Knights of Columbus 2035

Ozaukee County Knights of Columbus Council 2035 Port Washington would have been out in the public raising funds for “People with Intellectual Disabilities” during our annual Tootsie Roll campaign. Because of Covid 19 we were unable to conduct the campaign. As an alternative, Council 2035 has set up this Go Fund Me page. All monies raised by this Go Fund Me page will go to those organizations which help people with intellectual disabilities in Ozaukee County. The organizations Council 2035 has assisted in the past and will assist again with funds raised on this page are Portal Inc., Balance Inc., and the Friendship Club.

The effect of COVID-19 on Balance Inc.: 
Balance Inc. provides support for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities in their home environment.  We currently operate 8 single family homes in the community for 25 individuals.  We also support 18 individuals in their own apartments so that they can be as independent as possible.  Because we support these individuals in the home environments we could not and did not close as a result of COVID.  Our front line staff have maintained a safe environment for all of these vulnerable individuals.  In order to keep these individuals safe we have incurred considerable costs for personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, gowns, and sanitizer).  That cost since March has exceeded $15,000 and will be ongoing.
Balance Inc. also provides valuable day programming that enriches the mental health of our participants and provides valuable respite for their families.  Balance opened up our Day program to our residents on June 1st and in a limited capacity to the community on July 6th.  In addition, we ran our Summer Rec program for children in July and August.  All of this done successfully and safely by our staff.  We suffered financially with the Day Program being closed for 4 months.  We have also incurred the costs for Personal Protective Equipment in these programs as well.  The financial cost for closing and to ensure safety has impacted us by over $75,000.

The effect of COVID-19 on Portal Inc.:
Portal Inc. supports and encourages more than 200 individuals with disabilities to participate in their community while helping them to lead full adult lives as employees, volunteers and customers.  Our services greatly impact the well-being of participants while focusing on working, learning and socializing, as well as enjoying art and recreation activities. These same services also provide needed respite for family caregivers.

For an eight-week period, the majority of our services were suspended; causing a significant loss of service revenues exceeding 80% while many expenses continued to be incurred. Portal’s Employment Services staff continued to assist more than 30 individuals remain working in local businesses as essential workers.  We implemented a phased reopening, allowing us to acknowledge and support the compromised health factors of the participants and their family members.

In addition to lost service revenues, expenses increased as we made building adaptions, increased cleaning schedules, purchased additional pandemic ready supplies and equipment. Additionally, our fundraising efforts were cancelled including our largest event, the Fish Day Run Walk. At this time, several services remain at less than 50% pre-pandemic levels.  Our dedicated staff are conscientiously working to provide safe and meaningful service.

The effect of COVID-19 on Friendship Club:
The mission of the Friendship Club is “To share God's love with people who have intellectual disability and to enable them to become an active part of God's family”. They accomplish this through mentoring in a social setting. Because of Covid the club has not been able to meet or socialize since March.

We can only imagine what it means and how it could be affecting each of the individuals with cognitive issues in our communities. It would be a tragedy if these organizations could longer exist because they could no longer afford to provide these services. PLEASE BE GENEROUS AND HELP US TO HELP THEM.