Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch Blog for January 7th, 2016

Thursday, January 7, 2016, 1900 Hrs, 41 degrees, cloudy, light wind.

Good evening!

Pretty weird today! This morning I woke up with calm weather, partly cloudy and the temperature still sticking to the upper 40’s all day.

Some of the ground was almost dried up and some area have mud and standing water. After I was fully woke up, I went on the roof to check out where the leaks is at, I had to squeeze standing water off the roof so, and it’s still to damp to for a coating of roofing cement tar, so I rather wait a bit longer.

After I sweep off the standing water on the roof, I notice that front unit as slowing down the drippings.

I finally can get into our trailer to pull out 2 eBay order and get ready to ship it out. When I was halfway to the post office, Beth texted me that she want me to removed the plate from Astro van and ship it to her ASAP. I had to “About Face” back to our land. I yank 2 plates off of the van and wrapped it into brown craft paper, and labeled it along with a USPS tracking # label.

I went to the nearest Post Office on Lancaster Blvd, but the clerk refused accept it. Sounds like she was hired without any training! So I had to go to another Post Office which is 5 miles further southwest, it appears to be HQ Post Office of Lancaster. This time, that clerk is very nice and understanding what “Free Matter for the Blind” means and she accept it, scanned it for me and it’s on the way. How nice!

Anyway, this morning I checked out weather website and it said it should be light rain starting at 5 pm, but it never came, how odd! Just a few minutes ago, I check it again, no rain for a while, tonight will be in the lower 30’s and partly cloudy, tomorrow in the 50’s. The 30’s is no good but the 50’s is okay to me.

I came back safe and sound. Took care of the Astro van as I told Beth I will add 1 more gallon of gas into it.  I put 1 ½ gallons of gas in it, but gas meter won’t change, nuts! At 3:30 pm had a quick dinner and hot coffee with 1 hour break, then off to work on eBay.

Finally! I finally caught up on getting all the braille magazine into new listing in eBay! YAY!!!

Well, ok, that’s it folks!

Bobby Fleener

#GivingTuesday is Today... Please make a Donation :)

This is it...the biggest day of the year, #GivingTuesday. 

We are looking for every single one of our supporters to give on this day and watch their donations to our cause grow in real time in the Giving Tower. Please share this message. Forward this message to a friend
We are raising money for the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch. Named after our late founder, RRMR will be a place that provides much needed housing and training facilities for the deaf, blind and autistic. The funds raised will go directly to the project. Please help us move forward and continue to be able to provide our services to those who need it the most.  We do a lot of good with very few resources, but right now we need YOUR help to succeed. We currently do not have the equipment we need nor do we have the funds to buy it. We are on raw land, that means there is NOTHING there unless we put it there! We are going to be on the land in Lancaster until we find land in Orange County, while we do this we are still supporting operations serving our clients. A blind boy that needs help with his IEP to get services needed to learn in class, a Deaf man being evicted from his home, an Autistic girl in need of a service dog. These are all real people we are actively helping! Please donate and then open your contact list and CALL others to donate. We need you, please help!
To help, please Go Here https://www.crowdrise.com/helpthedeafblindandautistic/fundraiser/ocdac to give to our cause. Any donation, large or small, makes a huge difference and is so appreciated. You can also mail your donation to us. OCDAC - RMRR 2255 W Ball Rd #2430 Anaheim, CA 92814 You can also view our wish list to se if you have any items you can donate http://tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist 

Then, download the free Giving Tower app. By using the app, you'll be able to experience the Tower in an immersive 360 degree environment where you can interact with the Giving Tower in real-time and watch it get taller and taller. 

Let’s build this Tower to the moon and make sure half of the bricks on the tower are representing the Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center. 

Thanks so, so much. 

Beth Koenig
Executive Director
Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

If you have any questions at all about any of this, please email CrowdRise at GivingTower@CrowdRise.com and they'll get back to you.

The Giving Tower | Help

Dear Supporter, 

We want to let you know that we're a part of the CrowdRise Giving Tower​ on #GivingTuesday this year. The CrowdRise Giving Tower is a virtual tower made up of bricks, each of which represents a donation made to charity on #GivingTuesday, the biggest charitable giving day of the year. 

