October 2008

Dear Friends of The Arc of New London County

We know that this has been a difficult year for all of you.  With the rising costs of gasoline and utilities and the problems with the stock market and banking industry, you may not want to be hearing from yet another appeal.  However, if you are inclined to think of a worthy cause for your end-of-year giving, we ask that you consider The Arc of New London County.  This year, like all of you, our agency is experiencing double digit increases in fuel oil, gasoline, food, medical insurance for our employees, etc.  In spite of the efforts of the entire Provider community to get our message to our state leaders, we received a 0% Cost of Living Increase (COLA) in this year’s budget.  On top of this “perfect storm”, our 2008 Annual Appeal is significantly below what we budgeted for.

The good news is we haven’t yet had to decrease or eliminate any of our programs and services. We have been frugal in our spending and tightened our belts like all of you have had to do.  We have been able to serve many families who have younger children over the past few years.  Fortunately, most children with special needs are served quite well by our area public schools, but families need incredible supports when their children are not in school.  Many of these same families are beginning to plan for life when school ends and are looking to agencies like The Arc for support, advocacy and planning for their soon to be adult children.  We are sharing the story of one of these families, the Walstra family, who did not even know that The Arc existed a few years ago.  You will see from their story, that The Arc is an integral cog in their wheel of support for their daughter Nicole. To view their story, click here.

When our agency was founded by parents in 1952, they passed the hat at meetings and sold baked goods and had yard sales to support the agency. In fact, at the first meeting it is recorded that “…a donation was taken to be used as an operating fund in the amount of $10.69.”  We once again appeal to our grass roots history and ask that you support our 2008 Annual Appeal in any way that you can.  Any contribution in any amount is helpful.  Thank you for your consideration.

Gratefully,

Diane Aubin,                                                    Tom Sullivan
President, Board of Directors                            Executive Director