Orange Grove Center in need of monies!

[teyla]

bzzinglikeneon's non-profit organization Orange Grove Center has need for your monies.

Quoting her journal entry:

We serve individuals with developmental disabilities (Read: mentally retarded) in pretty much every aspect you can fathom, from schooling, which is where OGC got its roots, to residential and employment services, therapies, health care, even dental (We have our own dentist on campus, it's cool.) Personally, I work in Community Supports, which centers on supporting individuals with employment services (On their own in the community, in supervised enclaves, etc), in their homes and with community involvement. I've worked for this department in various capacities since I started at OGC 4 years ago, and we serve a LOT of people -- The personal assistant program alone (Which my boss and I are responsible for) serves around 60 individuals. Employment services is probably between 200-300 at this point.

We suffered a tremendous blow earlier this year when the state of Tennessee decided to cut direct support funding by 6% in the middle of the fiscal year. We had no advance warning, no time to plan for this. The bulk of our funding comes from the state, so this has really put us in a bind -- 6% is a LOT when you're already strapped.

We're currently in the middle of a capital campaign to try and raise funds to make improvements to our department. Yeah, the point of this post is to beg for donations, but I cannot stress enough how desperate our need is right now. Our secretary has a page up for donations, here, and if you can give ANYTHING -- Even just $5! -- I would appreciate it so much. Any funds you give will go directly to my department, rather than be put in a pool to be doled out later, and will directly affect the individuals I work with on a daily basis.

Her f-list has already donated a big chunk, but we all know there can never be enough monies. PayPal is not an option at the moment, but I mentioned that to bzzinglikeneon, and it might be turned on in the next couple of days.