There's going to be a really cool app that you can download to view the tower plus, it's going to get lots of press and exposure so we're super excited to be a part of it and raise lots and lots of money for our cause. 

And, if we raise the most on #GivingTuesday, December 1st, we'll get a $25,000 donation to our cause. 

We are asking our loyal supporters to help by joining our team and become fundraisers. By reaching out to your friends and family to raise awareness and money for our cause, imagine the impact we can have. 

And, it takes less than five minutes to set up a fundraiser. All you have to do is Go Here https://www.crowdrise.com/helpthedeafblindandautistic/fundraiser/ocdac and click 'Fundraise for This Campaign.' 

If for some reason you can’t set up a fundraiser, we’ll be reaching out when the Challenge starts to ask for your support in donations. This will make a huge impact in our chances to win the $25,000 Giving Tower prize so the more money you are able to give, the better. 

Thank you so much and please help by setting up a fundraiser. 

Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

Please email CrowdRise, the hosts of the Giving Tower, at GivingTower@CrowdRise.com if you have any questions at all and they'll help solve everything.

October/November 2015 Newsletter

Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center October/November 2015 Newsletter

Howdy folks and friends!

As we know we are running OUT of time and I need to focus on this today and for the rest of the remaining time I have left here in Orange County. We (Beth and I) know that our agreement (per the court’s order) for me to stay in the French St condo #8 will expire on December 31. Just over few weeks ago I received a letter from the court that I must vacate on or before December 31st, yes, it means I need to leave on or before December 30th. I will be leaving this condo UNANNOUNCED between December 10th to December 29th by going straight to the land non-stop and I will notify the attorney VIA email AFTER I am completely moved out!

A few weeks ago, Beth told me that we got a small land near Edward Air Force Base and she mentioned its “2 acres”, I nagged for at least 3 acres in forest-y area. Yes, it is desert land and no, the noise from Air Force don’t bother me as I grew up with it. And, Again, no, I haven't seen or visited that land so I don’t know how much work I will be doing (Beth will need to go over and take some photos and videos for me to see it by November 6th) AND, yes, for this desert land, I will accept it, until we find another temporary / permanent forest land. I will be living there and clean it up. Yes, some of you are right, desert land is a bit dangerous for me because of rattlers that I cannot hear. If I get bitten and dies by rattlers, it’s not my problem and I know who ~ Beth!! During my stay at the desert land, I will continue posting ads on CL (CraigsList) until we get the right land as my heart tells me and sounds I heard from the late Richard from heaven would want.

Beth also told me that she will get me a German Shepherd and train “her” to protect our land and me as a “watch dog”. I prefer a female! (If you have a German Shepard to consider donating please contact Beth or me.)

We are not going to use electric power pole on the land, all will be made and powered by generators and solar systems. Next week I will get solar powered cell phone charger.

Another sad news is that Beth found a camper and she drove over 2 hours worth and finds out that the tag is way dead and no deed on hands and the lousy towing company won’t tow it to Orange County. So we had to drop this and move on to the next one. CLUMSY TOW TRUCK DRIVER!

For the past 4 weeks, I have been having nervous breakdowns and lots of stress and not much sleep. I couldn’t do any work too well for the past 2 months. I do take a sleep aid but it’s not much help. As soon as I get settled on the land, I will get much better rest.

I am still pushing to the limit to get the camper/RV. I find foremost lots of ads in Craigslist that are scams/spams and have had to flag them all. That’s a big “WOW”!

I also have been posting ads about getting a camper/RV all over in Craigslist in the Southern California area, most of my posts have been flagged out and I had to repost it over and over. Shame on them (God DOES watch “them”!). I am not going to stop until we get one as we need it. WE really want the camper/RV by end of 3rd week of November, so I can do some repairs (if needed), cleaning, planning and loading up some of the stuff and be ready by December 10th. I will continue posting to ask or seeking small (5 to 10 acres) of “forest” land weekly statewide in CL’s as temporarily land. We need to get camper/RV by Thanksgiving day, this is the deadline..

