Horizons receives grant for support program

Horizons Specialized Services announced it has received a $15,000 Daniels Fund grant to supplement funding for its five county Family Support Program. Family Support is one of the many programs Horizons uses to work in partnership with families and communities to expand opportunities for individuals with, or at risk of, developmental disabilities.
Horizons’ Family Support Program offers service coordination and financial assistance to families with an eligible family member of any age living at home. Family Support funds are used to reimburse families for extraordinary expenses associated with the care of their eligible family member, including medical and professional treatments and therapies, respite care, home modifications, insurance deductibles and co-payments, and adaptive equipment. Family Support is a last resort for many.
Families who have a child with a developmental delay or disability living at home and receiving services from Horizons can apply for financial assistance from the Family Support Program. Horizons receives funding for this program from the state of Colorado and administers the funds to families.
“The grant will enable our program to achieve its goal of reducing the financial stress associated with raising a child with a developmental disability. It will allow Horizons to be the support system we strive to be,” said Deirdre Pepin, grants and publications coordinator.
This grant will supplement Horizons’ state funding contract, which suffered a 50.64 percent cut this past year alone. “This grant addresses the difference between families’ needs and the state’s budget,” said Pepin. In 2008, Horizons’ state allocation for the Family Support Program was $94,794. “Our Family Support contract has been consistently reduced since then. For 2010, our allocation was down to $41,650. That’s the dollar amount we have to serve the 105 families in our program. Our families’ needs are the same or increasing, but the funds are not.”
Horizons’ Family Support Council, a group of volunteers that helps decide how to best use available funds, is grateful for the Daniels grant. “Since funding has been cut so deeply,” said Judy Shelton, Family Support council member and service coordinator, “It couldn’t have come at a better time.”
Bill Daniels, a pioneer in cable television known for his kindness and generosity to those in need, established the Daniels Fund to provide grants and scholarships in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. For more information, please visit  www.danielsfund.org.
For more information about Horizons’ services and programs, call (970)879-4466 or visit www.horizonsnwc.org.