After a long wait, the CILNCF Ocala office will officially be moved into their new office location on June 29, 2020! At this time, the office will remain closed to consumers and the public. However, staff will be available by phone, e-mail and video conferencing. We are so excited and happy for our Ocala Team!
At the beginning of this month, after several years of trying, the Center for Independent Living was officially declared the WINNER of the May Charity of the Month contest from Sunstate Federal Credit Union! All of us at the CIL wanted to give a big THANK YOU to Sunstate Federal Credit Union for offering this amazing opportunity to us and all of the wonderful charities in our community, and of course, to everyone that voted for us! Thank you all for making this possible!
Believe it or not, the hurricane season is just around the corner! Florida is having a Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday from Friday, May 29th through Thursday, June 4th. Be sure to start early and stock up on disaster preparedness supplies exempt from tax! Check out the detailed list of items below!
The CIL has recently become a supplier of food in partnership with Feeding Florida and Bread of the Mighty. Through this partnership, we have had hundreds of boxes of non-perishable food delivered to the CIL this month, as well as several 50 pound bags of potatoes and carrots! This service helps so many people in need during these challenging times, and we are extremely thankful for our community partnerships that allow us to provide this essential need to those we serve.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UF Florida Disability and Health Program Annual Meeting will be held virtually via a series of four webinars on Zoom. Our Executive Director, Tony Delisle, will present, “Disability and Disasters, Preparing for the Worst and Not Just Hoping for the Best” from 11am – 12pm on Tuesday, May 5th. Please check out the flyer below for details about all four of the webinars and registration information!
We wanted to give a shoutout and thank you to our own Kevin Towles for his hard work in Tallahassee at the States Emergency Operation Center (SEOC) recently. Kevin has been working with state directors who are in charge of responding to the COVID 19 Pandemic. We have heard a lot of positive feedback about his work throughout his time in the SEOC. Many have thanked Kevin for his awesome work and for helping to make a difference!
This is the first time that the Independent Living Network and CIL’s around the state are working with state officials, and finding ways together to help people with disabilities have access to food, personal protective equipment, transportation, contact information and other emergency needs. Special thanks to Bryan Russell with the Department of Health and Peter Newman with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation for your continued support during this time.
Thank you Kevin for all of your hard work and dedication, and helping our Center provide this great service to the state and people with disabilities throughout the state!
Here are some pictures of Kevin working and of the environment he was in! Thanks again, Kevin! Keep up the great work.
Throughout these challenging times as we deal with the coronavirus as a community, we wanted to highlight the CIL’s partnership with the Gainesville Police Department and their BOLD program. This program works with boys between the ages of 18 to 26 years of age and helps them attain independence by learning essential personal, professional and educational skills. The BOLD program is currently helping the community by delivering food to people and families in need during this pandemic.
Robert Wright, an intervention specialist with BOLD, is spearheading this campaign and taking it upon himself to deliver food to people in need throughout Alachua county. The BOLD program is working together with the CIL to determine who in the community is in need of these food delivery services.
The feedback for the program has been positive and there has been an overwhelming amount of gratitude and appreciation expressed by those who are receiving these deliveries. Robert says that “receiving food is a very personal moment” and finds the experience to be very humbling. Robert has worked with the CIL’s Mark Brisbane and Catholic Charities to seek out those who need food and delivery assistance.
The CIL’s Mark Brisbane has said of the program that BOLD has been a blessing through their assistance with delivering food to those who cannot get out to buy groceries. Mark has been in touch with Robert and has helped schedule food drop offs to certain homes so that people are receiving food when they need it.
Robert would also like to thank the BOLD manager, Mr. Steven Belk along with the Youth Services Director, Robert Woody and the Chief of Police, Tony Jones for their support. Other supportive BOLD staff members include Michael Booth and Pamela Boykin.
The CIL and our community are very grateful for the work being done by BOLD during these tough times. The hard work being done by people in our community to help others is truly outstanding and we appreciate all of you. We hope everyone continues to stay safe and healthy!
We know everything is so uncertain right now as we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but if you are able to donate, any amount would make a huge difference in the lives of our consumers with disabilities we continue to serve. You can help support us during this difficult time by making a donation to our Emergency Relief Fund. Powered through the Amazing Give platform, our Emergency Relief donation page allows the CIL to receive donations that will help us continue to help our community! We have already received a generous anonymous donation of $100 and we are very grateful! Special thanks to the Community Foundation of North Central Florida and Give Gab for providing the online platform traditionally used during The Amazing Give to support immediate funding needs for local non-profits! Please check out our page!
https://www.theamazinggive.org/organizations/center-for-independent-living-of-north-central-florida
Once again, we thank you so much for your continued support during these challenging times. Stay safe and healthy!
YOU CAN STILL HELP THE CIL WHILE PRACTICING SOCIAL DISTANCING!
We are living in difficult and challenging times right now as the coronavirus prompts closures of businesses and schools throughout our community. However, while our offices remain closed, our commitment to our consumers has not stopped because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CIL continues to work with our consumers through all of our programs, but we still need your help!
While practicing social distancing, you can still help our consumers live independently!Shop through Amazon Smile and GoodShop, search on GoodSearch, and vote for CIL in the Sunstate Contest! Below you will find links to these sites as well as an explanation of what each one is.
You can also help the CIL by spreading the word and forwarding these links to friends and family. Once again, we thank you so much for your continued support during these challenging times. Stay safe and healthy!
Amazon Smile donates 0.5% of your purchase back to the CIL.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/homepage?orig=Lw==
GoodShop is run through GoodSearch, so the CIL earns up to 30% of each shopping purchase! GoodSearch (powered by Yahoo!) donates a penny from each online search.
Sunstate Federal Credit Union runs a Charity of the Month contest on Facebook that allows the CIL to enter for the chance to win upwards of $1,000. You can vote every day to help us win!