As soon as I move to this land, set the camper down safely, I am going to built 2 of 40’ wide X 40’ long X 8’ high plus roof-up lines storage sheds (1 for eBay and another for OCDAC / personal storage), so I am going to built one at a time, so I must build 1 as fast as possible so we can move OCDAC/eBay related into the storage and keep our eBay store running and save us some money over storage space rent. Each month each storage’s rent is $300.

When I built the storage shed, it will be temporary which it means I am not going to use glue and nails, but all screws. (That way when we move again, so I can take it apart without damaging it by unscrewing it and save the rest and re-use it on the new land!)

We need to ask you to spread the word to your family and friends that lots of materials I need for the land for donation or cash to cover the cost of the materials. Gift cards from hardware stores such as Home Depot, etc., would be VERY helpful (I prefer Home Depot)! If you have any question about lumber materials that you would donated to us, please contact directly to me, not Beth, because I already have the plans and lists.

WE ONLY HAVE LESS THAN 1 MONTH ON THIS (By December 1st):

We have made the wishlist from Amazon that would be useful for our land:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/25I13RKSDSEQF/ref=cm_sw_em_r_wsg_BvVhwb1SEWEX8_wb

I will, at a later time, create more wishlists of the materials that I REALLY need at the time I moving to the land! Needing lots of wood/lumber materials!

Here’s the urgents list we need it ASAP:

Gas cash for traveling me and camper/RV from OC to the “desert” land

Cash or donation of large truck rental, plus gas cost (for moving our OCDAC/eBay after 1st storage built in 1 TRIP!! (2nd trip will be later on in Spring or Summer 2016 for other “Not in Use” OCDAC/Personal related stuff in the 2nd storage shed)

Peel and stick for the mailbox address # and letters and “OCDAC” & “Fleener” letters

A truck load full of firewood (ONLY IF THIS LAND IS NOT FOREST) (pine or fir) (we might be able to get this on Craigslist but would need a pickup truck to transport it.)

2 to 4 days worth of backhoe rental (to level off grading for the storage sheds) (IF needed)

Used 55 gallon drum barrel without lid and sparks/embers arrester lid (for trash burnings)

Washer/Dryer (Best to use RV type washer/dryer combine - it’s wash and dry in 1 machine!)

Small storage shed for washer/dryer (3’X3’ with door & lock)(We have our own few padlocks)

If any wood is leftover after the 2 storages are built, I will save the wood for “extra shelves”, but still will ask for Metal Shelves as Beth bought 2 before. I need to wait and see, books will be on shelves instead of the “milk crates”, that bobble when I move them (laughs)!

You are always welcome to donate the following listed shown above and in Amazon. However, you can hold it for us until we are heading to the land or you can come and deliver it to us (at your own volunteering of time and fuel).

During this time at the land, I will be posting some newswires, YouTube, eBay announcements, etc.

Here’s my eBay report as of end of 3rd quarters (October 3rd - Week #39):


Total of # of sold: 301


Total amount sold: $6,415 (estimated)


Total Shipping paid by buyers: $365 (estimated)


Total Shipping spent: lt;580> (estimated)


Total in pocket: $6,200 (estimated)





Now as you see we spent more on shipping costs than what we collected from the buyers, I need to do something about that starting NOW! We need at least $1.00 to cover shipping material costs per item sold.

I only have 1 roll of shipping tape left and we are complently out of “bubbles wrap” this morning and will needing to ask one of you to donate a dozens rolls of bubbles wrap (http://www.staples.com/Staples-5-16-Bubble-Roll-12-x100-/product_813210) and 2 dozens of clear shipping tapes (http://www.staples.com/Staples-Moving-and-Storage-Packing-Tape-1-88-x-54-6-yds-Clear-6-Pack-ST-A3-6-/product_815044). Staples stores ONLY! I need this before we move to the land.

I need 1 roll of bubble wrap and shipping tape AS FAST AS POSSIBLE!

Yes, our sales have been dropping a bit since setting all items as free shipping! I have been fixing that and continue fixing some of the errors. I also have increased all books prices to cover the shipping cost and use free shipping. Some of the items cannot be free shipping because of low price and it’s not worth increasing the price. Such as holiday cards.

