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CID NEWS |
CID NEWSLETTER: DECEMBER 2002
Table of Contents
CID Wins Agency Program Award!CID was recently given the Agency Program Award for our excellent work by the San Mateo County Commission on Disabilities. The award was presented on October 25th at the annual People Who Care Awards Dinner. The event was a rousing success and the enthusiasm displayed by the CID staff only fueled the excitement. The sponsoring committee made sure it was a first-class evening, honoring the work CID has done as advocates for the disabled community over the past year. Members of the CID staff were nominated for their individual contributions. Tony Festa, Assistive Technology Coordinator at CID, was nominated for his tireless efforts to provide elevator access for a disabled client, and for his technical support on all building utilization issues at the agency. Leon Buist, Advocacy Coordinator at CID, nominated for his advocacy on behalf of people with disabilities in areas such as transportation, building accessibility and housing, and also for his follow-through to insure that his advocacy efforts have helped them maintain their independence. Marta Florez, Information and Referral Coordinator with CID, obtains information about people with disabilities and refers them to individuals and/or agencies that provide services to enhance their independence. Her extensive knowledge of people and resources is matched by her caring attitude toward people with disabilities and was a major reason for her nomination. Lois Glover, Occupational Therapist at CID, assesses needs of individual consumers for devices and/or equipment to enhance their safety and independence. Because of her creativity, Lois is often able to resolve very challenging accessibility issues, and was a nominee because she goes the extra distance to achieve beneficial results. Our agency abounds in creative and caring individuals. We showed up in force at the award dinners, and gave our director, Kent Mickelson, a rousing round of applause, cheers, and standing ovation as he accepted the Agency/Program Award on behalf of CID. Dignitaries of the evening included Congresswoman, Anna Eshoo. Also present were CID board members, Dave Bauer and Nancy Levitt. The emcee was The Honorable Jerry Hill, President of San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. Keynote speaker, Kathleen Lankasky, gave a moving talk about work with the disabled. A living example of triumph over adversity, Kathleen has had cerebral palsy since birth. In spite of her disability, she graduated Magna Cum Laude, with honors in psychology, from Yale University, and has achieved major recognition for her efforts to educate the public as to the possibilities and opportunities for people with disabilities. 2003 Pre-Super Bowl Fund Raiser to Be Held January 17thOur Eighteenth Annual Pre-Superbowl Fundraiser will be held on Friday, January 17, 2003 from 6 PM to 9 PM at the Mid-Peninsula Bank on 100 South Ellsworth Ave. in San Mateo. A scrumptious buffet will be provided along with refreshments and many prizes. Cathy Manini is again the chairperson. For those who attended last year, you will remember that the facilities and food were fantastic! Mid-Peninsula Bank has graciously donated the use of their facilities again. It is wheelchair accessible at the front entrance, and there is plenty of parking in the lot as well as underground. There are numerous sponsors for this event, and many wonderful prizes, so we hope you will join us. Get your reservations in early, and bring friends, share squares, and help this worthy cause at the same time. Call Arsie Zacarias at CID for details at: 650-595-0783 ext. 110 From the Desk of Kent MickelsonThis has been an exciting year for the Center for Independence of the Disabled. Amidst the added stress of budget cut concerns, we've managed to move forward on multiple fronts, gaining greater press exposure, media coverage, and awards. We have a number of people to thank for helping us to make this past year successful. Thanks go to the Commission on Disabilities for honoring us as Agency of the Year for the People Who Care Awards Dinner. A BIG thank you to "Rebuilding Together," the Stanford University Maintenance Department, and the Sheet Metal Workers Union for all the wonderful improvements they made to our historic building. A special thank you to the City of Belmont for their generous support of the building that houses us. Thanks go to all the agencies and organizations that worked with CID through the year to help us help our disabled consumers. And finally, a great big thank you to the CID Board, Staff, and Volunteers whose hard work made this successful year possible. THANKS EVERYONE! WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU! Changes at CIDThis past year has been one of growth and expansion for CID. Many new changes have taken place within our physical building as well. For the first time in decades our historic landmark building which started out as the first firehouse in San Mateo County underwent a series of major improvements. First, we were fortunate enough to be selected by Stanford University for their annual Rebuilding Together effort. They selected CID's building for a major overhaul. Two weeks before the official day of rebuilding a crew showed up to give the old building a special powerwashing of the entire exterior from the roof to the sidewalks. On April 27th an army of volunteers gathered to paint the exterior and interior of the building. While that was going on, other volunteers installed a deck, made repairs to the bathrooms and kitchen and installed new doors and windows. During Phase II CID received additional electrical work, new