News - LIFTT

Mountain Made K9 and LIFTT to work on Service Dog Projects

Mountain Made K9 and Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT) have signed an agreement to work together to provide LIFTT consumers and the community with resources and education relating to service dogs.

As defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service dog is “a dog that is trained to perform tasks or do work for a person with a disability.” Under the ADA, such dogs are allowed to accompany the person they are trained to assist in all areas that members of the public are permitted to go. Among the tasks that service dogs routinely perform include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack.

Under the terms of the agreement between LIFTT and Mountain Made K9, consumers who work with LIFTT to apply for outside grant funding for service dog training will be referred to Mountain Made, who will determine the type and duration of training that may be required for both the dog and handler and if grant funds are awarded, provide the needed training.

“Although not appropriate for every person or situation, a trained service dog can be a great assistance to a person with a disability in being able to achieve and maintain their independence both at home and in the community. We thank Mountain Made K9 for agreeing to work with us on this project to assist the consumers and communities we serve by providing their high-quality consultative and training services,” said LIFTT executive director Carlos Ramalho.

About Mountain Made K9 (MMK9): MMK9 is a privately owned dog training company based out of Billings, Montana. MMK9 trains pets and working service dogs, police k9s, protection dogs, scent detection k9s, and search and rescue dogs. MMK9 aims to produce high-performance dogs by providing the highest quality dog training possible.

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for Apple or Google Play.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

LIFTT Board of Directors will meet January 15

The Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT) board of directors will meet on Monday, January 15, beginning at 4 p.m. The meeting will be conducted virtually using the Zoom platform. The public is invited to attend and offer comments during the public comment period.

Click here to view or download the meeting agenda and Zoom information for the January 15, 2024, LIFTT board of directors meeting. (Adobe PDF)

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for Apple or Google Play.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

Happy Holidays from LIFTT!

Happy Holidays from all of us at LIFTT! So that our team members may celebrate with family and friends, LIFTT’s offices in Billings and Glendive will be closed on Christmas Day (Monday 12/25) and New Year’s Day (Monday 01/01/2024). We will be open Tuesday, December 26- Thursday, December 28, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Friday, December 30, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can contact LIFTT at any time at (406) 259-5181 (Billings), (406) 948-8500 (Glendive), and through our contact page.

Interested in supporting LIFTT as part of your year-end charitable contributions? You can do so through our website: https://liftt.org/get-involved/donate-support/ or contact Executive Director Carlos Ramalho at (406) 294-5190 or carlosr@liftt.org.

Again, Happy Holidays from LIFTT. May the season bring you tidings of comfort and joy, and we look forward to serving you in 2024!

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. Please visit liftt.org or download our Apple or Google Play mobile app for more information.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

Otto Bremer Trust continues supporting LIFTT

Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT) is pleased to announce a grant received from the Otto Bremer Trust in the amount of $60,000.00 to support LIFTT’s ongoing operations.

The award is LIFTT’s second in recent years from the St. Paul Minnesota-based foundation. Since its founding in 1944, the Otto Bremer Trust has been committed to “investing in people, places, and opportunities in our region of Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.”

“LIFTT is very grateful to the Otto Bremer Trust for showing confidence in our stewardship of their funds by awarding us this additional grant; said LIFTT executive director Carlos Ramalho. “These dollars come at an important time for our organization as we continue to look towards an exciting future of expanding programs and services for and with the disabled community of southeastern and south-central Montana.”

If you are interested in donating to LIFTT’s work, you can do that through https://liftt.org/get-involved/donate-support/ or contact Executive Director Carlos Ramalho at (406) 294-5190 or carlosr@liftt.org.

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. Please visit liftt.org or download our Apple or Google Play mobile app for more information.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

Donate your myWalgreens rewards to LIFTT until 12/31

We are participating in the myWalgreens donation program! You can donate your myWalgreens rewards to LIFTT through December 31, 2023. When you register for myWalgreens rewards and shop at your neighborhood (or any) Walgreens, you’ll earn unlimited 1% Walgreens Cash rewards when you shop, and you can go online and choose how much to donate to LIFTT. It’s that easy!

Whether you’d like to contribute $1, $5, or more of your Walgreens Cash rewards, you’ll make a big difference as we provide programs and services by and for people with disabilities across southeastern & southcentral Montana. To donate your MyWalgreens rewards to LIFTT or for more information about the myWalgreens donation program, visit: walgreens.com/mywalgreens/donation.jsp. Thank you from all of us at LIFTT!

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for Apple or Google Play.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

September/October LIFTT Connection Newsletter Now Avaliable

The September/October edition of the LIFTT Connection Newsletter is now available!

Click here to download it (Adobe PDF)

In this issue of the LIFTT Connection:

You can request that we email you an electronic copy or mail you a paper copy by sending your name and address to jedb@liftt.org. Also, look for articles from the newsletter to be posted on liftt.org and our Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn feeds.

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and southcentral Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app on Apple or Google Play.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

National Hispanic Heritage Month 2023

From September 15 to October 15, 2023, LIFTT joins the nation in celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month! The Hispanic community includes people who came to the US from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Hispanic Americans are the fastest-growing racial and ethnic minority in the US and Montana. Hispanic Americans are over 63 million in the US and 50,000 in Montana.