Here’s the new way, for sample; ASL placemat was $6.99 plus shipping, now it is $9.99 free shipping, which the shipping cost us little bit over $3. I now make this, once this placemat sold, I will marks as $5.49 as “sold” and $4.50 as “Shipping paid”. That will cover the shipping cost BIG losses. All items like this will start as 4th quarter 2015. As for now, nothing under $2.99 at eBay store (even on Best Offer price requests).

As soon as I am moved to the land and when the storages are built, I will finish off the books and re-inventory again. I will keep myself more busy to focus on eBay!

What WE need is more donated items! Really! I would love to see millions of DVD’s donated to us! REALLY! You can go and visit your local swap meet and find some that are good for us to use in eBay.

I have seen so many items at Dollar Tree and 99cents Stores got some good stuff that we can use in eBay! I bought 2 new books from 99cents Store and added in eBay and to see what will happen. Last week, I went to Huntington Beach on a small intersection where I got off the bus and saw 4 books sitting on the bus bench. I just left it alone and came back 3 hours later, these 4 books still there and I took it with me and posted in eBay! Nice, eh? Let’s see what happen! I am sure some of you can spend a weekend or so checking out Garage/Yard sales and see if you can find something good to donate it to us, that would help us a lot!

Brailler sales came pretty well for us! Just sold the last Brailler and I would love to see more Brailler donated to us soon! Still waiting for walking folding cane I have been asking that and Beth mention that she will get some for eBay, it’s been months now and haven’t gotten any. Folding cane for the blind we have real good sales, from $19.99 to $24.99, free shipping. From now on, it will be $24.99 to $29.99.

Our Wireless Doorbell for Hearing Impairment is only 1 matching codes left and Large Print Standard Size Playing Card is 1 unopened and 2 opened left! WOW!

Last early spring, I have closed down my web hosting business due to lack of funds and sales since Richard died. Yes before he died, he helped me to raise it. After I moved to the land, I must find a way to raise funds for myself. Any ideas? Anyone?

Just to let all of you know that the ASL classes will be on videos as Beth mentioned. Still waiting to hear about that part. It’s may going to be $225 each. Since OCDAC has funding issues, I did not charge or collected my commissions for each new student since January 2015, I just trying to help OCDAC with what it needs.

Also, the mailing address will be the same as our Ball Road address, any eBay related will be using our land address. WE ARE NOT going to use P.O. Box there and I won’t allowed that! We NEED to cut back the costs for a while. My Text # will be the same while at the land as well as VP#. My original relay # has closed off due to FCC rule changes last year and yes, Sharky, was very upset about it.

I also will leave the white printer here to Beth for her use in Youth Expo and Fair, if only new printer I put it in Wishlist on Amazon were donated, yes, the drums on that white printer are in bad shape, not easy to find a new drums. What I really need another laptop, wireless B/W printer (with extras toners) so I can use all at once instead of 3 laptops at the sametime! I would like 15” or 17” laptop with numeric keys pads with at least 500GB HD (as you can see on the Amazon wishlist), high speed memory with DSL ready hookups, 6 USB ports, SD card ready, wireless mouse. Yes, still have to have VP Cam on it and want it “Hangouts” ready along with Microsoft Office ready. Windows 8 or 10, but I don’t want “touch the screen” that leaves my oily fingertips on it making me smirks feelings to clean it every 5 seconds!

Come and see latest Beth's YouTube video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhUdR9HJlQk

Well, I think that’s about it. Next my newsletter will be sometime after I moved to the “desert” land, possibility in January 2016! Keep your eyes open!

If you have any question or want to help, please do feel free contact me directly or call Beth at 714 699-3323.

Have a great holiday of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year to all of you! If you send me my birthday wishes, then I want to thank all of you!

