Has It Been a Year Already?

I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since I joined SportsAbility Alliance as Executive Director. What a whirlwind of activity: meeting people; cheering on athletes; working on grants; planning events; working with the board and staff, volunteers, interns, coaches, and activity providers; figuring out where things are…the list goes on. Through all of that, one thing stands out very clearly—the deep passion and commitment of everyone involved with SportsAbility.

I want to thank everyone for their patience, kindness, and for making me feel so welcome!

Fall Wrap-up 
Miracle Sports Kickball: Thank you to everyone who joined us for a fantastic season of kickball! In October we went “Trick or Treating” around the bases and in November we enjoyed a lively “drum circle” presentation by Capital Battery Line, Inc. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the Seminole Showdown due to bad weather, but we look forward to hosting it again in the Spring. A big THANK YOU, to the Kiwanis Clubs for their continued support and for the snacks and drinks that keep everyone going!

Hands Helping Anglers: In September we partnered with Rotary to hold the Hands Helping Anglers event. More than 30 anglers and more than 22 captains enjoyed boating and fishing.

Scarecrows in the Gardens at Maclay State Park: This year SportsAbility participated in the Scarecrows in the Gardens event at Maclay State Park. Our entry, “Billy,” showcased how to have fun on the water with adaptive kayaking.

Ready for 2024!
As we ease into the final weeks of 2023, it’s a good time to start looking ahead to next year. It is going to be a very busy Spring! Take a look at these events:

Baseball at Miracle Field—the first pitch is scheduled for January 25.

The Big Kahuna launches on February 18 at Miracle Field.

SportsAbility 2024 is scheduled for April 19 at Tallahassee Community College (it may be Tallahassee State College by then) and April 20 at Alfred B Maclay Gardens St. Park.

We will also be holding our ALLOUT Beach, Trail, and Boating Adventures throughout the year.

Be sure to Mark Your Calendars with the event dates and visit SportsAbility.org for more information and to register.

Have a Wonderful Holiday Season!

Stay well friends!

Fran Gilbert
Executive Director, SportsAbility Alliance

It’s the time of year to recognize and support the outdoor recreation opportunities that we enjoy here in Florida!

We just celebrated the 25th anniversary of our partnership with the Nutrien Mining Company, with an outdoor luncheon in White Springs, Florida. Nutrien hosted our annual two weekend hunting experience for 20 hunters with disabilities and guests on their reclaimed lands. We had great hunts and good times visiting with old and new friends at the Morgan Farm in Hamilton County.

The Morgan farm is an old farmhouse they renovated into a very comfortable and accessible “Hunt camp” for our hunting and fishing programs that they host for us. This 25-year partnership is a great example of how corporate America can give back and really enhance the lives of people with disabilities in our communities.

Our FDOA/Nutrien partnership was inspired years ago by Gene McNeil, a now retired Nutrien employee. After meeting him at a presentation at a local Kiwanis club meeting, we developed a friendship and collaborated to create these outdoor recreation opportunities. He now returns every year for our annual events that he actually inspired and created with the Nutrien Corporation. We continue to invite new guests each year to enjoy the fruits of this vision and efforts to create and sustain such a valuable and rewarding program.

We had the Vice President of the Nutrien Corporation come to speak at the program along with the General Manager of the White Springs operation. Nutrien invited administration staff and many of the more than two hundred employees that work for the corporation. A big thank you goes out to all of the environmental crew that put so much effort into their hospitality in making this experience special and so enjoyable for all of their guests. Nutrien has made a very generous contribution to the SportsAbility Alliance to enhance accessibility and to provide adaptive equipment and other improvements to enable more fishing and hunting opportunities. We were able to purchase and provide 4 new accessible hunting blinds for our guests to use this year. We are looking forward to resuming our past fishing adventure trips in the near future as well.

Also in other exciting outdoor program news, we were invited to participate in the recent celebration, the ribbon cutting ceremony and maiden voyage of a new hybrid electric river cruise boat for the Wakulla Springs State Park. They have replaced their aging fleet with new boats and introduced the “Great Blue Heron”. It can accommodate up to 4 wheelchairs and is very accessible to all with its universal design. We assisted the Florida State Parks Foundation with some final designs of the boat and loading dock. We are fortunate to have big supporters within the Foundation, including Paula Russo, who is a wonderful disability advocate. We are proud of our 4 time Gold Metal Award winning State Parks and our long time relationship with them. We are appreciative and excited for continuing with our common goals of accessibility and inclusion in our parks for visitors to enjoy the outdoors.

We are also enjoying the ability to help people enjoy the great Florida Outdoors with our partnership with the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida, a nonprofit organization that supports the mission and work of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. We have been awarded several grants over the years to enhance lives and to provide opportunities for people with mobility impairments to participate in outdoor recreation through our ALLOUT EcoRover Adventure programs. We have been able to purchase and offer our EcoRovers to people for more access to hunting, shooting and other activities, including on our public lands. We are continuing to find ways to do this more efficiently as we are now offering the use of the all-terrain mobility devices at 6 different mobility impaired quota hunts by an online registration system. These are along with other hunts and outdoor adventures opportunities. This Foundation support has been made available through the funds raised with their Florida license plate sales of the “deer tag”.

Our success in doing what we do can be mostly credited to our relationship and collaborations with these and many other great partnerships over our wonderful and enjoyable thirty-three year existence. During this time of thanksgiving and reflection, I offer my deeply felt appreciation to these and all of our supporters. We love to help people to help others, which is the same philosophy that we share with our supporting partners.

ACTIVE LEISURE for LIFE! 

David Jones
Founder, SportsAbility Alliance

This month's blog article was written by our Fall 2023 Social Media Intern, Cameron Rolston. 

This blog post gives comprehensive information about National Disability Employment Awareness Month and spotlights some Florida businesses that assist people with disabilities learn job readiness skills, master important life skills and help them get jobs.

 Check out this interesting article for more information!