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As I sit down to write this end of year letter in our brand new, fully-accessible community center, I am filled with overwhelming gratitude. Thank you for getting behind our vision of providing a truly accessible Independent Living Center in the heart of San Francisco. This was a year of great highs and great lows. Everyday folks lost some important battles like Prop G that would've curbed evictions. ILRCSF made a triumphant move. The world lost a brilliant disabled advocate, Nick Feldman. One of the jewels of our new space is The Nick Feldman Device Lending Library (NFDLL), named in honor of our late friend, independent living advocate, and lover of technology. Nick was a role model to people with disabilities interested in making the most of the technological advancements happening around them every day. It seemed fitting that a program aimed at providing people with disabilities with assistive technology designed to make working, studying, and having fun in the world accessible should be named after a man who so enjoyed life and lived it to the fullest. The NFDLL never could have come to fruition without the generosity of our supporters - both long-time friends and our newer donors.
The NFDLL has been one of ILRCSF's biggest successes in recent years. It has improved the lives of many in the Bay Area, including a veteran of the Gulf War, who I'll call "Kyle." When Kyle came to us, though he was proud of having served in the armed forces, he expressed that he wanted to make his future as a working artist. Kyle is a writer, a graphic artist, and a photographic essayist. While his status as a veteran provided him with access to the V.A. Hospital Computer Lab, it was far from his community and was closed to other local artists with whom he was interested in collaborating. Worst of all, Kyle wondered if limiting himself to working at the V.A. meant that he would always be identified as a disabled veteran first, and an artist as an afterthought.
Kyle came through our doors with an old laptop that was on its last leg. He had been living in fear of it finally breaking down for good. ILRCSF's Assistive Technology Educator showed him the assortment of laptops available for loan from ILRCSF's Nick Feldman Device Lending Library (NFDLL). This gave him the opportunity to try several different kinds and to experiment with different software packages while he saved up to buy one of his own. Kyle eventually did buy a laptop, and he was able to make an informed decision about exactly what he needed. When we last met with Kyle, he was planning on applying for an arts grant for a community project and using graphics software to plot out a large-scale mural to submit as part of his proposal. It is thanks to you that ILRCSF was able to provide Kyle with the support and technical assistance he needed in order to take the first steps towards immersing himself in world of community-based arts. This is just one of the ways our new community center is changing the face of San Francisco for the better.
Please know how deeply I mean it when I say this: we would not be where we are today without YOU! I am grateful for the ways that so many of you offered us your support, even when it looked like we might not be able to make a dream this big, our move, come to fruition. And yet we did. Let this knowledge lead us into the New Year with warm hearts and even an even broader vision.
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