Greetings | The Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida welcomes you! If you have any questions about the center or the services we provide, please contact us at 352-378-7474. Our number again, is 3, 5, 2, 3, 7, 8, 7, 4, 7, 4.
The Independence and the FAAST program presents a FREE training! The presentation will cover the use of The Independence bed technology to help with mobility and getting out of bed when that is difficult.
Date: Wednesday, April 5th, 2023 at 11:00 AM
Location: Discount Daze 1211 SW 17th Street Ocala, FL 34471
For more information please contact Brandon Palermo (Ocala office): bpalermo@cilncf.org or call at (352) 368-3788, or please contact Claudia Avendano (Gainesville Office): cavendano@cilncf.org or call at (352)378-7474.
ID: The image includes all the information provided above. The CIL logo is shown at the top left and the Discount DAZE Furniture logo is at the top right of the image. The background is white and has 5 large blob shapes that each takes up a quarter of the image. Each blob is a different color, top left is turquoise, top right is light blue, the top center is dark blue, bottom left is green and the bottom right is purple. There is an image of a light purple moon with three stars under the Discount DAZE Furniture logo and a bed image under the CIL logo. The FAAST logo is shown at the bottom left and The Independence logo is at the bottom right.
Save the date! The Amazing Give is only 4 weeks away!
The event will take place on April 20th from 8 am to 8 pm and we need your help!
Please consider donating through our Amazing Give platform, and help us make a difference for farmers with all types of disabilities to ensure they secure, maintain, and sustain meaningful work in agriculture!
Stay tuned for more information about AgrAbility and how your donations will help leading up to the event!
Today the ILS (Independent Living Skills) class at CIL had a special guest speaker, Obina Amuneke, who is a certified personal trainer from Valdosta, Georgia! He joined us on zoom and talked about the five most important reasons to exercise. He then lead us in 15-20 minutes of seated arm stretches and showed us exactly what to do and why. We also were reminded to breathe during these exercises and how to do that. We all did our best and ended up having fun, as well as getting a real workout! We enjoyed meeting Obina and working out with him. All of us decided we would really like him to come back and show us some more exercises, so we can stay healthy and strong as we get older. Thank you Obina! The ILS group at CIL!
Obina Bio: Obina Amuneke is originally from Northern California and graduated from California State University, Sacramento in 2022 with a Bachelors in Ethnic Studies. He is currently a certified personal trainer in Valdosta, GA and has been training for 10 years. “The reason why I do what I do is because my mother Karen, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 and sadly passed away. Also, my older sister, had leukemia and passed away. This is why I have a passion for fitness and health, and working with people with disabilities, because I believe by building good habits of exercise and community exercise, we can overcome chronic conditions that negatively affect us today. This is my passion! This is why I do what I do.”
ID: Two pictures within the image. The picture on the top is of Obina Amuneke via Zoom, he’s smiling and wearing a gray hoodie. The bottom picture is of our consumers sitting at tables in the ILS class. There is a blue border and In the middle is a border separating the two pictures with different colors from left to right: purple, blue, turquoise, and green.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! The CIL is wishing you a pot of gold and all the joy your heart can hold. We are so lucky to have the support of our consumers, staff, donors, volunteers, and community partners year after year. We could not do what we do without YOU! May each petal of a four-leaf clover bring you good health, good luck, love, and happiness!
ID: Background is light green with faded white circles scattered throughout, and a green leprechaun hat with a pot of gold at the bottom left. The CIL logo is in the top left, and a pot of gold is in the top right. At the top middle is a graphic of a leprechaun smiling. Below that is white text reading, ” Happy St. Patrick’s Day From the CIL!!”. There are gold coins dropping in motion from the middle of the graphic, down to the bottom.
In collaboration with BuddyBooks and the FAAST program, the CIL will present a FREE presentation! This training will cover information about BuddyBooks that helps target your instruction for students who struggle with reading. BuddyBooks helps students to engage as they “Buddy Read” with the computer. The computer analyzes the student’s reading, and it can be used at home or at school.
Also, BuddyBooks helps to improve fluency by 24%, with students reading 11 more minutes every day! Additionally, BuddyBooks provides continuous assessment during independent reading.
DATE: March 22nd, 2023 12:00 PM – 12:30 PM
Location: This is a Zoom web conference.
You can join this meeting from your computer, tablet, or smartphone.
For more information about the Zoom meeting, please contact Claudia Avendano at cavendano@cilncf.org or call (352) 378-7474.
For more info about BuddyBooks, please contact Jason Stewart at Jason.stewart@objectiveEd.com or call (903) 520-9065.
ID: The image includes all the information provided above. The FAAST logo is shown at the top left and the CIL logo is at the top right of the image. The background is white and has 4 large blob shapes that each take up a quarter of the image. Each blob is a different color, top left is purple, top right is green, bottom left is turquoise and bottom right is blue. There is an image of a girl reading in her bed under the CIL logo.
