VTRID E-Letter Archives: Winter 2008

In this E-Letter:
Quick Update from Elizabeth
WOO-HOOs!
Upcoming Workshops & Events
December 2007 Meeting Minutes

Happy New Year, all! I hope that 2008 has started off well for everyone. Just a quick update - I started working in Bennington, VT interpreting in the mainstream setting. It's been a blast so far, and I look forward to the remainder of the school year here. As far as getting in touch with me, I do still have my yahoo account. I am trying to check it at least 3 times a week (I do not have internet access where I am living now, but there is a cafe down the way that has wireless access - whew!). If there is something super urgent that you need to contact me about, you can call or text my cell phone: 802-272-0370. It's NOT a blackberry, so my texting capabilities are limited to 160 characters per message. :-)

I do not have a ton of information from the National Office, nor Region One at this point in time. I do know that RID's Vice President, Rob Balaam, is recovering well after surgery and hopes to get back into the office and work part time soon. I will be participating in a Region One conference call February 3rd and will bring that information to our next VTRID meeting on March 15th in Brattleboro. The exact location is being worked on right now. I will email everyone once it's confirmed.

Again, Happy New Year, and stay warm!

~Elizabeth :-)

WOO-HOOs!

• Congratulations to Keri Ogrizovich on passing her RID CDI test!!
• Kudos to Janice Wightman for her awesome efforts in the DVAS Silent Auction! And more Kudos to all those who helped out and/or supported the DVAS Soup Tasting/Silent Auction!! It was great to see so many VTRID-ers there that day.
• Congrats to Julie Albetski on passing her Massachusetts State Screenings!
• Congratulations to Wendy Schneider on expecting a new baby! :-)

VTRID Southern VT Roundtable
February 7th (Thursday)
4:15-6pm, Lotus Cafe
Brattleboro, VT

VTRID Meeting
March 15th (Saturday)
2-4
Brattleboro, VT

Academic Bowl
March 27, 27, & 29 (Thursday, Friday & Saturday)
Austine School for the Deaf
Brattleboro, VT
**If you are interested in volunteering at this event, contact Stephanie Sforza.
**If you are interested in volunteer interpreting for this event contact Stephanie Sforza & Nancy Groff.

VTRID Mentorship Program Workshop: Stephanie Sforza Presents - "ASL Numbers"
April 5th (Saturday)
10-3, Central Vermont Hospital
Berlin, VT

December 2007 Meeting Minutes

VTRID Meeting
Dec 1, 2007
Bethany Church, Montpelier
2:00 pm to 4:30

In Attendance: Janice Wightman, Janet Parker, Cheryle Giberson, Lisa Bixler, Karen Todd, Virginia Clark, Nancy Groff, Cory Brunner, Gia Amorese, Ingrid Nevar, Lynette Reep, Elizabeth Bjerke, Janet Dattilio, Keri Ogrizovich.

Announcements:
*Keri O. passed her CDI!! If you see her, send congrats her way.
*ASL has been accepted by the University of Vermont to satisfy their foreign language requirement.
*Tim Kinsela's (New England interpreter) mom passed away. Lianne M. will get the mailing address and post it on Yahoo e-groups. Elizabeth will send a card on behalf of VTRID.
*Janet Dufresne is a grand-ma!!!
*DVAS earned $2500.00 from the soup and silent auction held today! VTRID paid for the room fee where the event was hosted. Way to go DVAS!

VTRID MEETING DATES:
March 15, 2008: Brattleboro, 2-4p (Saturday)
June 16, 2008: Janice's House, Lebanon, NH, 5-7pm (Monday)
Sept 13, 2008: Location, TBA (checking with Lianne), 2-4pm (Saturday)
Dec 6, 2008: Montpelier, 2-4pm (checking with Keri Darling to confirm date) (Saturday)

President's report: Elizabeth B.
The new Board is awesome. The new Board and past president met right before Thanksgiving to talk about transition issues to the new board. VTRID Board members apologize for the multiple emails through Yahoo e-groups. The problems with the list-serv have been rectified. Virginia has been receiving some, but not all of the emails from the yahoogroup. We will check into this and make sure it's taken care of. Once we get all the membership info the Board will send a directory via: mail, email and web (password protected and on-line for one-week).

Treasurer's report: Janice W.
Janice has gotten the membership info from the past treasurer. Please still send your current information to Cory and she and Janice will cross-reference to get the most accurate record. Old Account is closed because the previous bank required a Vermont resident to be listed on the account. Account has moved to Citizen's Bank. Janice should be getting the old records from David K. soon. The membership decided not to do Paypal for the new account because a percentage of members' dues will be taken by Paypal as a processing fee. There is one issue still pending regarding Paypal. Mary R. paid her member dues through Paypal to the old account after it was closed. Janice is working with the previous bank and Paypal to try and get those membership dues. The Paypal pay option has been taken off of the website.
Savings: $5,448.61
Checking: $4,248.70

VP/Sec report: Cory B.
Nothing to report.