lighting, a telephone system overhaul, new email accounts, and a new high-speed DSL internet hookup. Phase III gave CID new carpeting and a new heating and air-conditioning system and outside lighting. In mid December all staff members received a new computer and software under an innovative lease agreement which will also lower costs of owning and maintenance of the computers. This has been one busy and productive year indeed! Sunny Lin Home Elevator Installation Finally Complete!On October 1st , 2002, a ribbon-cutting and press conference was held on-site outside the home of CID consumer, Sunny Lin in San Mateo. It marked the final chapter in a more than two year long saga of monumental proportions to obtain funding and find suitable contractors to install an elevator outside of Sunny's condo apartment. This event marked the culmination of over a year's worth of intense negotiation and coordination efforts led by Tony Festa of CID's AT Department, who worked with the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County and The San Francisco Chronicle, which provided the funding. The new elevator has given Sunny a new found freedom that coincides with his eighteenth year and the freedom that most young people want to experience upon graduation from high school. The new elevator allows Sunny to come and go at will without being dependent upon his mother, grandmother or friends and neighbors to carry him up and down the stairs. Beforehand, he would have to wait, sometimes for hours for his mother to arrive home from work to carry him up that long flight of stairs. Now he is able to work and to attend college on his own. How Does our Garden Grow? CID Garden Program Needs VolunteersDid you know that CID has just received the initial funding to begin a garden? We have just received the materials -- wood, cement and bricks -- to build a raised garden in the backyard at CID for our consumers -- YOU! Now all we need is a few handy individuals to help us get it started! We are looking for someone who has power tools and the technical ability to help us build the raised beds and begin the garden. Once the structure is completed, we will need some experienced gardeners to help us plant seeds and till the soil. Could that person be YOU? If you'd like to assist in any phase of the garden building project, just call Marta (ext. 118) or David (ext. 127). VIMM Program Needs VolunteersPeople with disabilities often find themselves unable to keep up with paying the monthly bills and managing bank accounts. Volunteers in Money Management is one of the programs administered by Sally Pierotti at CID. We seek volunteers to share their personal knowledge, training and time to help out with these tasks. Contact Sally Pierotti, Volunteer Coordinator at 650-595-0783 ext. 117. The Ticket to Work ProgramWelcome to the Ticket to Work Program... it's all about CHOICE and OPPORTUNITIES! The Ticket to Work Program is new. It is a nationwide Self-Sufficiency Program designed to bring major positive change to the lives of individuals with disabilities. This comprehensive initiative is designed to assist people with the training and support you need to go to work by increasing your choices. It increases your choices in obtaining the employment support services, vocational rehabilitation services, and other services you may need to get and keep a job. Most provisions are already available in California and the "Ticket" itself will be available in most states by mid 2003. Many SSDI and SSI disability beneficiaries will receive a "Ticket" they can use to obtain services from an approved provider of their choice. We call these approved providers, "Employment Networks". The program is voluntary, and the services will be provided at no cost to you. Social Security will not conduct a continuing disability review of your medical condition while you are using a Ticket to Work. You can find current information about the Ticket to Work Program, including a list of approved Employment Networks, at: http://www.ssa.gov/work/ResourcesToolkit/legisreg2.html, and at http://www.yourtickettowork.com. To schedule an appointment for an individual consultation, call Jay Swee at ext. 122. CID's Website Wins 1st Place!CID now has an award winning accessible website due to the efforts of Steve Freier, AT Specialist at CID. Through a contest held annually by AIR California, a Texas based NFP, Steve was able to win a place at the last minute in their accessible website design contest which was held in September at Mission High School in San Francisco. In August, CID was matched with an ad-hoc web design team called "Fatmouse," from Silicon Valley. Steve had less than one week to prepare all the materials that were needed to design and assemble the website. Working with Leon Buist and director, Kent Mickelson, as well as many of the CID staff, we were able to pull all the needed materials together in the nick of time for the design team to do their work. As a comparison, all of the dozen or so other design teams had over a month to do the same job. CID's website won first place in the annual accessible website design contest. The site's statistics for the first few months were: 636 Visitors per month; 1,535 Pageviews per month; and 8,869 Total Hits per month. If you have any suggestions to make the website more useful, please contact Steve via email at SteveF@CIDBelmont.org, or call 650-595-0783 x115. YO Program -- Youth Outreach"YO" stands for "Youth Outreach." The Youth Outreach program has had a busy fall. About 400 teachers, parents and students at Menlo Atherton High School and Ralston Middle School have learned about different types of disabilities (physical, learning, systemic or invisible, vision, hearing, brain