It’s always a fight to get funding for the good work we do and, the truth is, it seems like we’re always losing. Our last increase to help with Direct Care Wages was in 2007. We had a small increase in 2011, but tons more was cut when they eliminated Workshop funding. Back in 2007 SU was able to pay direct care staff $2.00/hour more than minimum wage. Now that is not so. It makes us sad to lose people who really love working here but can’t afford to. Costs keep going up for everything–our health insurance increase by 27% this year alone, and it has been increasing since 2007. We’ve worked hard to keep up our mission–lots and lots of community support and grants have helped. But, state budget crisis or no, we need some help from our main funder, and we need it now.
