Picture this. You live in ADEC’s Supported Living services, sharing an apartment with two roommates so you can evenly divide your monthly bills, stretching that monthly $840 Social Security check as far as it can go. You work with a Case Coordinator to budget your funds well so you have just enough to cover the bills, purchase food and buy some essentials such as shampoo, new clothes or toilet paper. You don’t have savings because at the end of the day, you’re just happy to break even.

Then, your roommate becomes very sick unexpectedly. In fact, they become so sick, they have to move out and their benefits are now being paid to a rehabilitation facility. In the state of Indiana, it takes a minimum of 30 days to place a new Supported Living client. So it’s now on you and your other roommate to figure out how to make up that 50 percent increase in rent before your check is due.

Maybe by going without that new pair of gloves you were planning to buy and skimping a little on groceries this month, you can come up with $50 – $75. But you’re still short, and your landlord is not going to be understanding. Your family isn’t in the picture, and your friends are just as strapped as you are. Where can you go?

For several people served by ADEC, the ADEC Angel Fund has “minded the gap” in this exact financial emergency and others.

Funded by ADEC staff members, the ADEC Angel Fund is a stop gap measure for our clients when they truly have nowhere else to go. With a $100 limit, the ADEC Angel Fund has given several people the boost they need to stay on track with their monthly expenses when something unexpected happens.

For one client, this made the difference of being able to afford the bus ticket to attend her mother’s funeral. For another, just a $25 distribution covered the copay for a full year of medical insurance after the pharmacy threatened to discontinue service.

However, as recently as this spring, the ADEC Angel Fund was dangerously low. With just $200 to distribute, the demand far exceeded the funds available.

You can change this today. Just this summer, we introduced the Employee Giving Program as a way for employees who wish to support both ADEC and the people we serve to give back.

This program is simple. You may make a charitable donation to ADEC by giving a little or a lot, either one time or through small gifts that deducted from your paycheck. This is a completely voluntary program. But if you want to participate, you may choose to give to Where Most Needed or ADEC Angel Fund.

At any time, you may choose to change your mind, choose to stop or to give more/less. In that case, you only have to inform Jessica Koscher, ADEC’s Chief Development Officer. You can also choose to give once or continue this gift until you say stop. Regardless, your gift will directly help our clients.

A simple $2 a paycheck could help pay for that bus ticket home for a loved one’s funeral. A $5 per paycheck could help an Employment Services client get much-needed car repairs so they can keep their job. To learn more about this program and sign up to give today, visit this link: Employee Giving Program Pledge Form.