A new round of funding cuts to the community living association has the executive director concerned about the future of the program. The organization, which has doubled in size in the past few years, will see 4.1 per cent slashed from its $1.2 million budget.After numerous voluntary cuts over the past three years, the association, which primarily helps adults with developmental disabilities, is running out of options.
And Glen McClughan, the only remaining full-time, non-union employee, is worried vulnerable citizens on the Sunshine Coast will be left without service.
"We felt a need to co-operate, but now the very existence of our society has become threatened if we sustain another cut," McClughan said.
McClughan has been employed by the agency for 10 years, five years as the executive director. He began his career working with developmentally challenged people with the Jean Vanier l'Arche Society in Victoria and India.
Although the definition of an adult with developmental challenges is a person with an IQ of 70 or less, not all have the same needs.McClughan explained the Sunshine Coast Association for Community Living (SCACL) provides services to a wide variety of people with disabilities. They range from folks who need some education to become more independent to those who have significant, complex physical and mental challenges.
SCACL has many different programs on the Coast. Most are either residential or vocational in nature. The association runs three residential homes in Sechelt. One is home for people with very limited mobility who require mechanized means to be comfortable. Another is the residence of adults who need minimal assistance in day-to-day living. The third location provides a home for people needing more care.
Under its umbrella, SCACL also provides independent living support, teaching banking, shopping and laundry skills to clients.On the vocational side, the association provides employment for many people. One of its most successful programs is Bottle Me. The program is largely self-sustaining, with SCACL underwriting only the rental of the building. Canadian Tire helps with the sponsorship of the program. Bottle Me employs six people at minimum wage with a maximum of 16 hours per week each. SCACL has a variety of contracts with various employers throughout the Sunshine Coast. The development costs are covered by SCACL. The Royal Bank, McDonalds, District of Sechelt and Town of Gibsons are some of the community-minded entities involved in this valuable program. However, as with most of Community Living's programs, the need far outstrips the opportunities. The demand for employment for adults with developmental challenges is overwhelming. If your business can help with this or any other program, call 604-885-7455.Originally the idea for community living came from parents of adults with special needs. The association's current president, Bob Ware, began volunteering with SCACL after he moved here six years ago from Alberta. Ware was concerned on behalf of his adult son. He wanted his son and other people with challenges to have an accepted place in society.
"The person with disabilities needs to become a valid member of society again," Ware said.
"Citizenship for people with development disabilities is no different than it is for anyone else," added McClughan. McClughan said a recent audit of SCACL found it to be the most economically run in the province.
Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Harold Long, unaware of the cuts, said the injustice of an across-the-board budget cut is the individual organizations are not looked at as to how well they are managing the money they're given. He said the same thing has happened with cuts to medical funding. Long said St. Mary's Hospital does much more with less than the one in Powell River, yet the Sechelt hospital went through the same budget cuts as Powell River.
McClughan calls the latest cuts "tremendously short-sighted."
He said the B.C. government's fixation with the bottom line is only postponing a demographic crisis.
"There are whole generations of children with developmental challenges becoming adults," he added.
He shudders to think of what will happen to them. After years of being bounced from homes to institutions and back to homes, the alternatives are few for families with these vulnerable people. He said the social and economic costs to families are becoming intolerable.
