Grits ‘n’ Gas.  Recently, the North Fort Myers Kiwanis Club asked me to speak at their breakfast meeting. Customary to almost every breakfast menu south of the Ohio River is grits. At this meeting, I shared that my first taste of grits was during my first visit to Florida at the age of nine. My Mother’s joy on family vacation was to ‘eat out’ breakfast on the first morning of the trip. Literally, over the river by ferry boat and through the Kentucky woods we stopped at a family run restaurant complete with a cashier who resembled Grandma! Grits came with the meal without asking.  Immediately, I asked for syrup because it looked like ‘Cream of Wheat’ that needed help. The waitress, a Kentucky version of Lucy, looked at me like I had just got off a UFO! It was in that little family run restaurant I learned that grits are a solid food that will give you strength for the day ahead of you.

Today, everyone who reads this newsletter is impacted by the rising price of gasoline. Even if you don’t purchase gasoline, you are paying more for everything. Everybody seems to be talking about being forced to make changes that they never really thought they would have to face.

Here at the VIP Center, we are faced with declining funding due to people having to spend their money on survival. Whether the money comes from grants, contracts, or donations, the price of gas is a sign of the struggle Americans are facing daily. 

Back to grits. In order to move through the challenging time, we need grits in every respect if our mission is to be successful. This requires changes in how we do business, how we create services, how we work as an agency providing a great service.    

Evan, a graduate of the VIP Center, recently was awarded by the Fort Myers Mayor’s Alliance recognition for success. Evan had the desire to become a police officer. He completed training on the use of computers at the VIP Center. Today, he leads special investigations in apprehending hundreds of criminals - mostly by computer! 

Our teenagers just completed a month of summer camp. This was a working camp where they spent time in businesses throughout the area learning skills necessary to make the transition from home to college or work.   Their drive and desire was great.   They ended the summer camp by providing a musical drama skit! 

A group of people in Collier County continue to develop their mission to create a center in their county. We are providing the support needed to guide them in their vision. It is amazing what happens when people come together with a purpose! 

These are some of many reasons why we need your help to have the grits to continue our mission of helping the blind and visually impaired become successful members of society! I ask that you consider giving of your time, talents, and resources to our mission. If you are inspired to join in our mission, please contact me at the VIP Center of Southwest Florida.

Douglas Fowler, Executive Director

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News from the Art World

Visually Impaired Persons of Southwest Florida, Inc.

Art Interpretation of

Eva Cloyd- Visually Impaired Artist 

Although Eva once said she comes to the center to paint as an outing, the passion for painting and creating beauty has taken over. In addition to painting at the center she works at home as well. Her fertile mind is constantly coming up with ideas for future works. Her paintings have been shown locally.
 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Covered Bridge

 

 

 

 

Scammed and Almost Scammed Again!  

Have You ICE’d Your Phone? 

Have you ICE’d your cell phone? No, I’m not asking if you have cooled your phone down during these hot days of summer, but if you have added your “In Case of Emergency”, ICE, information to your cell phone. Sheriff Scott is urging everyone to take a moment and save a life.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office along with Hilton Garden Inn, Courtyard, Resident’s Inn and Spring Hill Suites and the entire first responder community are encouraging everyone to ICE Your Phone.  June’s National Safety Month and Sheriff Scott felt it was the perfect time to kick-off the ICE Your Phone campaign as an easy and quick way to save a life.

It is simple:

1.     Select an emergency contact

2.     Add them to your address book as ICE1-Mom, ICE1-Dad, ICE1-Wife, etc.

3.     Provide your emergency contact with your MAD (Medications, Allergies, and Doctors) information

You might even want to add a second ICE contact in case your first contact cannot be reached; this second contact can be named as your ICE2-Mom, ICE2-Dad, etc. 

To make this even simpler we have developed a MAD form for you to complete and give to your emergency contact this is attached to the alert. Please feel free to copy as many of these as you need and encourage your family and friends to ICE their phones. As an added safety measure you can place a copy in our wallet and in your glove box.

Unfortunately the person involved in a serious car crash or other emergency is not always able to communicate the lifesaving information needed by the first responders; by adding ICE to your phone the life you save could be your own. 

Too many times we have rolled up on a scene and have spent countless minutes searching for emergency contact information and one of the first places we look is in cell phones.  You can even place an ICE Sticker on the back of you cell phone alerting all first responders that you have prepared emergency contact information ahead of time and it can be found by looking for ICE in your cell phone.

To learn more about the ICE Your Phone program or get an ICE Sticker for your cell phone you can contact our Community Relations division at 477-1477 or email them at CommunityRelations@sheriffleefl.org.