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District 6 Hosts Leader Training

"I discovered, these past two days, that BVA has a lot of great people with initiative and a ‘want to’ attitude that wasn’t with us 30 years ago," said David Byrd, a life member in the North Texas Regional Group, as the Spring 2005 BVA leadership training conference came to a close. "This discovery makes me want to be involved."

Present for the Spring 2005 Leadership Training Conference were, left to right, Rio Grande Regional Group President Bill Case, Director of District 6 Mark Cornell, Director of District 1 and Conference Coordinator General Weeks, President Appleby, and North Texas Regional Group President Angelo Athas.

The site of the April 28-30 conference was the Best Western Dallas North Hotel. It was held for the first time in more than two years. The gathering included 18 members of District 6 from seven regional groups, nine spouses (seven of which attended the seminars), and Blind Rehabilitation Outpatient Specialist Bruce Davis. President Appleby assisted General Weeks, who coordinated both the logistics of the meetings and the instruction itself. Also in attendance were Director of District 6 Mark Cornell, Region V Field Service Representative Peter Link, and Communications Coordinator Stuart Nelson.

"I’m new to BVA and I’m now very excited to go home and get going with the ideas that have been shared here," said Kelli DePlanche, Southwest Desert Regional Group.

The training opened with welcoming remarks, introductions, and objectives outlined by General Weeks, who indicated that he was coordinating his 18th conference during a period of some 11 years. It continued with discussions led by Mark Cornell about the duties of a district director and by Stuart Nelson regarding the functions of the BVA Communications Department. Bruce Davis covered the VIST and BROS programs. The balance of the Friday session was spent on the function of regional groups, how to conduct meetings, and how to involve BVA members locally.

Saturday’s activities consisted of a workshop on recruiting and retaining members. The BVA Auxiliary, fund raising, and volunteer programs were also discussed.

"This has been really eye opening for me," said Irene Corbit, who accompanied her spouse, Jerry (Greater Houston Regional Group). "It was inspirational for me to be in the same room with people with so much energy and expertise."