March 2024

It has now been a year since we expanded our services to better support the needs of our community. Thanks to your help we have been able to help many more people through our dedicated homelessness benefits counselor, senior services specialist, and disability team. Having dedicated staff members for these populations means that we can increase the number of people we can serve and the services we provide!

Helping individuals who are homeless
Through partnerships with the Strides Shelter, Cunningham Township, City of Champaign Township, Daily Bread, Regional Planning Commission, the Continuum of Service Providers to the Homeless, local law enforcement, and our local hospitals, we are making sure that those dealing with homelessness have access to the public benefits that they are eligible for like Medicaid, SNAP, disability, prescription assistance, and more. Our staff members are regularly at the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen and Strides Shelter to connect with clients directly.

Providing services for seniors
Aging in our community comes with many new situations, one of the biggest being Medicare. CCHCC’s dedicated senior services specialist understands Medicare and knows about the additional programs that might benefit seniors in the area. They have provided over 180 services in the last year related to Medicare Part D, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Savings, Extra Help, and more! They can also help with applying for benefits like SNAP and the license plate discount through the Secretary of State.

Disability application assistance
After seeing the immense need for disability assistance in the community, CCHCC launched the disability assistance program. The disability team has provided over 200 services related to SSDI or SSI applications. That includes completing paperwork, requesting medical records or identifying documents, and completing appeals. These programs are very difficult to apply for, and most applicants in the state of Illinois are denied these benefits. Many applicants give up after numerous applications and appeals, only to suffer as a result of not being able to work and earn an income. CCHCC is able to help at every stage: initial application, appeals, and even multiple appeals. Regardless of the stage of your application, the disability team can help!

Health insurance enrollment work
Now with additional staff members, our Certified Application Counselors (CACs) have more capacity to help with Special Enrollment Periods for the Health Insurance Marketplace. If you have moved, lost your health insurance, or had another type of life change in the last 60 days, you might be eligible to buy a health insurance plan on Healthcare.gov. And as tax season rolls around, it is important to remember to update your income if it has changed. Income changes could affect your financial assistance and CCHCC can help make those updates.

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February 1, 2024

Every year, the last days of January into early February mark two important milestones in my personal and professional life:
 
January 27 is my birthday – I turned 58 this year.
 
And today is the anniversary of when I started working at Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC). Today marks my 27^th year of working at CCHCC!
 
I cannot ever think of my birthday, or my CCHCC anniversary, without thinking about our recently departed beloved friend and leader, Rev. James B. Holiman.
 
Not only did Jim and I share the same birthdate (just 31 years apart!), but Jim helped lead me to CCHCC, where he eventually joined the organization as a member of the Board of Directors.
 
Jim passed away on November 26, 2023, at the age of 88. And we’ve all been missing him, grieving him, and celebrating his life and his works, and the profound gifts he gave us.
 
Rev. James B. Holiman led an incredible life. I am inadequate to the task of properly memorializing such a truly great person, but I can share his obituary with you further below, and also tell you a little bit about what he meant to me, personally, and to CCHCC as a whole.
 
It is my hope that you will consider honoring Rev. James B. Holiman with a financial contribution to CCHCC. It has always been Jim Holiman’s wish (and mine) that CCHCC continues its important work and that it can be financially solid for years to come.

To that end, if you would help me honor Jim Holiman by making a special contribution to his (and my) beloved CCHCC, I would be most appreciative! You can make a contribution here:

SUPPORT CCHCC!

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Jim & Claudia