I got a call from my supervisor yesterday, my day off. I work for a not-for-profit organization providing services for disabled adults (mostly mentally challenged). The people I work with personally are largely independent but require specific and important supports to stay safe, get transportation, plan meals, etc.
As the state of Illinois failed to produce a budget, all their support services are now ended. The average profile of my client is a 40-60 year old, unemployed or working in a job-coached environment, unable to drive, reads with some difficultly if at all, IQ 60-70. They can't really handle their bills or medications or doctors appointments without assistence. And as of today, they are on their own. After 20 years of support, it's gone overnight. And their lives are devastated.
I've written two previous diaries about this impending "doomsday" for these wonderful people, and this is one I am writing out of some despair of my own. I can't help them all. But there are a few I am going to help, as a volunteer ( I will have some time on my hands now as my own employment ends shortly).
If you are in the Chicago area and have a few hours to give me a hand with transport or know people who might be willing to do so, that would be an enormous help. Will, whom I've written about, had the fact that his cancer has returned - stage IV - 48 hours before he got word that all his support services were ending. He's 43 years old, not much "natural support" (aka friends or family). He is a fantastic man and deserves a lot better than this society has given him.
They need assistence with buying food. If anyone could donate grocery cards directly to them, it would be a huge help. I don't know how to find out what groups or organizations might be able to help with this quickly. I am buying them what I can but my own financial situation is precarious and I'm limited in that regard. I will be taking them to stores and doctors appointments whenever I can, as well as just visiting them to talk.
They routinely run out of food by the last week of the month. Will's roommate (20 years older than Will) suffers from anxiety issues and I'd like to find him some counseling support. Will desperately needs someone to talk to about his cancer - some sort of support group of people who can help him deal with his fears and work through this process. I'm scrambling here, so forgive the disjointedness of this.
So - if you have suggestions or can offer any practical assistence, please let me know. If you can't but know someone who can - please likewise contact me. I know there are those on DKos who don't like these "SOS!" types of diaries. I could take fifty more paragraphs and put this into political perspective but I am pretty sure you all know why this crap happens. The United States has chosen to ease the landing of the banking industry and pad the military contractors into great wealth, while kicking the most needy off the boat. I can't change this decision overnight; I am working as hard as I can to address the greater problems. But I have two neighbors who are at risk of homelessness and more. I need to do what I can to get life jackets to them first.
Tikkun Olam. Heal this world. Heal it one by one and on a policy basis. Come with me and try. We cannot fix it all. But we have an obligation to try to fix what we can.