Friday, August 24, 2012
2012 InclusionFest featuring Wheel-A-Thon
As most of you know, I have served on the Board of
Director's at accessABILITY Center for Independent Living Inc. for the last three years. This non-profit
provides free services to help people with disabilities live independently by
providing advocacy, independent living skills training, information and referral
services, and most importantly peer support. accessABILITY serves
Marion county and it's seven contiguous counties; our Seniors Achieving
Independent Living program also serves an additional 4 counties on top of that!
One in five people live with a disability and with an estimated 80,000 people
living in Central Indiana great effort is still needed to ensure that all people
have full access to community life.
Our major fund raiser for 2012,
InclusionFest featuring Wheel-A-Thon, will be held at Christian Park in
Indianapolis on Saturday, September 22nd, starting at 10am. Thanks to
the support of many of you, the 2011 InclusionFest (our inaugural year) was a
huge success! Because of you, last year accessABILITY directly
supported 484 people with disabilities throughout central Indiana in achieving
greater independence and responded to 1704 requests for information and
referrals.
I believe strongly in their mission and have seen
first hand the great work they do. In an effort to help raise much needed funds
for accessABILITY I have formed a team for the Wheel-A-Thon, which will
take place during InclusionFest, and have personally donated $100, which is the
most that I can afford on my fixed budget. I want to personally invite everyone
to attend this exciting event which will include disability related sports
demonstrations, musical performances, celebrity appearances, and much more! I
would also like to ask for your assistance by sponsoring my team, Rebellion On Wheels, if you're able. Had I known about accessABILITY when
I became a bilateral amputee they would have been a tremendous help to me, a
small amount goes a long way to providing services to those who need it most.
All donations are tax deductible.
You can sponsor Rebellion on Wheels by clicking on the team name, which will take you to my team's
fund raising page, and then click on the "Sponsor Our Team" button to the right
of the picture. You will see that I've set a goal for the team, which currently
consists of only me, to raise $2000.00 so please keep in mind that a lot of
small donations will go a long way.
If you don't feel that you can make a donation this
year, but would like to help me raise funds by asking others whom you feel
comfortable approaching to sponsor my team, you can join Rebellion on Wheels by clicking on the team name, and then click on "Join Our Team"
when the team fund raising page opens. I'd love the extra help! (Don't worry,
I won't make you go around the track in a wheelchair unless you want
to!)
If you're feeling really inspired and want to go it
alone by forming your own team for the Wheel-A-Thon (wheelchairs will be
available for people who don't usually need them to get around) you can do so by
going to the 2012 InclusionFest website and clicking on "Register". The site will walk you
through the steps to form a team from there. Or use the attached Participant
Packet if you don't want to do it over the internet. Feel free to share the
attached information with friends, family, and co-workers!
Even if you can't support the Wheel-A-Thon this year, I sincerely hope that you will come to InclusionFest if you are in the Indianapolis area on September 22nd. It truly is an amazing event that has really started to grow. In addition to the sports demonstrations, wheel-a-thon, workshops, food trucks, and vendor booths that everyone enjoyed last year, this year we will have musical performances from Signmark (a rapper who is deaf) and appearances from Auti Angel (from the Sundance Channel's Push Girls series), and Cody Unser who will show her documentary "CODY: The First Step". Please come to Christian Park (4200 English Ave.) on Saturday, September 22nd, to enjoy InclusionFest (starting at 10am) and help us make this Indiana's premier disability awareness event!
Thank you for your time and consideration, I truly
value all of the support you have given me over the years, and appreciate any
support you are willing to give to accessABILITY.
