Big thank you given to Coshocton Foundation
COSHOCTON – The individuals with disabilities who live in Coshocton Community Housing Inc.’s Chestnut Street home will no longer have to worry about what to do if the power goes out.
“We are a nonprofit organization that finds homes for people with disabilities,” said Steve Champagne, CEO of the organization. “Two years ago we had a storm and this home had no power for at least nine days and we had someone who was on oxygen living here. After that, we had to look at a plan to maintain the health of a person with those types of needs during a situation like that.”
A generator bought with the help of grant money from the Coshocton Foundation solved the problem.
“Frontier Power Supply put it in and now if the electricity goes off they are without power no more than 10 minutes,” Champagne said.
People who have medical equipment that requires the use of electricity can stay in the home and have their needs met.
“Now that we have this generator, if we need a place for people with higher medical needs to live at, they have a place to go,” said Farrah Cunningham, service and support administrator for the Coshocton County Board of DD. “I want to make sure the Coshocton Foundation knows how much we appreciate their help with this.”
There were four people living in the home when the need for the generator was discovered and currently there are three who reside there.
“The closest hotel we could find to stay at during that outage was in Canton,” said Wendy McMorrow, home management professional.
She and her staff are happy they won’t have to put the residents through that situation again. The three who still live there showed their appreciation by posing for a picture with a thank you poster made for the Coshocton Foundation.
“If you ask them, they will tell you that having to leave makes them feel fear,” Cunningham said. “It can cause a lot of unnecessary stress.”
Those residing in the home receive 24 hour care from direct care support professionals who help make sure their needs are met.
“Each and every one of us, whether we have a disability or not deserve to live a good life,” Cunningham said. “Our goal is to help them achieve that.”
The Coshocton Community Housing Inc. does its part to help by using its 11 residences in the community to give 23 people with disabilities a place to call home.
“It’s all about the idea of freedom,” Champagne said. “Like everyone else, they (people with disabilities) just want to live in their own home.”
josie@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
Category: Clubs & Organizations
