17 years ago, a group of people in Florida began the tradition of an annual conference. The first and second were day long events held each in a different part of the state. The idea was to bring people with disabilities and their families together for an informational and uplifting experience, meeting venders, having an opportunity to speak to service providers and just being able to pick the brains of educators, legislators and professionals who had much to share.
As the years past, The Florida Family Cafe grew into this enormous 3 day event, always held in Orlando which has many conereence center hotels and is in pretty much the easiest part of the state to get to. The event itself is always free to the attendees with hotel accommodations provided at a group discounted rate, making it affordable to most of the community. It has grown now with 9-15 thousand people going through the event in the 3 days.
The conference is always on the first weekend in June. We just returned from this year's event. Most years we have a governor's summit to start off, but this year Florida was in emergency session and our legislatures were unable to attend. We did, however, see videotaped addresses and were able to have questions and answers by a panel of highly ranked administrators. We had many issues covered, from IEP's to Transitioning into the workforce. Adaptive sports (including archery), equipment, therapies, and ADA representative, Disability attorneys, lawyers and financial advisers and so much more were present. You can see this year's program for more details on what is in included.
There is time for fun as well. The children can be left in a special daycare setting while the parents attend important workshops. On Saturday there is a dance with a DJ, food and time to kick back and meet and greet new and old friends. The pool was awesome and there was time to go for a swim. The hotels are always chosen to give everyone the best possible adventure while gaining incredibly worthwhile info. It is worth attending if you are a resident of Florida and in the area and. If you are not local, it would be great to encourage some organizations or the government to begin something like this in your area. If you would like to find out more about it contact:
Florida Family Cafe
519 N. Gadsden St.
Tallahassee, FL 32301
Showing posts with label Florida. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Florida. Show all posts
Friday, June 26, 2015
Friday, October 10, 2014
Magical Places
Let me tell you about 2 magical places here in Florida. I live about 1 hour and 20 minutes from Orlando, the home of Disney, Universal, not far from Legoland and so much more. For many of our kids, these parks are merely a dream because of the difficulty and expense a trip like this would cause but there is a way for them and their families to experience the dream!.
I have been made aware of 2 awesome, magical places in Orlando that are there strictly to make sure our kids have a time they only dreamed about. The first is called Sunshine Foundation's Dream Village. Here amongst the hustle and bustle of the city is a place where our special kids and their families can come to spend a week going to theme parks and, at each day's end, they will come back to one of nine villas, designed to accommodate the entire immediately family right on the Dream Village property. These invitations are "all expenses paid" vacations and the answer to dreams of Mickey and Minnie, hot dogs and cotton candy and all things magical. The limitations are listed on the web site, Sunshine Dream Village is only available to those from somewhere in the USA. If you are interested here is the web site where you can get further information
The other place is actually in Kissemmee, Florida, a hop, skip and a jump to Disney and all the attractions in Orlando. It is called, Give Kids The World. When checking out the website, make sure to check out the story of how this awesome place began.
My husband, daughter (who has CP) and I are volunteers there. We had to go through a background check and, 2 hours of informational training. GKTW has 70 villas on premises, it accepts families from all over the world and pays all expenses, including: plane tickets, rental cars, all housing expenses one of the 70 - 6 person villas, assuring that the entire family will be able to enjoy this respite from therapies, sickness and simply have the chance to enjoy being a family together. The premises are truly magical. I can't remember it all but, there is a train that goes around the village, a pool, a pirate ship, castle, 2 restaurants, a cookie truck that goes around giving out cookies, many times there is special entertainment, a theater and so much more...and, most important, ice cream anytime you want it, even for breakfast...and a snoring tree!! Accessible buses pick the guests up and bring them to the park of their choice. In the late afternoon or evening, the guests return to GKTW from their day of fun upon their return, GKTW keeps everyone busy with special entertainment and fun things to do. There is even one designated evening which is called Parents Night Out, the volunteers provide a fun evening for the kids so that the parents can enjoy some very much needed quiet time usually GKTW provides discounts or gift cards for free dinners in Orlando.
No one can apply directly to GKTW for a visit, you must apply through and be recommended by one of the many agencies that works with GKTW, such as, Make-A-Wish or Dream Foundation. In total, applications are accepted from over 70 agencies both here and abroad. If you need to find one of the agencies, contact GKTW and they will lead you to the connection.
Please look at this information and give your child a dream to enjoy and, your family the chance to spend time together without having to be on schedule, going to doctor's appointments or brace fittings. A chance to be like every other family on a vacation together.
When I had my orientation to be a volunteer, our trainer said, "Welcome to GKTW, this is a place where you leave all your troubles outside the gate and it is your choice if you want to pick them up on the way out or remember the time you spend here and it will change your life!" That statement was meant for the volunteers and, also for the guest families.
I have been made aware of 2 awesome, magical places in Orlando that are there strictly to make sure our kids have a time they only dreamed about. The first is called Sunshine Foundation's Dream Village. Here amongst the hustle and bustle of the city is a place where our special kids and their families can come to spend a week going to theme parks and, at each day's end, they will come back to one of nine villas, designed to accommodate the entire immediately family right on the Dream Village property. These invitations are "all expenses paid" vacations and the answer to dreams of Mickey and Minnie, hot dogs and cotton candy and all things magical. The limitations are listed on the web site, Sunshine Dream Village is only available to those from somewhere in the USA. If you are interested here is the web site where you can get further information
The other place is actually in Kissemmee, Florida, a hop, skip and a jump to Disney and all the attractions in Orlando. It is called, Give Kids The World. When checking out the website, make sure to check out the story of how this awesome place began.
My husband, daughter (who has CP) and I are volunteers there. We had to go through a background check and, 2 hours of informational training. GKTW has 70 villas on premises, it accepts families from all over the world and pays all expenses, including: plane tickets, rental cars, all housing expenses one of the 70 - 6 person villas, assuring that the entire family will be able to enjoy this respite from therapies, sickness and simply have the chance to enjoy being a family together. The premises are truly magical. I can't remember it all but, there is a train that goes around the village, a pool, a pirate ship, castle, 2 restaurants, a cookie truck that goes around giving out cookies, many times there is special entertainment, a theater and so much more...and, most important, ice cream anytime you want it, even for breakfast...and a snoring tree!! Accessible buses pick the guests up and bring them to the park of their choice. In the late afternoon or evening, the guests return to GKTW from their day of fun upon their return, GKTW keeps everyone busy with special entertainment and fun things to do. There is even one designated evening which is called Parents Night Out, the volunteers provide a fun evening for the kids so that the parents can enjoy some very much needed quiet time usually GKTW provides discounts or gift cards for free dinners in Orlando.
No one can apply directly to GKTW for a visit, you must apply through and be recommended by one of the many agencies that works with GKTW, such as, Make-A-Wish or Dream Foundation. In total, applications are accepted from over 70 agencies both here and abroad. If you need to find one of the agencies, contact GKTW and they will lead you to the connection.
Please look at this information and give your child a dream to enjoy and, your family the chance to spend time together without having to be on schedule, going to doctor's appointments or brace fittings. A chance to be like every other family on a vacation together.
When I had my orientation to be a volunteer, our trainer said, "Welcome to GKTW, this is a place where you leave all your troubles outside the gate and it is your choice if you want to pick them up on the way out or remember the time you spend here and it will change your life!" That statement was meant for the volunteers and, also for the guest families.
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