Bobby Fleener
Vice President - OCDAC operational / board officer
Manager - eBay Store

General Manager - RRMR/Ranch project

Thanks!
Bobby Fleener
Vice President/Manager
Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center
(714) 584-4394 (TEXT ONLY)

Important Updates

The Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center Update September 14th, 2015

Wow, there is a lot going on. Let’s bring everyone up to speed…

In April we lost the lease at French Street and had to move to a storage facility in Anaheim while working the Pet Expo in Costa Mesa at the same time (huge credit to Bobby for the long hours he pulled making sure things got done!). We are currently meeting clients and volunteers in the community while we search for land and a trailer to start work on the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch (RRMR) Facility. We need to have a plot of land by November even if it is small and only used temporarily until the actual site is found. The reason we need a plot of land is that we are going to be accepting donations of equipment and supplies and we need space to put these things. Paying for storage is too expensive to store things like lumber that will be used for building the buildings on the RRMR facility site. So until we get the land we can’t accept any lumber or other bulky items. One item we can accept is a trailer or RV in fair condition for us to work on to make into a type of mobile office, this we need right away. Yes, I have a place to park it! If you have or know of anyone who has an old camper trailer or RV please let them know we need one donated to us and that they will receive a receipt for their taxes.

In April we also did Youth Expo, and then in June we did the Tustin Chili Cook-off. In July and August we did the Orange County Fair for the 16th year in a row! And we got a blue ribbon again this year!

So what is planned going forward....

We have the Bowl-a-thon on Nov 7th at 5pm at Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley. Everyone is invited to join us!

We are bringing back the Meetups and need ideas of where to hold them. We have also started a meetup on blindness and low vision.

We are still collecting Labels for Education and I have posted a video. (Remember to subscribe to our Youtube channel)

We are collecting ink and toner, if you are a business you can sign up for your own account and get free materials to send in the ink and toner cartridges. If you are interested in collecting for the cartridges as a volunteer project let us know!

We need your old phones and tablets!!! Please send in any phone or tablet working or not! We refurbish them to be accessible communication devices for deaf, blind or autistic clients in need. You can either mail them to us or contact us and we will pick them up from you if you are in the Orange County area.

There is a lot more going on, we have been posting news about deafness, blindness and autism on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow us on those platforms.

Calling all volunteers who can work from home on their own computers and phones. We use google hangouts and google drive. If you are interested in helping please let us know. A lot of things that need to be done are very simple but they take time and you can make a real difference with your time.

You can always reply to this email with any questions or suggestions.

