fund to help families pay for workshops, materials, etc-Sherry

July 30, 2004

Sherry,

What a great idea!

One thing that the local support group in St. Louis (SPEAK, St. Louis Parent

Extension for Apraxic Kids)

http://www.speech-express.com/communication-station/Missouri-speak.html does

is maintain a resource library to which families donate and borrow books,

kits, etc. They have a copy of " Easy Does It For Apraxia Preschool " and

" The Late Talker " . I would highly encourage local support groups to start

this sort of library to help families who can't afford books, Kaufman kits,

signing videos, etc. I wrote to a few authors and asked for them to donate

copies of their books to the support group and the authors came through. It

was really great. Families have donated books and videos after they were

done which was awesome!

This sort of service would be right in line with Cherab's philosophy of

helping any individual with a speech-language impairment, regardless of age,

financial status, etc. However, one of the first thoughts that comes to

mind about Cherab " hosting " a fund to help families with going to workshops

is that Cherab has no financial backer themselves. Even if we had great

fundraisers to create this sort of service, it would still cost Cherab to be

able to deliver the service. I believe that the Geng family has used A LOT

of money from their family budget to pay for things that the Cherab

foundation has hosted (workshops, etc). I don't think that has ever

asked for money from families because she understands that we all face much

financial strain from paying for therapies, supplements, etc. That is

something that I truly appreciate since my family doesn't have a lot of

money. Thanks !

Just thinking out loud. I am interested in how others think we could create

this sort of much needed service!! Great idea Sherry!

Tricia Morin

North Carolina

<< Your email, though, touched a cord in me - I would wager there are a

lot of people on this line, on the apraxia-kids line, and just out there who

cannot afford to purchase some of the great tools out there to help our

kids. Then there are some who can easily afford theses things, and there

are a lot who are somewhere in the middle. It's one thing to have tools

lent to us by therapists - it's another to have it in our homes as part of

the repertoire, with easy and immediate access, at all times. Sooo, I would

like to know if someone would be willing to work with me to start a fund to

help people out with purchasing these tools.

Let me give an example. When I attended the Pittsburgh conference, our

money was a bit tight and there were some choices that needed to be made,

things shifted, etc. However, I also found an organization, The Arc of

Illinois, that has a community fund. Parents or caregivers can apply to the

fund, even if they are not members of The Arc, for up to $300 per year to

attend conferences relevant to the needs of their child(ren) - specifically

for them, those with developmental delays. I needed to send information on

the conference and I need to send receipts, etc., now, after the conference

to verify that I attended but the money could be used for anything relating

to the conference. The amount I received (and I repeat, had it not been for

the temporary tightness of our budget and the fact that going to the

conference was immensely important, I would not have made application to The

Arc - money that I received from The Arc is actua! lly being repaid to them

even though The Arc

insists that is not necessary) wound up covering the airfare and the

registration.

So, if we start a " community fund, " perhaps we can set a per year dollar

amount that a family may apply toward in order to obtain therapy materials

or attend conferences or help out with the expenses of traveling to dr

appointments, etc., etc. Anyone interested in helping me set up and

administer such a fund? Or is this something that is just to difficult to

maintain through CHERAB - or does something like this already exist through

CHERAB? Please email me privately or here, I don't care either way - I just

thought maybe we could all help each other out a bit more.

Sherry

August 1, 2004

That would be great if we could have regional people who would

volunteer to be over the fund.

Sheilvina

August 2, 2004

Hi, Tricia -

Funny you should mention the idea of a lending library - when I was in

private practice in the early 90's, doing special ed law, one of my goals was to

set up a resource center for parents of kids with special needs - provide

educational, therapeutic, legal, emotional resources for parents outside of the

Cook County area (mainly Chicago) where a lot of that is more readily

accessible. The collar counties, and now the rural counties where I'm located,

need all the help they can get. I'm still trying to work that out (while

working full-time, raising a family, doing Josh's therapies, etc., etc.) and it

still is a goal of mine. Maybe this is where I can start - since my husband is

a financial advisor with a bank, maybe I can enlist his expertise in helping set

up a fund through his bank and it can be administered there - that way there is

less concern about mismanagement, etc. And, for the lending library, I'm going

to look into a building nearby me that is currently for rent -

has been for a long time - and start applying for grants to set this up. It's

ambitious but I think it's do-able. Wish me luck!

Sherry

Morin Family <morinfamily4@...> wrote:

One thing that the local support group in St. Louis (SPEAK, St. Louis Parent

Extension for Apraxic Kids)

http://www.speech-express.com/communication-station/Missouri-speak.html does

is maintain a resource library to which families donate and borrow books,

kits, etc. They have a copy of " Easy Does It For Apraxia Preschool " and

" The Late Talker " . I would highly encourage local support groups to start

this sort of library to help families who can't afford books, Kaufman kits,

signing videos, etc. I wrote to a few authors and asked for them to donate

copies of their books to the support group and the authors came through. It

was really great. Families have donated books and videos after they were

done which was awesome!

August 2, 2004

My ADHD network " had " a very extensive lending library, and a wonderful

librarian....the only problem we had, were the " borrowers " never returned the

books. We finally had to start requesting they leave personal checks an amount

equivalent to the books value, in order to start covering some of our losses.

People would borrow a book at a meeting, and simply forget where they left it,

or that they even had it~ (these are ADHD parents, now mind you....) so the

books were rarely returned, and many times were returned damaged. HUGE

frustration!

~karyn

Re: [ ] fund to help families pay for workshops,

materials, etc-Sherry