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Budget Cut Threatens toKill Reach Out West EndBy C1IDC K FHIADHOFFD«lly Report Stott WriterONTARIO - Chalked in big white letters was the word •HELP.The word has become a double-edged sword for the people of Kcach Out West End. It is both their bylaw and their plea.Since early in 1969 when a group of concerned W est End citizens banded together to form Reach Out West End, that organization has been helping the drug addicts, the lonely, the unwed mothers, the depressed and anyone who knocked on their door.Currently Reach Out West End is s e e 1 n g nearly 400 people a month and taking at least 200 phone calls on its“No Heat line.The line is always open and the front door is never locked. The headquarters ofLocal Can!Reach Out. at 1670 East Holt Blvd., is constantly manned. Four staff members live at the house.Now there is a danger the line will be cut off and the front door locked. Reach Out is in financial trouble.Originally funded for $52,*000 in June the administrators were told in Novembertheir funds had been cut by35 per cent. Then on Dec. 2S another letter arrived saying the program had been cut back again. This time to $25,-200.‘it just about wiped us out, said Paul Smyth, program director.Smyth added that the $25,-200 has already been almost totally spent.Why the cutbacks?The program is funded by the county, which gets money from the stale. Recent cuts in%Rcc!'SIVUp Record EarningsONTARIO — While the general economy wassagging last year, the First National Bank and Trust Company was recording a record high in annual earnings.The net income per share during 1970 was $3.48,the state mental hygiene budget cut off the county funds and in turn Reach Out was cut back.To stay open Reach Out has cut their salaried staff from five to two. They have been try ing to cut back on other expenses, such as utilities.month county pent ands them.ity would ach Out ieir ex-etch the id this ram al-Smyth said ea Reach Out bills for the money they the county reimb He feared the co begin reimbursing for only part of penses in order to meager funds, lie would render the p most helpless.Reach Out is ta problem to the peopl “We mostly need ca open. They can mail^it in or bring it to the front door, said Smyth.He said he didn’t know what would happen to the 400 people a month Reach Out helps if it has to close.Reach Out West End is located in a big house near the airport. Its living room is lined with copies where people can sit and “rap about their problems and get help. Over the fireplace is a blackboard Chalked on it in big white letters is the word“HELP.”M
Newspaper Details
Ontario Daily Report
Ontario, California, US
Thu, Jan 07, 1971
Page 12
Full Page
Clipped by
Linda L.
USA 15 Mar 2019
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