Loomio
Thu 6 Dec 2018 2:08PM

Fund Jaq Buchanan to visit The HHP's mini-conference

JP Jeff Powell Public Seen by 91

Hi,

please see the proposal (under "Decisions") for full information

I am asking for the community to vote on the use of e-NABLE funds to support bringing Jaq Buchanan, creator of the Kwawu arm and a dedicated e-NABLEr, to The Helping Hand Project's mini-conference. This will help to connect aspects of the e-NABLE community, help The HHP's 100+ volunteers to learn from a dedicated e-NABLEr, and motivate the group to be more active within the greater, e-NABLE ecosystem, and not just in North Carolina.

JP

Poll Created Thu 6 Dec 2018 2:10PM

Fund Jaq Buchanan to visit The HHP's mini-conference Closed Sun 23 Dec 2018 4:01AM

Outcome
by Jeff Powell Sun 23 Dec 2018 3:37PM

Thanks for all who voted and held us to discuss this proposal.

I am busy with my future in-laws right now for the holidays but will post a lengthier update soon.

Description of Proposed Project:

I am asking for the community to vote on the use of e-NABLE funds to support bringing Jaq Buchanan to The Helping Hand Project's (The HHP) mini-conference.

Jaq is the creator of the Kwawu arm, an elegant, robust design creator to suit the needs of adults with limb differences. He is willing to present at the event and participate in the discussions and networking that is planned. We would be happy to film his presentation so it may be shared with the online community.

The mini-conference is event in Chapel Hill, NC that brings together the different HHP chapters. We would be happy to include other e-NABLERs - please send me a message or comment below so we can plan accordingly. We hope to turn this in to a larger event in the future (more of a true conference) as appropriate and without taking away from existing e-NABLE conferences.

Please read the history session to learn about The HHP and the 50+ children with limb differences we have supported!

Expected results/impact:

Broadly, this will help to connect members of the e-NABLE community. We believe Jaq's attendance will have a ripple affect that goes beyond this event.

By meeting with Jaq, the HHP's 100+ volunteers to learn from a dedicated e-NABLEr. We hope this will motivate the group to be more active within the greater, e-NABLE ecosystem, and not just in North Carolina.

In return, this is an opportunity for Jaq to learn about the community aspects that The HHP has implemented, which he is interested in. This also is a good opportunity for Jaq to get some feedback on questions he has about his Kwawu arm design.

Our group - which mostly includes student engineers - also has a lot to learn about design from Jaq. We have struggled to meet our full potential with custom designs (we have a lot of kids in our network with unique anatomy that requires a custom design) and we think that Jaq will help shed some light on solutions.

We will film Jaq's presentation and share with the online community.

Estimate of work effort involved:

Jaq will have to put in the time to travel. Our group has arranged the min-conference, will accommodate Jaq, and will help make sure that his time outside of the mini-conference is helpful and enjoyable.

Estimated timeline for completion:

The main meeting is Saturday, January 19th from 12-3:30.
We encourage smaller meetings to spill over past that time through dinner, as we will with Jaq.

Names of individuals responsible for deliverables:

Jeff Powell
Jaq Buchanan

Amount of funding being requested:

$590*
- $150 for flight (Denver to RDU)
- $300 for hotel
- $40 for local travel
- $100 for meals
* I have made conservative estimates as to not under-budget. We can front the costs and submit a refund to the e-NABLE fund once the trip has been completed.

A brief overview of my background with e-NABLE:

The Helping Hand Project (The HHP) is a group that I, along with others at UNC Chapel Hill, started in 2014. Our mission is to support children with limb differences - working within the e-NABLE ecosystem - with a focus on personalization and limb-difference community development. We have delivered devices to over 35 children (with more happening this holiday season) and, through our community events and support network, support over 50 children and their families. We have students chapters at UNC, UNC-Charlotte, NCSU, and Durham Tech. I volunteer as the president of the 501(c)3 non-profit which supports the student chapters and provides non-students with an avenue to be involved.

I met Jaq when I attended the Maryland e-NABLE conference in 2017. I have already spoken with Jack to arrange his attendance at our conference.

We had another e-NABLEr, Chad Coarsey, visit in the past. We found him to be very helpful and want to continue connecting our group with active e-NABLErs.

Please let me know if you have any questions! We would love to have other eNABLErs in the are attend or to work with eNABLErs on design projects.

Results

Results Option % of points Voters
Agree 70.8% 17 JS E JS S RB JS SM ESL EP WM DZ FP LG CL BR JK YM
Abstain 12.5% 3 JP BM JB
Disagree 16.7% 4 JO TO SD IL
Block 0.0% 0  
Undecided 0% 102 EL AB DU J W ME JL AC PB JS AD AT LB DD T GD AJ JB B AT

24 of 126 people have participated (19%)

JS

Jon Schull
Agree
Thu 6 Dec 2018 5:43PM

This group is a terrific network doing great work. I'm eager to support them, learn from them, see them emerging as leaders.

JO

Jen Owen
Agree
Thu 6 Dec 2018 10:17PM

Yes!!! This is a fabulous opportunity for growth and learning!

RB

Rich B
Agree
Sat 8 Dec 2018 2:21PM

It appears by the record that this group represents e-NABLE properly and deserves support in their goals.

TO

Thierry Oquidam
Disagree
Mon 10 Dec 2018 5:00PM

I don't think the funding should be used for the sole benefit of a single chapter, this should be funded through a local crowdfunding. Otherwise it is too unfair to rest-of-the-world chapters.
Or we admit that this is a purely US grant program and I'm out of it.

LG

Leland Green
Agree
Mon 10 Dec 2018 5:55PM

The plan to film and post it (all?) and post online is excellent. That should benefit all chapters.

I hope that there may be more than "a video", for a trip of that length and a visitor of such high quality. :slight_smile: (Could you just film the entire stay??😊 And then edit out later?)

@thierryoquidam , an idea is for you to make a similar proposal for your local chapter. (If videos are part of it, I will be sure to vote for it.)

🖖😎

JP

Jeff Powell
Abstain
Mon 10 Dec 2018 7:30PM

Although I certainly approve, I'm abstaining from the formal vote since I am the one who made the proposal.

SD

Sandra Dermisek
Disagree
Tue 11 Dec 2018 10:19AM

I really love the work you did on the kwawu arm, but I agree with Thierry. I don't think the funding should be used for things like this.

JO

Jen Owen
Disagree
Sun 16 Dec 2018 9:05PM

After re-reading this - I am going to disagre and ask that you consider doing a crowd funding campaign for this. I think that the funding could be easily raised by asking family and friends and other students to each pitch in a few bucks to raise the money for the tickets and such. I'd like to see a crowd funding campaign done first and then come back to see if you still need a boost to get him there.

If you have 100 volunteers at Helping hands and each one donates $5.90 you have it funded. :)

JB

Jason Bender
Abstain
Wed 19 Dec 2018 12:16AM

Certainly love what Jack is doing for the community and dont disagree w/ this particular instance, but I worry w/o setting some policies around this type of use of funds it could snowball in future in a way not so beneficial to entire org. Will abstain on this premise.

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