Scholarship: Elizabeth B.
Requests as of December 1st :
$100 for Barb W. for a legal workshop.
$100.00 to Barbara P. for mentorship. Request was granted, but when VCDHH covered the funds the request was terminated.
$100 to Janet Dickenson for a Betty Colonomos workshop.
$80.00 to Gia A. for mentorship.
There is currently $220 left for scholarship requests until July 1st. The committee will re-visit scholarship guidelines because workshops are getting more and more expensive. The scholarship committee will look to increasing the amount per request or provide a percentage of the workshop fee. The scholarship committee is hoping to have new guidelines for 2008, and will be ready (hopefully) to present those guidelines at the spring meeting. Cheryle brought up the idea of increasing the scholarship fund with an additional $2,000 starting July 1, 2008, as she sees that VTRID does have sufficient funds to support this endeavour and would like to be able to support more members in their professional develoment. Members attending were in favor of this and it will be brought up at the June meeting.

Mentorship: Lisa B.
*Mentorship 2007-2008 is currently in mid-cycle. The Jim Lipsky "Medical interpreting" workshop broke even. The Cheryle G. "ASL to English" workshop made a $200.00 profit. Still to happen are the Lianne M. workshop "Affect: The Feeling Behind the Words on February 2nd, and Steph Sforza's "ASL Numbers" on April 5th.
*Currently there are 5 people doing 1:1 mentorship. Many people helped out to set up presenters, roundtables and 1:1 mentors. For 1:1 mentors, Interpreters were initially called and asked if they would be interested in working with a mentee. Mentee's were then asked what they were looking for from a mentor and suggested pairs were made. Some mentee's located their mentorship through Cheryle's workshop as direct connection.
*Five people are interested in specialized study for the national exam. After the new year, the mentorship committee will work on setting up this group. Currently, VTRID Mentorship has $7,616.00. They are still waiting on mentorship fees to be paid from VCDHH. The mentorship funds have also purchased $350.00 dollars worth of study materials and will be sent to Kristal H's house because she is running the VTRID Lending Library.
*The next roundtable for southern VT is Dec 6th. The northern VT roundtable will be set up in January-ish. Mentorship runs from fall to spring.
Workshops: Cory B., Cheryle G., and Keri O.
*Cheryl Pivaranaus has been suggested as a great presenter for VTRID members. She has 8 curriculums/ sections which discuss the body and the functions of the body. Consensus from the membership: this workshop would be great to have! Possibly as a weekend workshop series in the summer Etna, NH. Cory B. & Cheryle G. will get in touch with Cheryl P. to plan a summer workshop.
*Feedback from the Deaf Community / Interpreter Forum largely spoke about the need for CDI's. Keri O .is in discussion with Carrie F. from AHS to provide two different workshops as a response to the issues discussed at the forum. One workshop will be geared for the Deaf community and will focus on educating the community about using CDI's and other issues. The cost will be free and food will be provided!! This workshop may run twice; one southern and one northern workshop. The second workshop will focus on Deaf and hearing interpreting teams. Carrie has funding for paying for Regan T. to run the interpreter workshop and to fund the Deaf community workshop. In the event that AHS can't cover the workshop, VTRID may be asked to donate some money. CVH in Berlin is a great place to host workshops.

Website: Cory B.
Cory will set up a calendar on the VTRID Yahoo e-groups events page and then link to VTRID website so people can upload events onto the calendar. She will send out an announcement once she is done.

VCDHH Staff Position: Cory B., Nancy G ., and others *VTRID membership was made aware of the changes in the VIRS staff position posting. The foremost responsibility of this position will be to fill the gap in interpreting services at the Austine School and VCDHH. Secondly, the staff interpreter will provide interpreting services for Janet Parker who will be doing outreach and education to the Deaf community and to companies and business who should be utilizing interpreting services. Lastly, this position will be to interpret in the community only when freelance interpreters are not available, for last minute requests that freelance interpreters can not cover, and in emergency situations. As of now, one out of state individual has applied. Nancy and Bert Carter have extended the deadline for Vermont applicants who may consider the job now that its scope has changed.
The membership in attendance was pleased to know of the changes and felt comfortable with the duties of the position. The membership did have some questions that could not be answered by Nancy, though:
1. Has the paradigm shift at VIRS been considered? If so, what is the thinking behind it?
2. Knowing that there is limited work at VCDHH and out in the Community during the summer months, what will this position look like during that time?
3. Has there been a data analysis that justifies a need for this position in the Community and at VCDHH?
4. How will Nancy co-ordinate this interpreter' s schedule?
5. What will happen when the staff interpreter is booked to work at VCDHH and an emergency gets requested at the same time? Which job takes priority?
6. Will VIRS try to locate an interpreter who can interpret in the legal setting since some emergencies and last minute requests have a legal component?
7. What are the parameters for measuring the success of this position?
8. How long will the trial period run?
9. How long will VIRS wait to hear back from an interpreter before scheduling in the staff interpreter?

*Nancy G. did apologize that VTRID was not consulted about the position before it was posted and stated that it was an oversight. She did state that in the Brattleboro and surrounding areas (Including Bennington, Bellows Falls) there were 26 un-met requested interpreting needs this past year. Nancy let membership know that this position was not brought up at the September meeting simply because it had not been conceived at that time. Also, that the interview committee would communicate the job duties as they now stand, as well as the trial basis of the position to the interviewees.

