Clarence Acox is a musical legend whose career in education and music is known worldwide. For countless decades, his reach has profoundly touched the lives of thousands of young people, paving the way for their own successful careers in music or other endeavors. He dedicated his life to the well being of the youth in our community, and his work rippled through our community in exponential ways.

As some of you know, Clarence has been suffering from Advanced Parkinson’s disease which has greatly affected his mobility, cognitive capacity and independence. To make this difficult situation worse, he was recently diagnosed with severe congestive heart failure with 99 percent blockage of his heart following a terrifying week of respiratory crises and misdiagnosis as pneumonia asthma. He needed a bypass procedure but was not a candidate due to his other health issues and would not have survived the surgery. So the next best thing was done which was placing 3 stents. This led to a two week hospital stay, much of which was on a ventilator. Thankfully, he survived and was released to a nursing home to try to regain strength and mobility to hopefully be able to return home at some point.

Unfortunately, medicare only covers 21 days in the nursing home and he is now being forced out despite the fact that he still needs constant care and supervision. At this point, our best and most dignified solution for Clarence, is home care which is not covered by medicare. Otherwise, we will be forced to sell his condo, leaving his long-time partner Lisa and their dogs homeless.

In order to make this solution a reality, we are turning to the community of people that Clarence generously served for many decades. We are asking you to help us ensure that Clarence is able to continue living a dignified life for the remaining time that he has. Your financial support will help us provide the intensive home care that he needs while Lisa is at work ($8,000/month), as well as purchase the home care equipment that he needs to be safe and comfortable (bed, safety bars etc @ $4,500). We have set a goal of $50,000. This will give Lisa nearly 6 months of time to outfit their home and get Clarence stabilized, while she considers next steps.

Clarence is a private man and he does not relish asking for help, but we helped him understand that he deserves the support and love of the community that he nurtured for his entire adult life. He understands that your support is not charity but a beautiful outpouring of the love that he invested in you all for so long. Your donation, large or small, will show Clarence how much he is loved. Thank you for your support!