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State to celebrate TIFF's Initiative

Florida Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and state Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, will join others Oct. 2 in Bradenton to celebrate the second anniversary of the Emergency Contact Information Program and TIFF’s Initiative.

The event will take place at 11 a.m. at the Student Union, Building 14, at Manatee Community College, 5840 26th St. W., Bradenton.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles implemented the ECIP in partnership with Galvano and Palma Sola resident Christine Olson.

Olson, who works at the Rod & Reel Pier in Anna Maria, lost her daughter Tiffiany in a motor vehicle accident Dec. 7, 2005. Tiffiany’s boyfriend, Dustin Wilder, also died from injuries sustained in the accident.

Olson did not learn about her daughter’s death until hours after the accident and decided to campaign for an emergency-notification system in the state. She called the campaign TIFF’s Initiative in memory of her daughter.

Now more than a million people have registered emergency notification numbers with the state that are accessible to law enforcement through the driver’s license.

During the program at MCC, the DHSMV’s Florida Licensing on Wheels mobile registration van will be on-site and staff will assist in registering emergency numbers for attendees.

Olson will kick-off the event at 11 a.m.

Electra Theodorides-Bustle, DHSMV executive director; Sandra Lambert, DHSMV drivers license director and Bradenton Mayor Wayne Poston also will attend.

The public is welcome.

For information, call Galvano’s office at 941-708-4968.