*Membership asked if statistical data related to VCDHH/on-campus interpreting needs had been requested from the current staff interpreters. It has not. The current staff interpreters have requested a meeting with Bert to discuss what is currently happening on campus, ways to better utilize the current resources, then see where any remaining gaps may be and how to best fill in those gaps. Again Nancy G. did apologize for not getting data from the VCDHH staff interpreters as to filled and unfilled requests.

*Lastly, some of the membership felt that a letter to Bert, Nancy, and the VCDHH Board explaining their concerns regarding the above questions would be a good idea. The VTRID Board will follow up with non-attending members to get their thoughts on this. If the letter is deemed necessary and is sent, it was also suggested that VTRID follow up with the VCDHH Board at their next meeting in case there are questions. The VTRID Board will keep you posted.

Bylaws: Elizabeth B.
Amy and Barb W. had made some revisions and corrections to the bylaws. Amy will be sending the revisions from Alaska. The membership discussed having another look at the bylaws and making them more organized and clear. Elizabeth and Cheryle will join the committee. Amy has stepped down. Elizabeth will check with Barb W. and will solicit the non-attending members to see of anyone else is interested in the committee.

Fundraising: Keri O. and Virginia C.
The Fundraising committee has decided to make an interpreter cookbook. This cookbook will be recipes from interpreters. (look for an email asking for recipes) Mechelle P. researched having a private company make the books for VTRID and the cost would be $5.00 a book. This would make it difficult for VTRID to earn a profit from the book sale. Keri O. contacted UVM's mailing / printing center and they could make the book for $4.50. (100 books, 100 pages $499 0r 52 pages for $325). If VTRID members put the book together themselves and bought the supplies from Staples it would cost about $47.95 for 50 books. Cheryle G. suggested buying the binding device and we could bind the books ourselves. Nick O. (Keri's husband) has a color printer and could print and laminate a color cover for the cook book. The revenue from the books will go to the VTRID general fund. Janice W. pointed out that it would be very important for VTRID members to make an effort to sell the books. It was then decided that the cookbooks would be pre-ordered. Keri O will make a prototype for interpreters to show prospective buyers. Another suggestion was having a competition for whoever sells the most cookbooks wins.
*It was suggested at a previous meeting to have a silent film festival as a fundraiser. Virginia C. checked to see if Keene State would be interested in providing the materials for the festival and they are. She is still getting more information from them and will try to pinpoint a rough idea for cost. The plan would be to have some of the filmmakers come and talk about their work. Anne Potter might also be able to talk about Deaf filmmaking/Deaf perspective on Silent Films. VCDHH has approved the idea and the event could be held at Austine. On campus groups would also be able to sell food to raise money for themselves, as well.
*Cory B. suggested adding links on the website that when clicked could generate revenue for VTRID. The membership felt that the revenue incurred would not be substantial enough and that having additional links on the website would take away from the feel that it currently has and could be a turn off for visitors to the site.
*Karen T. also suggested having a raffle and selling tickets for a holiday themed prize.
*Having a car wash was also another suggestion. It would be a good way to bond with you colleagues and could happen before a VTRID meeting or other event.

Region 1 Report: Elizabeth B.
Elizabeth attended a Region 1 conference call. Several states attended. Jeremy Brunson is the Region 1 Rep, and it was decided that although he is moving to Washington D.C. he will remain as Region 1 Rep until his term expires in July if 2008. The conference also brought up the EIPA and a current discussion about legal certification. Interpreters who have passed the EIPA are considered certified members. The question now being discussed at RID is if EIPA certified interpreters can then start on a legal certification track if they do not have CI/CT or NIC certification. Elizabeth will keep us posted on the situation. Also, RID now has a diversity statement. One publishing company for some materials related to interpreting/ sign language(St Jerome Publishing) does not support the statement because of their current Israeli Institution boycott. RID has sent a letter to the publishing company stating that RID will not support this particular company as it does not fall into accordance with RID's diversity statement. More information can be found on the RID website. There was also a discussion about having a Region 1 presidents' retreat. The consensus of the VTRID board and the members at the meeting was that this would be a good idea. It was also suggested during the conference call that an up and coming future president also attend the retreat. Lastly, NH is considering doing a workshop and VTRID offered to co-sponsor with them. Elizabeth will get more information to us as it becomes available.

VTRID and RID Compliance: Elizabeth B .
One of VTRID's goals this year is to become complaint with the procedures set forth by RID for affiliate organizations. There has been some reporting that has not happened in the past and VTRID would like to be more proactive in reporting in a timely manner. There has also been some confusion about reporting VTRID income to the national office since VTRID doesn't earn enough to report to the federal government. (FYI: must report regardless). Elizabeth will scan a copy of the guidelines and send them out for the membership to look at. Essentially, the guidelines want affiliate chapters to report to RID and the Region 1 rep : meeting minutes, newsletters, executive board meeting minutes and treasury information. VTRID feels confidant that this goal will be very attainable.

Meeting adjoined 4:20
Submitted by: Cory Brunner