Union County Disabilities and Special Needs Board was chartered in 1985.

Through the vision of Dorothy Feaster — whose children Frannie and Bill Feaster are still served by the agency — and a handful of other Union County residents it was able to become a reality.

But that vision is now in jeopardy of becoming blurred as the South Carolina General Assembly debates just how much funding it and its brethren agencies all over the state will receive for fiscal year 2010-11.

Initial reports suggested legislators in Columbia were proposing a 28 percent across-the-board slash of disabilities and special needs funding for the next fiscal year. According to the Union County board’s executive director Mary Louise “Lou” Stackhouse, a major cut like that would be devastating to the local agency.

It would equate to a $900,000 hole in the local board’s budget, leaving it with no other choice but to operate the bare necessities — its residential services — and nothing else. The cut would mean more than just eliminating services — it would mean eliminating staff.

Fortunately, Columbia knows how to listen and while a cut is still anticipated, it might not be as deep as the one originally proposed.

The Union County board employs about 120 people — 80 of which are full time employees — and serves 300 people with disabilities and special needs and their families from throughout the county. The agency currently operates on a $3 million budget.

Stackhouse said this isn’t the first budget cut the agency has faced in the last several years, only the most drastic. Earlier cuts were the result of the legislature’s across-the-board measures.

“Then, back in the fall of 2008, there was a major budget cut that seems to be continuing to roll,” she said.

The agency was asked to operate on 5 percent less but over a one-year period it equaled out to be a 15 percent — or $350,000 — cut in funding for the Union County board.

Stackhouse said the agency cut staff and four holidays and all non-direct care staff members are now taking furloughs for a total of 14 days a year. Those furloughs were initiated by the agency’s staff to not only maintain positions but to continue offering the same level of services.

“That all worked until two weeks ago,” the executive director said.

That’s when word came the massive almost 30 percent cut could be coming for next year.

Union County — and others around the state — fought back.

Stackhouse said parents and family members of the agency’s clients and community leaders stepped up to the plate to tell Union County’s delegation to Columbia how much of a mistake it would be to cut disabilities and special needs funding to the bare bone.

“When all this happened, everybody took notice,” Stackhouse said. “Everybody’s adrenaline kicked in here.”

Phone calls, letters and other communications were made by many throughout Union County explaining the need and importance of all the programs and services the agency provides and those efforts look to be making a difference.

“Our voices were heard in Columbia,” Stackhouse said.

The legislature has recently modified its estimate of how much disabilities and special needs could be cut due to Medicare and Medicaid federal match funds previously not calculated into funding. Those federal funds match each dollar spent in South Carolina for disabilities and special needs services by three.

Calculating those dollars into the equation means any cut to be handed down for fiscal year 2010-11 could be drastically reduced — if the federal monies come through. Stackhouse couldn’t say how much less the cut could be with those other funds factored in, but is encouraged it will make a difference.

“Hopefully, that will give us some relief to that budget concern,” she said. “We’ll know more in a couple weeks.”

Stackhouse knows the economic conditions in the state and nation are not the best presently, but cutting nearly 30 percent of the agency’s budget would have drastically affected its ability to serve those in Union County who use and need its services.

Prior to 1977, South Carolina had four large institutions — including the Whitten Center in Clinton — that housed and served people with special needs and disabilities. Stackhouse used to work at the Whitten Center and Dorothy Feaster took her children there for services before the independent board system came into being.

The current system in place allows those same people with disabilities and special needs to stay at home and become active parts of their communities. Stackhouse said it’s the mission of the Union County board to mold those it serves into active community members — putting them to work and helping them with the skills they need to do so.

The budget crisis — albeit an unfortunate event — has helped to bring what the Union County agency and all those around the state do to the light.

The board provides services for anyone — from infant to senior citizen — who suffers from a disability or has special needs.

“People with disabilities — they are lifelong disabilities,” Stackhouse said, adding her clients — while they suffer from disabilities or have special needs — still are a very critical part of South Carolina.

The agency’s services not only include the residential programs where clients live and are looked after by board staff, it also includes early intervention, service coordination, day services for people with disabilities and special needs who continue to live in the community with their families or on their own, administrative offices and a parent support group called EsSpecialy Ours.

“We have lots of things going on here,” Stackhouse said.

Breaking down the residential services, Union County Disabilities and Special Needs serves people through nine homes. Those people range in need from intensive care for mental retardation to those who can function independently with some supervision.

Union Services Inc. — the board’s day program — puts people with disabilities and special needs to work either through the agency’s McCormick Greenhouse or a cleaning service which currently works for more than 55 businesses, municipal buildings, churches and other local structures throughout Union.

The agency also provides transportation to its clients who need it.

Union County Disabilities and Special Needs gives back to Union County, too, through several ways, including volunteering to deliver Meals on Wheels on Thursdays and Fridays, involvement in local organizations such as Civitan and Special Olympics and others like being sure to purchase all of the items it needs — for its residential homes and other projects — at local businesses.

So the economic impact of the board’s budget can be felt right here at home.

“The community is so good to us, we try to give back,” Stackhouse said. “And we want to continue that way.”

Much of that, however, would not be possible if the agency were to suffer a huge budget cut. Eliminating those other services would put hundreds of people with disabilities and special needs in Union County back in the care of their families who would be forced to watch and care for them because they would have no other options.

The consequences reach even further if you look at the people the agency serves — like Justin Williams of Union.

“It helps me a lot,” he said.

Justin — who is on the Union Services cleaning crew — has the opportunity to see his friends every day, work and get a paycheck and continue to live at home with his father.

Nikki Hunter also loves her work with the cleaning service and works “very, very hard,” according to Stackhouse. Juanita McCoy is the same way. She is glad for the services the Union County agency provides to her and wants to make sure her job is still around in the future.

Without those jobs, supervision and services the Union County agency provides, none of them would have anywhere to go unless they were already living at one of the residential facilities like Juanita. Even worse, not having those services could leave many of the board’s clients and their families fending for themselves or, even worse, getting into trouble.

Juanita summed up in three words how she and other clients feel about the services they are provided through the agency. Stackhouse agreed.

“Very important,” Juanita said. “Very.”

Luckily, Stackhouse isn’t anticipating a day without her agency in operation in Union County.

“We’re being cautiously optimistic around here,” she said. “We know the tide will turn and people will make the right decisions. We know that.”

UNION COUNTY DSN SERVICES:

Residential programs serving 45 consumers in the various homes

• ICFMR home: Intensive care facility for the mentally retarded. This is similar to what nursing homes do for the elderly but is tailored to meet the needs of those with disabilities and special needs.

• CTH II home: These are the agency’s community training homes that provide 24/7 supervision of clients who live there.

• SLP I: This is a supervised living program. The six people who live in this program are able to be more independent with the help of very caring staff.

Union Services Inc.

This day program puts more than 40 people with disabilities and special needs who live in the community to work while they remain living in the community with their families or even on their own. Each person is paid for their work and taught many lessons to make them stronger parts of their community, including independent living and socialization skills. They also have some leisure time while participating in the day program.

Other services

• Early intervention: Targeted for the agency’s youngest clients with disabilities and special needs. Specially trained early interventionists actually go into the private home and work with the baby as well as the parent or guardian. It’s a teaching-training program with a goal of helping the baby meet the child milestones before the age of three.

• Service coordination: Better known as case management and the cornerstone of service delivery.

• Parent support group: This is for the families of the agency’s clients. The group is called EsSpecialy Ours.

This is just a brief look at the services Union County Disabilities and Special Needs offers its clients and the community. For more in-depth information or if you have any questions, feel free to call the agency at (864) 427-7700.