Pre-Conference: Monday, March 19: 1-4:30 pm
Tour of The Iris Network and Goodwill's NeuroRehabilitation Serivces
We hope you will be able to join us for a pre-conference tour of The Iris Network and Goodwill's NueroRehabilitation Services on Monday, March 19th from 1:00 - 4:30 p.m. Tour participants will meet in the hotel lobby at 12:45 p.m. to board the bus. Lunch will not be provided. The fee for this tour is $25.
The Iris Network is a non-profit community based organization that helps people who are visually impaired or blind attain independence and community integration. Our experts will show clients new ways to do daily tasks without depending on sight. They can introduce them to a variety of magnifiers and devices that will make their life easier. The Iris Network supports clients in maintaining their independence safely at home, work, school, while traveling, and in their community.
Goodwill NeuroRehabilitation Services offer comprehensive brain injury services and treatment options for individuals with acquired brain injuries. Their services help individuals increase their independence within their home and community environments. Goodwill’s professional team offers case management, nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, neuropsychology, speech language pathology, therapeutic recreation and other services to assist individuals in the redevelopment of physical mobility, memory, self-care, communication and other skills required for daily living.
Post-Conference: Thursday, March 22: 7:30 am -5 pm
#1 Western Maine: Pietree Orchard (AgrAbility client), Maine Balsam Fir, A Wrinkle in Thyme, and Clay Hill Farm (AgrAbility client): Participants will visit an AgrAbility client family owned orchard, with a 75 -acre sugarbush for maple sugaring, and a farm store featuring a wood-fired brick pizza oven; a balsam fir pillow manufacturing business along with an eclectic assortment of other Maine made things; witness syrup making where the sap is collected by horse; a new solar heated 21st century Tesselact building; and an AgrAblity client's small scale angus beef farm in the western hills of Maine.
#2 Portland Area: Morrison Center, Dole's Orchard, Allagash Brewery (Half Day): Participants will tour a greenhouse where they grow houseplants, orchids, seedlings, and poinsettias and it is also a day program for people with disabilities; a family owned and operated orchard specializing in a variety of PYO fruit, and a retail and wholesale wood shop focusing on gift boxes and totes; and a micro-brewery that uses local cherries (grown at the orchard you will visit) to brew a seasonal Ale. This tour has a half day tour that will drop participants back at the hotel around 1:30 pm.
#3 Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment, Mook Sea Farms, and Free Range Fish & Lobster: Participants will tour an educational dairy farm on the Ocean with a “mobile milker”-a hydraulic lift to raise cows for milking and access; an oyster farm that produces 80 to 100 million juvenile oysters (seed) annually for sale to other oyster growers throughout the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast; and a visit to a fish processing and distribution center at the of Portland's working waterfront.
#4 Veterans Farm tour: Applegate Deer Farm, Riverside Lavender Farm, Sebago Lake Ranch, North Star Sheep Farm: These farms are owned and operated by Veterans. Participants will tour a red deer farm where the equipment is run on bio-diesel and the home and outbuildings are heated with waste vegetable oil; a farm growing organic herbs, vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts, perennials, and lavender; an all-natural, grass fed beef ranch: and A sheep farm where more than 2,000 sheep roam the pastureland, grazing on certified organic grass.
