On Sunday, Independent Living of the Genesee Region held its first-ever parking lot party in Batavia to bring the community together and raise money to support people with disabilities in the area.
ILGR is run by disabled people and provides a wide range of services, including a medical equipment loan closet, benefits advice and peer support. The fundraiser will fill gaps other funding doesn’t cover, including the small things that help disabled people work and live independently, says ILGR’s director, Rae Frank.
“It's a fundraiser that the net proceeds will go to our consumers, it goes directly back to consumers,” said Frank, describing the clients they serve. “So, if they come in and they need maybe some steel toed boots to go to work, we can buy that for them. Or we work with young people, [and] if they need their driver's permit, we can help pay for that fee to the DMV.”
The parking lot party included vendors, a chicken BBQ, a DJ, animals to pet, free activities for kids and an open house of ILGR’s building. To honor Batavia being a casino destination, they also created a “human slot machine” and had other games for people of all ages.
