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RideWell: Buliding the Future of Accessible Transportation
As LIFTT's ADA Accessible Rural Transportation Program prepares to begin service in Eastern Montana, it has acquired its first accessible van: a 2025 Chrysler Voyager modified by BraunAbility and a new name: RideWell.
RideWell brings a "new era of mobility" to rural Montana
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Vaccine Clinic @ Billings LIFTT 9/30
Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT), in partnership with RiverStone Health, will hold a community vaccine clinic on Tuesday, September 30, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Billings LIFTT office (1241 Crawford Drive).
Vaccines scheduled to be available include Influenza, COVID, Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis (Tdap), Shingles, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Human papillomavirus (HPV).
Give your immune system a boost!
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Disability Power on Capitol Hill
Every so often, the disability community gathers in Washington, D.C. to remind the halls of power that independence and inclusion are not optional extras: they are rights. This September 2025, LIFTT’s own Public Relations and Government Affairs Specialist, Jed Barton, carried that message all the way from our mountains and prairies to Capitol Hill as part of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) Disability Power on the Hill event.
The purpose was clear: show lawmakers that people with disabilities are engaged, informed, and determined to shape the future.
From Montana to Marble Halls
| | | Challenge, Growth & Resilance | | |
As we look back on Fiscal Year 2025, ending on September 30, 2025, one word isn’t enough to capture the spirit of our journey. This year at Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT) has been challenging, active, and demanding... Yet through it all, LIFTT has remained steadfast in our mission: empowering people with disabilities and older adults to live independently, with dignity and choice.
More from Carlos on the year that was and the year to come
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Money Follows the Person: A New Path Home
A new Medicaid program at LIFTT, Money Follows the Person (MFP), has a simple but powerful vision: help people transition from institutional care back into community living.
How MFP works and how to get involved
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upLIFTT Thrift is taking off
Following a fantastic grand opening on September 6, word continues to spread about the upLIFTT Thrift, and shoppers and donations are pouring in to the Grand Avenue location.
Shop • Donate • Volunteer at upLIFTT Thrift
| | | Gift and Grant Grow Community Garden | | |
The San Diego Seed Company (SDSC) has donated 800 packets of their organic heirloom vegetable and herb seeds to LIFTT's ADA-accessible, all-inclusive community garden.
This season’s garden is a patchwork of resilience, creativity, and possibility. Thanks to San Diego Seed Company’s generosity, we’re planting more than seeds—we’re growing connection, independence, and the joy of working alongside neighbors of all abilities,
LIFTT Board Chair Garrett Mills on why SDSC is a perfect match for LIFTT
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LIFTT has been awarded a Community Investment Foundation (CIF) grant to help underwrite the operations of its ADA-accessible, all-inclusive community garden.
The grant administered by the Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities at the University of Montana will enable LIFTT to purchase adaptive gardening tools, including long-handled and ergonomic hand tools, one-handed implements, adaptive gripping aids, kneelers, garden seats, raised beds, and self-watering containers.
“This grant affirms what we’ve believed from the start—when you design spaces for inclusion, you create opportunities for connection, learning, and independence,” said Carlos A. Ramalho, Executive Director of LIFTT.
More about the CIF Grant
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Thank You, Marilyn!
The LIFTT team thanks Marilyn Gone for her 15 years of service to our organization and wishes her the best as she embarks on retirement!
You will be greatly missed
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LIFTT is looking for volunteers & partners
We can't do everything alone here at LIFTT!, We are looking for volunteers and partners to help create community-powered independence!
How to get involved
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VR Services are now available at LIFTT
Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT) is proud to share that we are now an official provider of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) services .
This important step expands our mission of empowering people with disabilities to live not only safely and independently at home, but also with dignity and purpose in the workplace.
Helping independence blossom
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Support LIFTT's Mission and Vision
In this era of uncertain federal, state, and foundation support, your contributions are more vital than ever.
Any amount you give will go directly to supporting LIFTT's programs and services, which promote independence and self-determination for elders and people with disabilities in our region.
Donate to LIFTT Today!
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Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT)
1241 Crawford Drive Billings, MT 59102 · (406) 259-5181
119 South Kendrick Avenue · P.O. Box 1387 Glendive, MT 59330 · (406) 948-8500
LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides aging and disabled members of the community with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south-central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone.
LIFTT is partly funded through contracts and grants from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, USAging, National Aging and Disability Transportation Center, and the Administration for Community Living, United States Department of Health and Human Services. The statements herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of DPHHS, USAging, NADTC, ACL, or HHS.
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