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Serving Princeton, Rosewood, Brogden, E. Johnston Co., W. Wayne Co., North Carolina Search past issues | CLASSIFIEDS | REAL ESTATE | HELP WANTED |
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ObituariesKatlyn Bell, John D. Strickland Sr., Janet W. Davis, Myrtle H. Edwards, Edith L. John Headlines Filling some gaps for special needs families Princeton senior dies in tragic accident Princeton Board votes to temporarily close Barden crossing Sloppy game day parking may mean $125 ticket New doctor at Horizon in Princeton Rosewood winners at Vocal Festival Steve Keen files for commissioner seat Track: Lady Eagles place second Baseball: Daughtry holds back Midway, North Johnston • Farmville keeps Eagles scoreless at home Softball: Lady Bulldogs take hard loss at Midway Photos Movies 10,000 B.C.
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Filling some gaps for special needs familiesBy Barry Merrill 12 March 2008 — Special needs come with parenting a child with developmental problems, such as autism, cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, and mental retardation. While there are established programs to cope with some of the needs, often there are related issues in the family that aren’t addressed. A program in Johnston County, First in Families, offers some special kinds of assistance to those families in need who are trying to cope with the special problems that come with providing for a special youngster.
Mary Hales of Kenly is the Johnston County staffer for the program. She says that she has two purposes: to get the word out to more families that help is available, and to encourage others to offer help as they can for the program. She related that parents of special needs children petitioned the state legislature, making them aware of the unfilled needs they have through existing programs, and the legislature offered funding beginning in the mid-1990’s. Johnston County’s program is actually a joint effort with Wake County, funded through the United Way. There are 40 First in Family Chapters in North Carolina, but no programs presently in surrounding Wayne, Wilson or Harnett counties. The legislature allocates $60,000 for Wake and Johnston, and Mary receives her pay from those funds. She is the only paid employee in the county.
She works with many others to line up additional funds to help families, volunteers to build wheelchair ramps, and businesses to provide matching funds to stretch what help they can offer. Mary related that they were able to help one family in Princeton recently who had a van with a wheelchair lift, but the lift had broken. First in Families was able to pay a van repair shop in Raleigh to make a diagnosis of the repair, and provided gas cards to pay for gas for the family to get the van there and back. She said that often one family member will stay home to help provide the extra care that the special child needs, meaning the family will be living off one income. Sometimes that means that providing that special care will mean that other needs, like a floor that needs repair, will go unmet. “We can help. We want them to have a quality of life.” Often the family budget will be stressed driving the special needs child to get special help, particularly with today's high gas prices. That may eat into grocery money or paying heating bills. She mentioned one elderly grandmother who watches kids who have spina bifida, and First in Families took some needed groceries to her. Another child in the county has autism and can’t hold a pencil in his hands. He was not able to do homework as a result. Through the Triangle United Way, First in Families bought him a computer for $40, and now he can type and communicate with his teacher. He can keep up with the other students in his class. While this “job” helped her pay pre-school expenses for her child, Mrs. Hales has a passion for her “work.” “I love helping these families.” She spoke of a grandmother with cystic fibrosis who lives off social security and, after paying high gas prices, had no grocery money. They have been able to give her gas cards and pledged toward her heating oil bill so she could heat her home. She offered praise for Sunoco of Smithfield and Wal-Mart for offering gift cards at half price to help them stretch their budget. They are looking for more to help. While they would like to help many in the community, they are restricted by the legislature to work only with the developmental disabilities. Disabled don’t on their own meet the requirements. Someone who suffers brain damage in a car wreck would. First in Families is governed by a Management Team of volunteers from the community. They meet once a month to go over the requests brought to the program and they feed off one another as to how they can best fill the requests. Mary said they would gladly take on more volunteers to serve.
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