If LIFTT’s summer could be described in one word, it would be movement.
We are moving into a new fiscal year. A new RideWell vehicle is moving toward Glendive. The Billings upLIFTT Thrift Store is preparing to reopen, and the Glendive upLIFTT Store will open on Wedensday, September 9, 2026. Our staff is moving into new training, new technology, and new ways of serving consumers. Even our Billings building is changing as the boiler modernization project moves steadily forward.
There is, quite honestly, more to report than one newsletter article can hold. In October 2026, LIFTT will publish its Annual Report for fiscal year 2025–2026, offering a fuller account of our services, accomplishments, partnerships, challenges, and community impact. For now, here are some of the stories carrying us into the months ahead.
Stronger Foundations: Seen and Unseen
Some of LIFTT’s most important work happens quietly behind the scenes.
During Summer 2026, the Board’s Executive Committee approved several policies designed to strengthen the organization and protect the people we serve. A new Waiting List Policy provides a fair and transparent contingency plan if funding or staffing ever becomes insufficient to begin services immediately for every eligible consumer. We sincerely hope it will never need to be activated, but responsible organizations prepare before a crisis arrives.
The Committee also approved a Statement of Concern supporting stable federal funding for Centers for Independent Living. The statement affirms that predictable funding allows organizations like LIFTT to retain qualified employees, build lasting community partnerships, and provide dependable services.
Two additional policies strengthened LIFTT’s internal safeguards. The Document Retention and Destruction Policy brings our legal, financial, employment, grant, Medicaid, privacy, and governance recordkeeping requirements into one clear framework. The Used Medical and Accessibility Equipment Donation Policy protects consumers from the risks associated with used equipment that has not been professionally inspected, sanitized, repaired, or fitted.
Policies may not be the most glamorous part of nonprofit life, but they form the foundation beneath every trustworthy organization. They help LIFTT act consistently, protect confidentiality, manage risk, and remain accountable to our consumers and community.
Services in Motion
LIFTT’s Personal Care Assistance Program continues to serve people who want to remain safe at home, participate in the community, and direct their own lives, while the Independent Living team continues assisting consumers, responding to information and referral requests, and preparing new wellness opportunities. An eight-session Living Well in the Community workshop begins September 9, 2026, with sessions in Roundup and Billings. Recruitment is also underway for future Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) classes.
RideWell Is Gaining Wheels
RideWell, LIFTT’s accessible rural transportation initiative, continues its journey from vision to operation. Our newest vehicle was retrieved from Helena and will receive its LIFTT identity through a new vehicle wrap before traveling to Glendive. At the same time, staff members are working through Medicaid requirements, operating costs, potential pricing, and partnerships with counties and transportation providers.
Building an accessible transportation program across rural Montana cannot happen overnight. It requires patience, careful financial stewardship, strong relationships, and plenty of miles, both literal and figurative. Every step, however, brings us closer to helping more people reach employment, healthcare, shopping, community activities, and one another.
A Fresh Chapter for upLIFTT
There is exciting news in Glendive: a new manager joined the upLIFTT Thrift Store team on August 31, 2026, and the store is preparing to open on September 9. 2026. upLIFTT is more than a place to discover an unexpected treasure. It is part of LIFTT’s effort to increase community visibility, create employment opportunities, build relationships, and pursue greater financial sustainability. We look forward to welcoming shoppers, donors, neighbors, and friends back through the doors.
Success Beyond the Dollar Sign
On August 1, 2026, LIFTT hosted Hidden Treasures & Grand Journeys, our first community event of its kind. Approximately 100 people joined us for dinner, auctions, games, conversation, and laughter. The event did not produce a true financial gain; nevertheless, its value reached beyond the balance sheet. It brought people together, introduced new community members to LIFTT, strengthened relationships, and gave us a chance to show what accessibility looks like in practice. When accessibility concerns arose at the venue, our team secured a compliant 28-foot ramp and an accessible portable restroom. That experience reminded us that inclusion is not merely something we discuss; it is something we must plan, verify, and create.
Fifty Years Strong
On August 18 and 19, 2026, the entire LIFTT team attended the 2026 Independent Living Symposium in Billings to celebrate 50 years of Independent Living in Montana.
For two days, our staff learned together about advocacy, youth transition, community living, Native American engagement, accessible transportation, employment, self-advocacy, coalition building, and the power of telling our stories. Bringing the whole team together was an investment in LIFTT’s future. We returned with new knowledge, renewed energy, and a deeper appreciation for the movement that makes our work possible.
The Road Ahead
LIFTT enters this new fiscal year with momentum and with responsibility.
We are strengthening our policies, modernizing our systems, expanding transportation possibilities, reopening upLIFTT in Billings, opening upLIFTT in Glendive, recruiting new employees, improving our facilities, and continuing to serve aging and disabled Montanans across 18 counties.
There will be challenges. There always are. But there will also be new vehicles, reopened doors, stronger partnerships, creative ideas, and people determined to turn barriers into possibilities.
That spirit is carrying LIFTT forward.
And in October 2026, we look forward to telling you even more.
Carlos A. Ramalho
Executive Director
LIFTT – Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow
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 disabilites and aging indivduals with programs, services, resources and advocacy 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, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org
Our Vision: Empowering aging individuals and people with disabilities to LIFTT themselves above the barriers of life.
Our Mission: Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow’s (LIFTT’s) mission as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Center for Independent Living serving Southeastern Montana is to empower aging individuals and people with disabilities to live independently through education, support, and opportunities.