LIFTT is proud to be an organization committed to diversity, inclusion, equity, and accessibility, and that includes our Hispanic neighbors. We acknowledge the importance of their contribution and their remarkable work ethics. Latino/Latina consumers will always be welcome at LIFTT. If being Latino/Latina is one of your identities, you have a disability, and you live in our service area, please allow us to serve you. At LIFTT, you will not experience racial, ethnic, or anti-immigrant prejudice. We will remove any language barriers by providing you with a translator and literature in Spanish. At LIFTT, there are no legal or illegal persons or any other form of discrimination. All are welcome to receive independent living services from our specialists.

LIFTT dará la bienvenida a todos los latinos y latinas que busquen los servicios gratuitos de vida independiente que brindamos. ¡Ven a vernos!

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and southcentral Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app on Apple or Google Play.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

Director’s Corner: Vaccines are important health tools

Vaccines are important health tools!

Thanks to the Aging and Disability Vaccination Collaborative (ADVC) grant, which is an USAging initiative funded by the US Administration for Community Living (ACL), LIFTT has been able to promote and provide vaccines in the eighteen counties of its service area in association with county health departments, Pharm406, and other partners.

We want you to know that LIFTT is offering the updated COVID-19, flu, and RSV vaccines to our aging and disabled consumers.

There is a permanent clinic in Yellowstone County, at the Pharm406 located at 1410 38th St W STE A, Billings, MT 59102, telephone (406) 717-6100. You can walk in or call to schedule an appointment. If you need assistance planning the vaccine or transportation to the vaccine clinic, LIFTT is here to help you.

LIFTT and our partners will be offering the new COVID-19 vaccine in all counties of LIFTT’s service area according to the chronological calendar found on the next page of this newsletter.

Health specialists say we all should get an updated COVID-19 vaccine annually, especially those of us aging and disabled, whose immune system is compromised. By getting an immunization, we protect ourselves against the devastating effects of COVID-19 and other seasonal infections like the flu and RSV, as well as our families, neighbors, and the community. Please note that you can still be vaccinated even if you have not done it before.

Again, the COVID-19, flu, and RSV vaccines will be available in the locations listed in the schedule on the next page. Please take a moment to look at it, find your county, mark the date of the clinic, and plan to attend with all your family.

Click here to see a map and schedule of our LIFTT ADVC Vaccine Clinics (Adobe PDF)

There is no cost for the vaccines regardless of insurance status through the recently approved Bridge Access Program launched by the CDC on September 14, 2023.

The COVID-19, the flu, and RSV vaccines decrease the chances of you and your family getting sick and stop the spread of these seasonal infections. Those who are aging, disabled, and live with health conditions that make them more vulnerable to infections must seriously consider getting the vaccine because COVID-19 can become what is known as Long COVID, a deadly and debilitating disease.

In summary:

Vaccines are important health tools
Consider getting the COVID-19 vaccine every year
Consider getting the Flu and RSV vaccines every year.
LIFTT and Pham406 are making the vaccines available throughout Southeastern and South Central Montana in the coming weeks.
Please look at the calendar and map on the following pages to find the vaccine clinic closer to you.
Anyone can receive these vaccines simultaneously.
Do not get the vaccines if you are sick.
Contact LIFTT to receive free COVID-19 test kits.

We hope to see you in one of the vaccine clinics!

Board of Directors to meet September 14

The board of directors of Living Independently for Today &Tomorrow (LIFTT) will meet on Thursday, September 14, 2023, beginning at 4 p.m. The meeting will be conducted virtually using the Microsoft Teams platform. The public is invited to attend and offer comments during the public comment period.

Click here to view or download the meeting agenda and Microsoft Teams information for the September 14, 2023, LIFTT board of directors meeting. (Adobe PDF)

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for Apple or Google Play.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

Thanks to our ADA33 celebration partners!

Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow (LIFTT) would like to take the opportunity to thank all those LIFTT team members, consumers, and community partners who made the celebrations of the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act held at our offices in Billings and Glendive on July 26, such a success.

In just our second year of ADA celebrations since our pandemic hiatus, we are grateful for the increase in attendance and participation from not only officials and other disability organizations but members of the public and hope that we are well on our way to making July 26 and the celebration of the ADA and disability rights a permanent fixture of the summer calendar in our communities.

Among the individuals, businesses, and organizations we would like to give a shout-out for their involvement are: RiverStone Health, STEP Inc., the Billings Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Yellowstone County, Job Service Montana, Montana Vocational Rehabilitation & Blind Low Vision Services, The Montana Statewide Independent Living Council, the Healthy by Design Coalition, Billings TrailNet, Altana Federal Credit Union, Love Like Justice, 406 Wings, Crazy Asian’s Kitchen, The Montana Department of Justice, Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, Montana Department of Labor & Industry, State Auditor Troy Downing, State Representative Mike Yakawich (HD-51), Billings Mayor Bill Cole, Billings City Councilmember Mike Boyett (Ward 5), Kaylyn Roberts with Sen Tester’s office, Tory Kolkhorst and Charlene Redding with Sen. Daines office, Emily Schneller with Congressman Rosendale’s office, KTVQ, KULR8, the Glendive Ranger-Review, and the Billings Gazette.

We hope that everyone who attended not only enjoyed the event but also came away with a sense of just how important the Americans with Disabilities Act has been and continues to be and just how much work remains to make our workplaces, communities, and society accessible for all.

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app on Apple or Google Play.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.