Carmine DePalma | Nov 6, 2009

Arc is a fantastic organization, helping the children and families I serve in advocacy. One very specific memory comes to mind; I was working with a family with a child who needed a new wheelchair.

Their insurance wouldn't cover a new chair, so I called Arc for some help. Within an hour I had two return calls that helped this family and changed their daughter's life for the better. Arc has been a touchstone for so many disabled youth and their families. If these budget cuts come through, so many people will lose the support they so desperately need.

Andy Heugel | Dec 30, 2009

To paraphrase President Kennedy, perhaps we need to stop thinking so much about what our country can do for us and more about what we can do for our country.

Martin Luther King Day is coming up and last year President Obama declared it a "National Day of Service" and exhorted all Americans to think about how they could give back to their communities. Westchester Arc celebrated this holiday by holding an interagency meeting regarding getting the people receiving services more involved in volunteer efforts in order that they could give back to their communities. Such volunteering is something that we staff and you family members can do with the various non profits, including those who are providing services to your family members.

Also, the call for budget austerity should be a call to action for the various non profits in terms of finding greater efficiencies. I've found the larger non profits to be too bureaucratic for my taste and to have excessive redundancy and too many specialists who don't know much outside of their specialties.

What is needed in such agencies are more generalists, who may have a specialty, but who can also pitch in when needed in a variety of other areas. And, there is a need for more ongoing staff training from the mid level managers and/or training departments of such agencies so that all staff who wish such training are able to be more useful in more ways and better develop as employees.

And, each of we staff need to look for ways that we can improve the areas where we work. Yes, it would be great if the various government entities could eliminate their own inefficiencies and waste and provide all the money that the various non profits are asking for. But, as it's fairly likely that we'll get significantly less than we are used to receiving, each of us as staff, family members and friends of the people receiving services need to ask what we can do individually and as part of various teams to improve services during these hard times.