Thank you,

Beth Koenig

Executive Director

Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

2255 W. Ball Rd #2430

Anaheim, CA 92814

714-699-3323

admin@deafadvocacy.org

www.deafadvocacy.org

Moving, Expos and Fundraisers

inShare

Click to view this email in a browser

April 25th, 2015
Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center Health, Safety, and Produtivity Hi {FIRST_NAME|Valued Supporter} It’s been awhile since the last newsletter and I thought I might briefly update everyone about what has been going on. First the bad news, we lost our lease on French Street and have been in the process of moving. We have setup the eBay store in a storage unit (it was formally housed in one of the garages at French Street). This has caused a huge unexpected expense and we are in need of funds to make up for it. We are holding a restaurant.com fundraiser to help raise the funds we need. (See the letter below).  We are also searching for someone to donate an RV or Camper trailer that we will use as a kind of portable office and temporary living space for when we go to conferences and other events out of the area. While all this has been going on we had a very successful booth at the Pet Expo and are currently operating another booth at Imaginology (Youth Expo). We also have another booth coming up at the OC Animal Care’s annual event but that is just a one day event where as the last two have been 3 day events! We use a lot of paper and toner making copies and it costs money too. We could really use some donations to offset the costs of printing. We are going through a tough time and it’s more important than ever that we band together to raise awareness and funds for the sensory impaired community. Remember we serve people who are deaf, blind, or autistic! That is a very big population. Please look through the letters below and share them with people that you think might be able to help. I am including a link to each of the letters on google docs if you want a printable copy. You can also donate through the website. And please reply to this message if you want to volunteer. Thank you for your support, Beth Koenig Executive Director PS. I am a volunteer just like everyone else that “works” at OCDAC. We greatly appreciate any and all support you can give us to help us carry on our mission. Dear friends, I'm running a fundraising campaign called eBay Store Storage for the Sensory Disabled and I need your help to raise $500 by May 23 2015. When you buy a Restaurant.com $50 eGift Card for $25, Restaurant.com gives $12.50 to my campaign! Restaurant.com offers more than 50,000 dining deals at thousands of restaurants nationwide. When you're ready, visit my campaign page and click "Support Now":https://fundraiser.restaurant.com/f/56517 Thanks for your support! Beth Koenig Dear RV / Camper owner, We are in need of an RV or camper in good condition to help further our mission. The Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center is an all volunteer 501(c)3 non-profit social service organization by and for people with sensory impairments (including the deaf, blind, and autistic). We help with housing, employment, independent living and much more. We provide services for disabled individuals and their families in our community who need help in navigating the social services maze. Every day people go without proper food, shelter, and essential medical care due to a variety of factors including low wages, job loss, injuries, illness, age, domestic violence, or divorce. While all of us are susceptible to hard times, disabled individuals are at the most risk. With the generous support of people like you, we are able to help many of these families and individuals not only to meet essential daily needs, but also to work toward a brighter future with programs in job training, education, counseling, elderly assistance, and temporary housing. We need an RV or camper so that we can travel to the many conferences and expos that are in other areas. Hotels are very expensive and even the cheaper ones are many times too much in addition to food and gas. If we had an RV or camper we would be able to avoid the hotel fees and stay at campgrounds for a fraction of the price. We would like something that can sleep at least 4 adults in separate beds and has it’s own toilet. The RV or camper needs to be in roadworthy condition but minor repairs inside and out that are needed would be fine. Please consider making a donation. Thank you for your time and help, Beth Koenig Executive Director (714) 699-3323 admin@deafadvocacy.org https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ePC077_usHorcO90Na_i3cIql3zbjv3qQ4jvrvlAEE/edit?usp=sharing   The Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch (RRMR), a subdivision of Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center (OCDAC), A 501 (c) (3) Non-profit public agency. A self-sustaining residential and training program for those with auditory and visual sensory disabilities run and managed by the Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center. Named after our late founder Richard P. Roehm, the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch (RRMR) will provide the next level of services necessary in the sensory impaired community (including those with auditory and visual impairments, as well as sensory processing disorder often found in those with autism). Too often, people with sensory disabilities are turned away from programs that might help them; or worse, there are no programs that can meet their needs. There is a true need for programs and services aimed at the sensory impaired population in the west coast, called "Independent Living" training programs. The programs include cooking, housekeeping, garden growing, handyman, feeding and caring of livestock, arts & crafts and training in many more skills. This project involves a $5 million capital campaign to purchase a ranch and/or farm land in the peaceful mountainside, and to provide temporary/long term housing (also known as Group Homes) and extensive rehabilitation training for clients in a therapeutic environment. If you wish to contribute to the Memorial Fund, please let me know. Your help is greatly appreciated! We currently have 3 group homes: 2 in Santa Ana (at the same address, #4 & #8 right-across-each-other) and 1 in Garden Grove with the total of 8 residents. We are running out of room/spaces, also 1 of the locations is being sold by the owner (the late Richard Roehm's mother). Therefore, we are searching for a good and safe ranch ASAP. We need the ranch set up, and MUST move in by the end of 2015. Some of our residents want to go to the ranch and some want to stay at the current group homes (We are going to support both programs). We currently have a few people with disabilities in California on our waiting list. Our residents will undergo or have completed medical examinations with a doctor/doctors, evaluations, and criminal background checks. Here is our "Planning": Our future ranch shall be made of up to 30 residents, including me and staff members. It needs to be zoned as Disabled Residents with a minimum amount of livestock. What we are looking for is a large ranch/farm land with a minimum of 25 acres, but not more than 100 acres. Between 40% - 60% of acres are treed/wooded and the remaining acres are for pastures, barn, and storage with the minimum of 3 acres of pretty much "Flat-Land" for homes. We can have someone for grading some of the area if needed. Also the land needs to allow us to have livestock, such as horses, small cattle, chickens, goats, etc. Property lines should be fenced, but they are not necessary. Our future ranch shall not be more than one driving hour to the town/city for shopping to places, such as Wal-Mart, the mall, McDonalds, to the hospital/doctors, and entertainment, etc. Electric power lines should be ready or nearby. A water line would be good, but a large well would be fine, too. A sewer shall be installed. If there isn’t a power-line ready or nearby, then we will need both solar systems and a diesel fueled generator (That way when batteries go low overnight or due to poor weather, the generator should kick on). We really need to have cable/phone lines for our internet, TV, phone and fax usage. We will have a "Campfire" pit, with spark arresters, if needed. We will also have classrooms, a barn, Koi pond, aquaponics setup, and various other features that help to enrich our clients’ lives. The land should not have "Too" steep of up/down slopes. A hill would be great and we would love to have a pond and stream/small river, if possible, for fishing and enjoyment. It should have a low or no population of rattlers in the area. Our Homes: The "Main House" will be a 2 level house with a large kitchen/dining room, a "TV" room along with an office and meeting room (lower level), my "living quarters" on the upper level with special needs housing for up to 8 clients and rooms for two overnight staff, and it will have a fireplace in the "TV" room. Also, there will be small cabin "Studios" (Tiny Homes) with a bathroom and small kitchen for each long term resident to have their own little house to care for to encourage the most independence possible. Each cabin will be less than 600 sq ft. Staff /visitors will have a 1 or 2 bedroom cabin with a kitchen and bathroom and those cabins will be no larger than 700 sq ft. Our staff members will have cell phones and emergency alert pager and will need to have good signal range. I, Bobby Fleener, have tons of experience in living/camping in the mountains/mountainside in Colorado; I previously leased a 250 acre farm in Texas, have lots of handyman experience on my hands, and am holding an AA's degree. Please contact me directly if you have any questions or ideas. Thank you! Bobby Fleener Vice President / Manager, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center General Manager, the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch (Future) rrmr@deafadvocacy.org https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZbICPrZN6jfwHSRaIjnUqBif8UcxwKNkFlIHOF84A50/edit?usp=sharing

The Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch

A self sustainable residential and training center for those with auditory and visual sensory disabilities run by the Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center.

Named after our late founder Richard P. Roehm, the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch will provide the next level of services neccessary in the sensory impaired community (including those with auditory and visual impairments, as well as sensory processing disorder often found in thise with autism).

Too often, people with sensory disabilities are turned away from programs that might help them, or worse, there are no programs that can meet their needs. There is a true need for programs and services aimed at the sensory impaired population.

This project involves a $5 million capital campaign, to purchase a ranch and / or farm land in Orange County, to provide temporary / long term housing and extensive rehabilitation training to clients in a therapeutic environment.

If you are interested in learning more about the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch or contributing to the Memorial Fund, please contact us!

Thank you,
Beth Koenig
Executive Director
Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center
(714) 699-3323 (voice / text)
admin@deafadvocacy.org
www.deafadvocacy.org

Last week of OC Fair!

The last week of the OC Fair kicks off tomorrow! Wow, this has been an amazing time for the Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center! We have been having a blast at the fair and have made well over 600 of our customized sign language booklets! We have met so many people and seen a huge interest in our sign language classes and volunteering. Our incredible volunteers have really stepped up and thanks to our procedures I have only had two asthma attacks and only one of them needed treatment! I should add that I have been at the booth almost every day. It is truly incredible how far OCDAC has come since February. I can't thank our volunteers and supporters enough, they have been so wonderful. We can and will keep this up and bring OCDAC into a new era of providing more services to the sensory impaired communities. That's right, we have rewritten our mission statement and our new brochure now states that we serve people with auditory, visual, and sensory processing impairments. Our services remain the same high quality, but we now make it clear who we are equipped to help. We have been serving the blind population since 2002! And the autistic population since 2003!

I will try to get the fair photos and videos posted as soon as I can! In the mean time please come visit our booth during the last week of the Fair! Hope to see you there :)

Beth Koenig
Executive Director
Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

Room for Rent

Room for Rent

Near Downtown Santa Ana in French Historic Area

Large room with walk in closet

Share Bathroom/Kitchen with 2 blind/deaf-blind men

Onsite laundry

Secured complex, friendly neighbors of 18 unit Condo

$400 per month – 1 person or $600 per month for couple plus security deposit

On street parking only (No parking on Tuesday 11:30 am – 3:30 pm for street sweeping)

Contact Bobby at bobby.fleener@deafadvocacy.org for more information or set appointment for viewing the room.