Supporting Empowering Lives Foundation (SELF) is holding a bingo fundraiser at the Millersville VFW Post 7294 on Sunday, June 28, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The post, located at 219 Walnut Hill Road, Millersville, will host the newly formed nonprofit's first fundraising event.

SELF, formed last summer as the offshoot of another, now-defunct disabilities group, aims to help anyone with a disability live an independent life. According to the group's website, its mission is "to serve clients with disabilities by identifying and addressing the gaps in support, resources and advocacy - picking the pieces so no one falls through the gaps."

The event will consist of 10 normal bingo games, with the winner getting to pick a gift card prize. There will then be special games of bingo and a Chinese auction for some of the larger prizes, as well as a 50-50 drawing.

The prizes, all of which have been donated by local businesses and community members, include tickets to Hershey Gardens, the Reading Royals, Reading Fightin Phils, Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Sight & Sound and more.

There will also be a food truck at the event, and desserts will be for sale.

"We are very excited," said Jacki Nagle, the group's chief executive officer. "We are very fortunate to have a community behind us ... we have the entire community coming together to support us."

Nagle explained that while children with disabilities are in school, they are entitled to services through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. But as soon as they graduate from high school, many families lose access to needed resources, depending on income.

That's where SELF steps in.

"Services are changing, and we need to make sure that people with disabilities don't fall through the cracks," Nagle said. "They still need to receive the support and services that they're eligible (for) and entitled to as humans.

"Disability is kind of a secondary thing to us," she went on. "We just want to make sure that people with disabilities specifically are seen as integral parts of society."

The group, physically located at 313 Liberty St., Suite 365, Lancaster, primarily serves those in Lancaster and Lebanon counties but will not turn down anybody who asks for help.

For the moment, SELF is offering services on a purely volunteer basis, although its staff has combined decades of experience. Its fundraiser at the Millersville VFW is the first step toward offering more services.

"We are very dedicated to doing this work," said Deborah Chapman-Stumpf, SELF's director of programming. "I personally have been devastated that we're not able to do it as well as we can because we don't have the money to really put into it yet."

"I hope this is going to launch us into what we really need," she said.

For more information about SELF, visit http://www.selfincpa.org or call 717-478-1540.