June 2020
En Español: Esta es una carta solicitando una donación para el trabajo que hace CCHCC. Si tiene preguntas sobre esta carta, o para mas información sobre donando a CCHCC, llame a (217) 352-6533 y pregunte por Chris o Adani.
Dear Friends,
The novel corona virus pandemic has upended everything – everyone is trying to adjust to a “new normal.” Like everyone else, Champaign County Health Care Consumers has also had to find ways to adjust, while continuing to serve our community, and rising to the challenge of helping to meet an increasing demand for our services – more people need us now, and their needs are more complicated and challenging. Your support makes it possible for us to rise to the challenge of this moment, and to improve the lives of our community members.
No Annual Awards Dinner to celebrate our 43rd year. In the interest of everyone’s health and safety during the coronavirus pandemic, Champaign County Health Care Consumers has canceled our 2020 Annual Awards Dinner, which would have been held in May of this year. This year’s Annual Dinner would have marked our 43rd year, and would have been an important social and fundraising event for our organization. We very much miss the camaraderie and joy of being able to gather with our friends and supporters at our annual celebration.
Although we cannot gather for our annual celebration, CCHCC staff are still working very hard every day to serve our community during the coronavirus pandemic. We have had an increase in the number of clients we are serving as a result of community members losing employment and income, and needing extra resources during our state’s Shelter-in-Place order. And, clients turning to us are also in greater distress and have more complicated situations and require greater support from CCHCC’s staff – our Community Health Workers. More community members are turning to us for help in accessing public benefits for the first time in their lives, unaccustomed to navigating the public benefits systems.
Fortunately, CCHCC is a dedicated, dynamic, and nimble organization with highly skilled and experienced staff.
Medicaid, SNAP, Rx help, cash assistance and more!
Although we are working remotely, our Community Health Workers are helping an increasing number of clients and community members to get the resources they and their families need during these challenging times. We have clients who have lost income and health insurance and who don’t know where to turn for other resources. We are here to help! We continue to help individuals and families gain coverage to health insurance – whether that be Medicaid, Marketplace, or Medicare – and we also help with food stamps (SNAP), rental assistance, LIHEAP, prescriptions, and more.
We have also successfully distributed direct cash assistance to numerous households as a result of CCHCC receiving a small grant from the United Way and Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Fund.
Many of the clients who turn to us at CCHCC are often in desperate need of health care or prescriptions they cannot afford, including many seniors. Clients come to us scared, afraid that what they hope for and need is not possible. Frequently they are very sick and suffering, and they are very stressed. CCHCC’s services are provided on a one-to-one basis, at no cost to the client, and are frequently very time-intensive. CCHCC is here to help!
Even though we are canceling our Annual Awards Dinner, we still need your support! Here is how you can help us.
Our Annual Awards Dinner, and our Adbook program for the Dinner, are major annual fundraisers for CCHCC. Although we have had to cancel our Dinner, we are not in a financial position to be able to do without the income that our Dinner and Adbook provides every year.
So, if you normally contribute to our Dinner or Adbook, please consider doing so this year anyway. Here are a couple of ways you can help support CCHCC:
1. Make a donation to CCHCC in lieu of purchasing a dinner ticket or table.
If you normally purchase or donate a ticket for the Dinner ($40 or whatever you can afford) or an entire table ($340), please consider making an equivalent contribution anyway (if you are able to do so).
Likewise, if you normally contribute to our Adbook program, please consider doing so again this year – we are producing an Adbook this year, and it will soon be featured online on our website, later this month. We will gratefully highlight the community members, organizations and businesses that support CCHCC!
2. Help spread the word to your networks that CCHCC is here to help! Make sure you are on our email list and that you follow us on Facebook. Go to our website, to the “Get Involved” section, to sign up for emails. CCHCC sends emails about resources and benefits that can help community members, and also about opportunities for advocacy.
Thank you for your continued financial support of CCHCC and the work we do to help improve the lives and health of our community members!
We will miss seeing everyone and celebrating our accomplishments together! But we are deeply grateful for the support we receive so that we can continue delivering the services and the advocacy that help improve the health of our community.
Sincerely,
Claudia Lennhoff
CCHCC Executive Director