| Speak Out to Save Service |
| AmeriCorps, VISTA programs threatened by budget cuts |
 When HR 1 passed in the House of Representatives on February 19th, it included the elimination of funding for the Corporation for National and Community Service. That's the group through which Habitat Charlotte, Hands On Charlotte, Teach for America and other service organizations receive funding for AmeriCorps and VISTA volunteers.
If the bill passes the Senate, the impact on Habitat Charlotte and our community at large would be profound. Families in need would suffer. And fewer service-minded leaders would be developed for the future.
Bert Green, Habitat Charlotte's executive director, figures AmeriCorps and VISTA members have saved the ministry approximately $1.5 million since 1997. Further, he estimates that 25 fewer families would have been served without their help.
If you're a registered voter and believe as strongly about preserving these service organizations as we do, let your elected officials hear from you. For Charlotte area residents, they are:
Senator Richard Burr (R) 202-224-3154 Senator Kay Hagan (D) 202-224-6342 Representative Larry Kissell (D) 202-225-3715 Representative Sue Myrick (R) 202-225-1976 Representative Mel Watt (D) 202-225-1510
Thanks for adding your voice to ours. For more on the matter, click here.
|
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Charities losing funding.....
I am a big supporter of local Habitat for Humanity Restores. It is one of the places I get a lot of craft goodies, furniture, fabrics, etc. I just received one of the local stores newsletters and read this snippit in it. I was unaware, maybe because of the new baby and not paying attention to the news, or maybe just generally missed it, or maybe it was not openly talked about in the news. I wanted to make sure others were aware of this change of funding. I understand we need to cut budgets somewhere, and maybe this is one of the places to do it, but we also may need to be aware of the need for extra volunteers that charities are going to need in the next several months. Please keep your hearts and minds and calendars open to help support activities such as this. And lets be aware if they have to raise their prices, this may be why....lets be considerate and not moan and groan about it.
