ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 12, 1996 TAG: 9607120034
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
A comprehensive effort to aid disabled citizens is having big impacts in small doses across the New River Valley.
Rita McNeil is making lovely music thanks to the Family Support Network. It's also keeping Ben Linkous afloat.
More than 200 people have received grants from the network, helping to make their challenging lives a bit more normal.
Money to buy a new flute for 14-year-old Rita, who is visually impaired, and a special life preserver for 7-year-old Ben, who has spinal muscular atrophy, came from Project Fact, one of the Family Support Network's three branches.
Project Fact (Families and Communities Together) administers grant money to children and adults who have a variety of mental and physical disabilities.
The network's other two programs are Project Friend, which helps families pay for respite care for disabled relatives, and the Family Resource Center Project, an expanding information network.
Together these projects have about $215,000 to spend over the next several years and room for more clients. Their common goal is to strengthen the local safety network for disabled citizens by sharing information and resources.
"Information is still so fragmented. It's difficult to find out about all the things that are out there. Now the word's getting out," said Sheila Roop, director of Leisure Directions, a recreational service for disabled citizens.
Money to pay for speech therapy or to buy a Blacksburg Transit bus pass - items Leisure Directions clients have received through Project Fact - may seem trivial to most people, Roop said.
But small things means much more to the disabled, she said. "It helps them be more independent."
Parents and disabled citizens can apply to Project Fact for yearly grants of up to $200, said Rose Wilkins, the program's coordinator. There's no restriction on what they request, as long as the item boosts their independence, productivity and community involvement.
Also, there are no income restrictions for applicants. Money for the program comes from the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities.
Project Fact grants have kept some employees of the New River Valley Workshop from losing their jobs, Irene Peterson said.
Disabled workers at the facility have received money for car repairs or medications, things they couldn't have afforded otherwise, said Peterson, the workshop's rehabilitation supervisor.
Participating in the Family Support Network's programs also helps agencies link up with other social service providers and learn about what they offer, Peterson said.
Spreading the word about parenting and support for people with disabilities is the aim of the network's Family Resource Centers, which are being set up at a number of schools and Head Start sites around the New River Valley.
Computers and counselors will be at these sites to provide information about resources to aid the disabled. Also, the grant-supported program has a van equipped with books and pamphlets that acts as a mobile library.
Additionally, the Family Support Network is planning a conference Aug. 8 and 9 at Virginia Tech on children and family issues, "Families and Communities Together."
The third branch of the network, Project Friend, is the renamed New River Valley Respite Care Program. It gives families a break from day-to-day supervision of their disabled relatives by providing temporary help.
Virginia Tech's Resource and Referral Service acts as the umbrella organization for the Family Services Network. The university obtained and administers the various grants that fund all three programs, but participation isn't limited to Tech's students, faculty or staff, said Ann Francis, the service's director.
Francis also said the programs are designed to compliment, not duplicate, local social service agencies. Also, they're tailored to bridge the information and service gaps characteristic to rural areas such as the New River Valley.
Ben Linkous loves the water, and his performance during aquatic therapy sessions has been greatly enhanced by Project Fact's aid, said his mother Lynn. "You wonder how you got by without them."
Rita McNeil practices a lot more with her new flute and plans to play in the Pulaski County High School concert band during the coming school year.
"They've been good to us," said her mother, Lynne. "Surely there are other people with disabled children that need help."
For more information about programs of the Family Service Network, call 231-8789 or (800) 368-0722.
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. 1. Pulaski High School freshman Ritaby CNBMcNeil, 14, purchased a new flute with grant money obtained through
Project Fact. To the right is her mother, Lynne McNeil. 2. Ben
Linkous, 7, of Montgomery County shows off his floatation collar
purchased with a grant from Project Fact. He wears it when visiting
the swimming pool. color.