Nonprofit supporting individuals with disabilities focuses on fundraising for its new AgrAbility project

Press release from Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On Thursday, April 20, the Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida will participate in The Amazing Give, a nonprofit fundraising effort through the Community Foundation of North Central Florida to support the charitable causes donors hold close to their hearts.

The focus of this year’s efforts will be the organization’s AgrAbility project, which is designed to enhance the quality of life for farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural workers with disabilities.

“We are excited about the opportunity to get resources for farmers with disabilities so they can continue farming because there are no other programs in the state that provide this for them,” said Tony Delisle, Executive Director of the Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida. “We are focusing on AgrAbility this year for Amazing Give because we love our farmers and because we need them for our food, clothes, and medicines.”

This brand-new collaboration with the University of Florida IFAS Extension aims to serve farmers with all types of disabilities to ensure they secure, maintain, and sustain meaningful work in agriculture by offering a myriad of work site- and home-based assessments including assistive technologies—helping with work sites and farm tasks. These efforts are essential to supporting efforts to obtain a high quality of life.

The Amazing Give event begins this Thursday at 8 a.m. and runs until 8 p.m. This 12-hour online fundraising event has been hosted by the Community Foundation of North Central Florida for a number of years and continues to be one of the leading fundraising events in the Gainesville area.

About Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida

The Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida (CILNCF) is an established disability resource center serving 16 counties in the North Central Florida region from two locations. Operated and governed by a majority of people living with disabilities, the CILNCF has delivered high-quality programs since 1981. The mission of the organization is to empower people with disabilities to achieve their goals for independence. The center delivers the five core services of the Independent Living Program, which include Advocacy, Information & Referral, Peer Support, Independent Living Skills Education, and Transition. The CILNCF has several other programs complimenting the IL Program, including Employment, Wheelchair Ramps, and Sign Language Interpreting, to name a few.