From Black Friday to Small Business Saturday to Cyber Monday, the holiday season ramps up with days dedicated to special deals and ways to support and gift to our family and friends. What follows these days of shopping, is Giving Tuesday—the world’s biggest day of generosity; a day that encourages people to do good and celebrate acts of giving. Giving Tuesday was founded in 2012 on one simple idea: being a global generosity movement, unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. Now an independent non-profit, “GivingTuesday” inspires hundreds of people to give, collaborate and celebrate generosity. This year, as we plan to celebrate #GivingTuesday, we wanted to take the time to highlight how a day like this can impact and make a difference in our communities.  

At CIL, our annual charity golf tournament raises unrestricted funds for our community-based programs, such as AccesSolutions – a program that provides a variety of home modifications and specialized equipment to people with disabilities. These frequently include ramps, exterior and interior lifts, grab bars, roll-in showers, widened doorways and handrails—all improvements that help people lead more independent lives through accessibility. In addition to the golf proceeds, donations from our supporters provide an essential source of unrestricted funds for the program. Last year, we were successful in raising $50,000 and have a goal of exceeding that number this year! Fran Mazzarella, Senior Real Estate Developer at CIL and administrator of the AccesSolutions program says, “without CIL’s fundraising efforts, hundreds of families over the years would not have had the independence of getting in and out of their homes without the improvements we have helped to provide.”

Watch the video below to learn about Ariella’s story—where she found independence through the seat of a bicycle—and how CIL’s AccesSolutions program was able to help The Bott family through the donation of a specialized bike.

It’s important now more than ever to show up and help our communities, and every little bit helps. 100% of monies donated go towards making stories like Ariella’s possible. Donate now!