Last week, the CIL hosted our 6th Annual Emergency Preparedness Expo for people with disabilities in Marion County and it was a huge success! It was attended by nearly 175 participants, 27 vendors (community-based organizations), and multiple emergency management and first responder agencies. The people in attendance were highly engaged, learned a lot, and accessed important resources to better prepare themselves for disasters.
Special thanks to all of our wonderful donors, vendors and speakers who helped make this event possible! Thank you for your continued support of people with disabilities in Marion County!
Great job to our Emergency Preparedness Team! We are very thankful for all of your hard work to deliver high-quality services for the community we serve!
ID: Five pictures within the image. The top left picture is of the CIL table in the background, as well as other vendor tables, with Marion Expo attendees speaking with the vendors. The top right picture is CIL Staff Andrea Melvin organizing flyers for those in attendance. The middle picture (left to right) is CIL Staff Terri Poucher and CIL Volunteer Kayla Trapp-McHughes, sitting at the sign-in table covered with a One Health Center tablecloth. The bottom pictures are overviews of the stage with presenters in the background. The CIL logo is in the middle right, and the middle left reads, “Marion County Expo.” Each image is separated by lines with CIL logo colors of green, light blue, dark blue, teal and fuchsia.
Last month, the CIL and FAAST Program partnered with Elder Options to provide the second session of the Coping with Caregiving series. This is a free course (four sessions total) for caregivers and clients who care for individuals with dementia, chronic illness, or any other disability, to learn how to de-stress and better manage daily life.
The topic for the second session was, “Strategies for Stress” and Sam Strickland with Elder Options did a great job providing information and strategies for caregivers who face various challenges throughout the day. Some take aways from the presentation included:
· Stress affects our lives in many ways, some of them unexpected.
· Everyone shows stress in different ways and it is important to know your own signals.
· Deep breathing and visualization work best if it is practiced often.
Claudia Avendano, CIL Assistive Technologies Specialist for FAAST, also provided a training on the following Assistive Technology devices: two types of sensory toys, a time timer, and iPad memory features.
ID: Image includes a picture of (from left to right), Claudia, CIL Assistive Technologies Specialist for FAAST, and Sam Strickland with Elder Options. They are each standing on the end of a table that is covered with a FAAST tablecloth. The table hold various FAAST AT devices, and above the table is a large TV screen showing the Take Aways listed above
Save the date and spread the word! The Amazing Give is only 6 weeks away!
The Amazing Give is the CIL’s biggest giving day of the year, and this year marks our 8th! This AMAZING event will take place on April 20th from 8 am to 8 pm.
Our fundraising goal this year continues to be $10,000, and all donations will be put towards one of our new programs, Florida AgrAbility. Florida AgrAbility is a collaboration between the CIL and the UF Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) Extension, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The program aids farmers, ranchers, other agricultural workers, and farm family members living with a disability.
Please consider donating through our Amazing Give platform, and help us make a difference for farmers with all types of disabilities to ensure they secure, maintain, and sustain meaningful work in agriculture!
Stay tuned for more information about AgrAbility and how your donations will help leading up to the event!
Image Description: Solid black background with colorful star-shaped confetti shooting upwards and all over the graphic. The Amazing Give logo is at the top in a white box that states the name, date, and time of The Amazing Give. “Save the Date” is written in white text in a red, rectangular shape that spans all the way from the left to the right, and “Join Us for a Day of Giving” is written below in black text in a white, rectangular shape just below
Join us for our weekly classes! Youth Leadership & Social Group will be on Tuesdays from 3:30-5:00 PM, and Independence Hacks will be in Ocala on Tuesdays from 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM. Consumers can also zoom in during this time as well. We also have another Independence Hacks on Thursday at 10: 30Am -12:00 PM.
If interested and you are new to classes, please contact Terri Poucher for the new zoom link, meeting ID and passcode by e-mail: tpoucher@cilncf.org or phone: 352-378-7474. Please share this with anyone who may wish to participate. We hope to see you there!
ID: Light green background with shamrocks and golden stars. The CIL logo is in the top left corner. Heading is in black font that reads, “March Calendar”, and underneath is a banner with Ireland flags and shamrock flags. Underneath are two green shamrocks with black text that reads “Tuesday” for the one above, and “Thursday” for the one below. The class title and meeting times are next to their corresponding weekday.
The CIL continues to offer our staff various health and wellness activities throughout the year. This past month, our Employment team was able to enjoy some time away from the office during their Team Social at Pinspiration, a local DIY craft studio in Gainesville! Pinspirtation has something cool called the “splatter room” and our Employment team was able to create an art piece in this room using tape as well as paint that they splatter onto the canvas!
Everyone had a blast and staff said It was a lot of fun! The splatter painting was easily accessible for the entire team. Staff have even gotten compliments from consumers and family about the quality of their abstract art! Pinspiration was an amazing place to come together as a team, and our staff would recommend them to anyone wanting a creative outlet. Enjoy the pictures of their experience below!
