Our table at the Volunteer Fair at SUNY Farmingdale on October 22nd, was a big hit and we gave away all of our brochures. We spoke to college and high school students, as well as many school counselors. Many agreed to volunteer. Thank you to our spokesperson, Patti Locurcio, for yet another great job!
More than one in ten, that is, at least 50m citizens throughout the EU, must deal with a disability and are confronted daily with physical barriers. For examples of initiatives in universal design, watch this short video on EUtube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U86PW0VdxeA
Our third annual Founder’s Party was a lot of fun, with good friends and terrific food. Thank you to all of our supporters for their generous donations. Special thanks to chef Antoinette Hasson and all the many volunteers who mad
e the evening wonderful.
Here are the pictures, thanks to photographers Terri Hovanec and Rick Box.
For the first time our Members Meeting was avalalbe on WebEx – thanks to Fatih Legendre and a generous donation from WebEx. We can meet with you in your own office/home or beach chair!
We are most pleased to report that Amy Alexander wrote an excellent article about HomeFreeHome in July issue of Exceptional Parent Magazine.
Whether the space of a palace or the size of a shoebox, a person’s home should be a sanctuary-a place they can exhale and are free to be themselves with no barriers or boundaries. For most people, making their home their haven is created with paint and pictures, with flowers and furniture. If you’re an individual living with a disability, however, your first concern very well may be as basic as how do you get into your home?
Enter Home Free Home. Home Free Home (HFH) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to providing architectural design services to people who need home modifications to accommodate a physical disability…
Please see EP website to read full article http://www.eparent.com/resources_organization_links/Breaking_Through_Barriers.asp
The Independence Long Island event was a celebration of the 19th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The 1990 ADA is the civil rights legislation for people with disabilities and seen as Disability Independence Day. Suffolk Independent Living Organization (SILO) and other organizations that work with the disabled community organized this event. Our display table, brochures and flyers were well received, thanks to Amelia Box, Mark Wittenberg, Jake Caramico and Patti Locurcio. Our amazing volunteers came out and were enthusiastic, in spite of the sun and heat!
INDEPENDENCE EXPOWe had great success with our Exhibit Booth at the first ever Long Island Independence Expo on June 27th and 28th. We talked to many people who were very interested in our services. We also met many new enthusiastic volunteer members. Laura Montllor gave lecture on “Beyond the ADA, Universal Design for Your Home”
Thanks to our HFH members Elena Box, Margaret DeSiervo, Mark Wittenberg, Jerry Cicciari, Mary Snyder, Robin Lillyreed, Jake Caramico and Patti Locurcio for manning the booth.
The Expo was presented by United Spinal Association and we give them our sincerest thanks for helping us reach out to the disabled community.
WFUV is the public radio station of Fordham University. They are going to run a Public Service Announcement , 30 second PSA, for HomeFreeHome. This is part of their “Strike a Chord” campaign to increase awareness charities providing public services. WFUV has over 400 thousand listeners per week in the New York Metropolitan area.
Home Free Home is pleased to announce that we have launched a new Web site, it is our hope that families around the country will use this new site to gather information about Universal Design and reach out to us if they need assistance. We appreciate any and all feedback as this new site will constantly evolve as our organization grows.
Jim and Lisa with daughter Glorianna
A ramp for the Jackson family in Bellmore is the first pilot project. Jim and Lisa Jackson’s daughter Glorianna was born with spina bifida and has no feeling in her lower legs. She’s now 4 years old and is an energetic, smart little girl who urgently needs a new accessible entry to get out and explore the world.
In July HFH volunteers started construction on the ramp for the Jackson family. Thank you to Chris Suhovsky and the crew from CJ Construction of Kings Park for the concrete foundation work.
Our intrepid team of volunteers worked on the framing every weekend through the heat of August!
Following the direction of master carpenters, Deke Hasson and Rich Faustman, volunteers Chris and Paul Shaklis, Richard and Amelia Box and others joined homeowner Jim Jackson in framing construction. Special thank you to Affordable Portable Ramps for the traction plywood. Also, thanks to Home Depot for discount on materials. The ramp is 95% finished and Glorianna is enjoying using it. We still need some items such as the final handrails.
To tell you the truth, before the HFH team came, we didn’t even know where to start. The HomeFreeHome architects designed, met with building inspection officials, applied for the building permit, and made the whole process easy. – Glorianna’s Grandmother
