MARC Needs Your Help
Monroe County is cutting MARC funding by 50 percent. They need your help!
During recent budget meetings, it has become clear that funding for the Monroe Association for Remarcable Citizens will lose up to 50% of its funding or more than $130,000.
While that may not seem like much, to the MARC it is a huge amount.
For more on the group and its mission, or to make a donation to support their services, visit www.marchouse.org.
MARC needs your help. following is an open letter to the community from the Executive Director, Diana Flenard:
Friends of MARC
If you wish to help MARC in a most effective way, please write to your County Commissioners and County Budget people. They are listed below:
We need you to write e-mails on behalf of MARC and the other non-profits that are set to lose together over 1 million dollars in funding. Emails are public record so those are most important to sway the County to cut only 25%.
Please do this today.
Respectfully,
Diana Flenard
Executive Director
“Dear Commissioner___________
I am writing to you regarding the upcoming County Budget cuts to MARC funding and the Human Services Board Funding.(HSAB)
The Human Services Advisory Board Funding is an ESSENTIAL part of the county budget, while I understand that most items in the budget are getting cut, I propose that the HSAB cut be only 25%.
The affected agencies provide vital services that are essential and necessary. No one else does what they do. A 50% cut to these agencies would mean that many of these vital services will go away. For MARC that means a $103,000 cut. No fundraising can bring in those dollars.
A cut will also mean loss of State and Federal funds that are met as match to the County funds. Together that amounts to over 2 million dollars brought into the County from outside sources.
Studies show preventative care and core services have a significant return on investment. Cutting them will cost more later in ER visits, increased homeless residents, parents having to pay for day services for the disabled in order to keep their jobs and other preventable crises,. Without these services, there will be more burden on taxpayers, not less
HSAB matters, health, children, disabled populations, and safety all matter and this funding helps to provide these services.
The community does not have the resources to fundraise our way out of a 50% decrease in HSAB grants.
Respectfully, I ask that you reconsider and amend the budget to reflect a 25% decrease in the HSAB.”
__________________________________________
Signed