injury). The students got an overview of each disability, and experienced role-plays that gave them a better understanding of what a disability is. The Disability Awareness program covers how to communicate or interact with different disabilities as well as the proper etiquette to use with people with disabilities. Students also learned about another disability, narcolepsy, which affects some youths and has an impact on their education. We demystified some sleep myths -- like coffee so does NOT keep you alert enough to drive! -- and what constitutes good sleep hygiene. The overwhelming message the students took away from the Disability Aware-ness program was how to be the "hero" in their own lives. Part of being a hero includes being your own advocate. The students learned that whatever may happen to them in life, they have to reach out to someone. That "someone" might be a teacher, parent, counselor or a friend. Or, it might be "YO" -- the Youth Outreach Program at CID. The Family Caregiver ProgramCID has a new program. The idea behind this program is to help grandparents, grandchildren and people over sixty. CID will provide minor home modifications, such as small ramps, hand held showers, grab bars, rails, sinks and other installations of equipment to keep care givers and their relatives safe and independent in their homes. In addition we will offer medical alert boxes, locks, deadbolts, smoke and burglar alarms. To be eligible one must be a family caregiver or a grandparent. A Family Caregiver is an adult family member or another individual who is an informal provider of in-home and community care to a person aged 60 or older. The term Grandparent refers to a grandparent or step grandparent of a child (age 18 or younger), or a relative of the child by blood or marriage, who is 60 years of age or older. The caregiver grandparent must be living with the child, be the primary caregiver of the child, and have a legal relationship to the child (such as legal custody or guardianship), or be raising the child informally. CAP District Boundaries RedrawnDue to the recent efforts of Kent Mickelson in Sacramento, the service areas of the Client Assistance Program have been redrawn. As of October 1, 2002, the San Mateo CAP Office at CID has added the San Jose District to the South and West to the Monterey area, and has dropped the Santa Rosa district to the Northern California border. The Client Assistance Program is looking forward to working with the Santa Clara District for technology and all resources that the District has to offer our consumers. This change should make our CAP office much more efficient. If you have any questions, please contact Denise Hunter, CID Belmont, 650-591-0129 or 1-800-427-1088. Assistive Technology AssistanceIf you are seeking assistance in making accessible home modifications or need assistive technology advice, CID's AT Department can help. First, try looking at California's AT Network website at: www.atnet.org. California's AT Network is dedicated to expanding the accessibility of tools, resources and technology that will help increase independence, improve personal productivity and enhance the quality of life for all Californians. CID maintains a branch of this network in Belmont. For assistance, contact Tony Festa, director, at ext. 116, or Steve Freier, AT Specialist at ext. 115. Pete's Coffee, Thank You!CID thanks Britta Carrillo, manager of Pete's Coffee in Belmont for her generosity in providing coffee and pastries for many of our special events and also for the pastries we receive on nearly a daily basis for our staff. Ever Wanted to Be on a Board of Directors?Have you ever had the desire to serve on a board of directors? Well now may be your chance. CID is seeking suitable applicants for the Board of Directors. If you are interested in serving, please contact Arsie Zacarias at 650-595-0783 ext. 110. Be Prepared for the Big Oneby Jim Stinehoff, Chairperson -- Safety & Emergency Response Planning Committee As a disabled individual living independently or with families, you know your own needs. It is critically important that you and those who support you learn how to survive on your own for as much as 7 days in a major disaster, even if you are housed in a shelter. The police and fire department and your regular support team may be trying to survive themselves and be unable to reach you. You need to think about what you would do if your support team is prevented from coming to your aid in case of a disaster. The important thing is to start preparing. The more you do now, the more confident you will be that you can protect yourself, your family, and your belongings. Questionnaires and helpful lists to support you in becoming better prepared can be obtained from me, Jim at 650-595-0783, ext. 126 for an emergency information packet. Money for YouDo you qualify for an Earned Income Tax Credit? The average is $2,000 or more! The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a federal income tax credit for individuals who work and have low income. A goal of the Credit is to reduce or offset the amount of payroll taxes while at the same time encourage individuals who might otherwise receive other public benefits to seek and pursue employment. The Credit usually results in a reduction in the amount of taxes owed or refund. The IRS told CID that as much as 75% of this money goes unclaimed each year and that people should not be fearful of reprisals to apply for it. There are 15 general rules that a person must meet if they are to qualify for EITC. If your income was low last year, you should call our Benefits Specialists (650-595-0783) to see if you are eligible. Ask for Jay or David. Wish List
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