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Valentine's Day Brings Love, Dance and Cake!
 The Parents Group of Hillside House made Valentine's Day special by planning and hosting a wonderful party last Saturday. Residents turned out in an abundance of red and pink regalia, and each was given a balloon. Festive cakes full of hearts were brought in, and Marilyn Morgan arranged for entertainment provided by The Young Singers Club, a sweet group of young girls who danced and sang love songs. The residents were enthusiastic, bringing their remarkable spirit of joy and pleasure to the occasion. Two nights before, the Assistance League hosted a Valentine's Day party for the residents. The women from the Assistance League handed out Valentine's cards to all, and DJ Chris spun the tunes while residents did the wheelchair foxtrot!
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Hillside House Joins Facebook
 With some curmudgeonly reluctance, the development staff at Hillside House is finally learning about "social networking" on the web, and now you can't stop us! In addition to our blog, we have just joined Facebook and are ready to take the virtual world by storm! Facebook gives us another way to keep in touch with family and friends of residents, former residents and former staff (some of whom have already found us on Facebook!), and to begin to widen our community, which is an important goal for us, to integrate more with the larger world.
We now have two separate but linked presences on Facebook. First, we set up a Page for Hillside House. Click here to visit our Page. If you have a personal Facebook profile, you can opt to become a "fan" of our Page. Please do! This helps others to learn about us.
Secondly, we set up a Cause for Hillside House. Our Cause is called "Support Hillside House." It is a means for us to share the work that we do in helping our residents lead full and rewarding lives, and through our Cause, we can raise funds on Facebook from those who find our endeavors important and worthy. Please join our Cause by clicking here. You don't need to make a donation to join the Cause. Joining is a way of showing your friends on Facebook what is important to you, and can help us raise both awareness and money using the kind of tools that were so successful for President Obama's campaign. For Hillside House to thrive in the current fundraising climate, we have to turn to online grassroots fundraising. We're setting up the online part; we need you to be the grassroots part. It's powerful and it only takes a minute.
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Inspirational Presenter Announced for Women of Purpose Event
 Inspirational singer/songwriter and speaker Bree Noble has been chosen as the featured presenter for this year's Women of Purpose Benefit Luncheon, our 6th annual fundraising luncheon. Bree will present a narrative and musical journey of how her faith has helped her to overcome the obstacles in her life.
Legally blind since birth, Bree lost all sight in her right eye due to a failed operation when she was in high school. Nonetheless, she graduated at the top of her class and went on to earn degrees in Vocal Performance and Business at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. A wife and mother, she served as the Director of Finance at an opera company from 1999 to 2004.
Bree Noble released her first solo CD in 2002 and has released two more since then. In 2006 she performed the national anthem at Dodger Stadium. In 2007 she was named Best Female Performer at the Inland Empire Music Awards.
The luncheon is held in the beautiful gardens of El Mirador Estate in Montecito; made possible through the generosity of owner Tita Lanning. We would love to have you join us for this special day. To register for the event, please visit:
http://womenofpurpose2009.eventbrite.com
And please invite your friends. You can send an email to your friends directly from the event link above. This is another simple way for you to help us. Many of our donors learn about Hillside House for the first time, and give to us, by attending this event. It is a wonderful way to show support and receive something inspiring in return.
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State Budget Agreement Reached. Also, Economic Stimulus to Help Medi-Cal.
The California Senate reached a budget agreement at 6:30 am Thursday morning after a 45-hour marathon session. The agreement addresses the worst budget crisis in California history. The governor has said he will sign the agreement right away. The agreement includes spending cuts and tax increases to go into effect during this fiscal year and also includes agreements regarding the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
While the budget agreement calls for major new cuts to regional centers that provide payments for disability services, these cuts will not have a significant impact on funding for Hillside House. We do not believe there are cuts in the budget to ICF-DD (Intermediate Care Facilities for the Developmentally Disabled) facilities, of which Hillside House is one, and while we do receive some funds from our regional center, the cuts to these funds do not represent a significant portion of our budget.
 Also in the budget agreement are plans to roll back funding levels for people receiving SSI/SSP (Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Payments to lowest income people with disabilities, the blind and seniors) to December 2008 and suspend the cost of living due to them in June 2010. These cuts will be difficult for those who already live on minimal payments, and we empathize with these people for their additional hardship.
On February 16, President Obama signed an economic stimulus bill, called the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009", which will provide an estimated 11.2 billion in additional funding for Medi-Cal. Medi-Cal allotments to our residents are paid to Hillside House in the form of reimbursements for approved medical and dental services. The specifics of how the new funding will affect Hillside House and its residents are not yet known.
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1235 Veronica Springs Rd.
Santa Barbara, California 93105
(805) 687-0788
www.hillsidehousesb.org
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