July Employee Of The Month

Human Support Service named Lynn Lance Employee Of The Month for July. Lynn, from Red Bud has been with Human Support Services for seven years. Lynn is a Production Trainer, helping clients develop their employment skills. She was recognized for donating T-shirts for cliens to wear in a local parade. Lynn recieved a gift certificate, time off with pay, and a lunch certificate donated by Frederico's Restaurant of Waterloo.

June Employee Of The Month

Human Support Services named Opal Lane Employee Of The Month for June. Opal, from Waterloo has been with Human Support Services six years. Opal is a Secretary/Receptionist. She was recognized for helping to organize, and facilitate a successful rummage sale for a community group sponsored by the Agency. Opal received a gift certificate, time off with pay, and a lunch certificate donated by Frederico's Restaurant of Waterloo.

May Employee Of The Month

Human Support Services named Mary Gully Employee Of The Month for May. Mary, from Belleville, has been with Human Support Services three years. Mary is a Substance Abuse Counselor. She was recognized for organizing and facilitating a successful fund raising meeting of a Narcotics Anonymous group in Monroe County. Mary received a gift certificate, time off with pay and a lunch certificate donated by Frederico's Restaurant of Waterloo.

April Employee of the Month

Human Support Services named Cindy Rehmer Employee Of The Month for April. Cindy, from Waterloo has been with Human Support Services fourteen years. Cindy is a Secretary/Receptionist. She was recognized for handling a client emergency telephone call, insuring that the client received appropriate assistance. Cindy received a gift certificate, time off with pay, and a lunch certificate donated by Fredericos’s Restaurant of Waterloo.

March Employee Of The Month

Human Support Services named Ben Archer Employee Of The Month for March. Ben, from Columbia has been with Human Support Services two years. Ben is a Developmental Trainer. He was recognized for volunteering when the workshop needed assistance, and came up with ideas that helped implement a new production tracking system. Ben received a gift certificate, time off with pay, and a lunch certificate from Quizno’s of Waterloo.

Proposed State Budget

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn released his initial FY2011 budget proposal on March 10. This is of great importance to Human Support Services (HSS) since we receive about 75% of our funding from the state. According to the Governor, “Illinois faces a budget shortfall of more than $11 billion. This represents nearly one-third of our tax-funded spending, or the General Revenue Fund (GRF)… Without substantial changes in spending or revenues—or both—the fiscal mess will only get worse”.

He then presented a budget for FY2011 that shows the extent to which cuts would be needed to address the deficit. For a variety of reasons, he chose to target human services funding and particularly mental health funding for major cuts. Should the proposed budget pass as presented, it would cost HSS $540,000 in lost funding, almost 20% our entire revenue. Particulary hard-hit would be our residential programs, where funding for supportive housing could be cut by more than 60% for adults with mental illness and up to 15% for adults with developmental disabilities. Also, our entire $94,000 grant to pay for mental health services for persons without insurance would be eliminated.

Absorbing a 20% loss of revenue would obviously be hard to do. The cuts that target our residential program would be particularly difficult, as staffing is needed to provide adequate supervision of disabled residents. At this point we need to recognize this is a just the Governor’s budget proposal and the legislature has to ultimately pass a budget for him to sign. Consumers, families and friends of individuals with disabilities need to take action to let our elected officials know your concerns. Where would the people we serve in our housing programs and our day services program go if HSS could not continue to provide its community services? We ask that the public stay involved with the state’s budget process and let elected officials know that services are needed and funding is necessary.

The elected officials for Monroe County are:

Senator David Luechtefeld,
Illinois Senate, District 58
103B Capital Building
Springfield, IL 62706
217-782-8137 (Springfield)
sendavel@midwest.net

Representative Dan Reitz
200-9S Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
217-782-1018 (Springfield)
repreitz@egyptian.net