Rachel who is creating the videos. She can only use stock music if we want the videos to stay up longer. Robin said it was streamed onto the library and the ACCESS websites. All the videos were stitched together. 
Soccer: We don't know yet what Blair thinks will happen. Depends on Covid again. Ines sent him the info and was waiting to hear back. 
Pastor Joanne: Still digital - Zoom live. Some of her groups are going back to work in person, but not the church yet. Everything depends on the vaccinations and Covid numbers. She's been having Zoom registration problems but Charles offered to help her. 
Lisa: Funds needed for this year's weekend - $250 for the Q&A for the film. Lauren will comp us for the captions. We had a discussion about whether to include an ASL signer, but the decision was made to not have someone, as it could be overkill with the captions. 
Marc asked how we communicate to the community. Good question! Robin explained that she emails the schools and we have it up on the library website. Marc said that he would make sure it is on the BF and GW websites too. 
We discussed whether the placemats at the Daily Treat are really necessary. It was decided that, since the weekend is virtual, the expense is probably not advisable. 
Joanne S: suggested that we could have our special musicians play for Welcome Back Ridgewood on Sat. night before the older bands play. Ines suggested she speak with Jeanne Johnson who coordinates the music. 
Joanne also suggested having someone discuss the Resource Guide for Disabilities. Pastor Joanne recommended Paul Aronsohn as a perfect spokesperson to do that. But Robin thought that a separate program where Paul could really explain and present his ideas would better benefit our community, instead of during ACCESS Weekend. Joanne will talk to Paul about it when she sees him in a few weeks. In lnes's intro she could have a teaser talking about Paul's programs (or he could do a teaser) and also one about Birdability as a future program. 
Nancy Reilly: Nancy said she can promote the Weekend at RHS. And Deanna said that she could probably use the Project Interact team to help her with the seniors. 
Great discussion! The meeting ended at 3:12. 
The next meeting will be Friday, Aug. __ at 2:00 pm via ZOOM.