The following is an open letter from Mary O'Riordan -- Member and Past President of PHA and VOR Development Committee Member -- urging PHA supporters to renew their VOR membership (or become a member if you haven't already).
Happy Holidays to all and best wishes for a joyful 2013. I haven’t been in touch for a while and due to health issues I have not been able to attend the PHA meetings. However, I do keep up with important issues, including what is happening on the national level and the importance of supporting VOR, our national advocacy organization.
We all need to be aware that VOR is the only national organization that is in support of family decision-making rights and a full continuum of care options. During the last 30 years VOR has made significant progress due to the support of loyal members like you. We now desperately need your continued support. I served for six years on the VOR board and I have seen the organization grow stronger each year – we are finally being listened to in Washington and can continue to make important decisions especially along the lines of continuing the important services such as we have at Sonoma Developmental Center.
Your membership provides you with VOR’s Weekly E-Mail Update, VOR’s newsletter – The Voice, regular Action Alerts, the Annual Membership Conference and Initiative, individual advocacy assistance, legislative and legal advocacy, an informative website www.vor.net, access to speakers and direct support from the VOR Board of Directors and VOR staff.
- VOR secured introduction of federal legislation (H.R. 2032), which would restore individual and family decision-making in certain federally funded deinstitutionalization lawsuits, such as the awful Coffelt Lawsuit that happened years ago here in California that destroyed so many lives and families.
- VOR has urged Congress to call for a moratorium on federal deinstitutionalization lawsuits citing well-publicized “community-based” tragedies. We called the response by federal agencies to these tragedies “woefully inadequate and incomplete.” In other words, agencies such as Protection and Advocacy did nothing to deal with the high mortality rates following the placements out of the DC’s to community board and care homes or group homes.
- VOR’s Legislative Committee launched its “DD Act Advocacy Project” to help propel forward our multi-year initiative aimed at reforming the law that funds Protection & Advocacy (P&A) agencies and DD Councils, groups that routinely disregard choice and family decision-making.
- VOR petitioned the White House to reform the system of care serving people with intellectual disabilities, pointing to program cuts, abuse and neglect, and long waiting lists as symptoms of a crisis that is harming people.
- VOR has provided legal advocacy to families in several states as they challenge federal actions to close centers.
For your convenience, below is a membership form along with a self-addressed envelope. You may also renew your membership at www.vor.net/join-now, whichever method is most convenient for you, but please do renew your membership – it is super important! I am aware of how difficult it is at this time of the year when you are being asked so often to contribute to different areas of the system, but again, we need your support to strengthen our family advocacy in Washington, D.C., enhance our grassroots leadership and support the legislation that VOR has sponsored to put an end to the closure of facilities that offer centralized, specialized services like SDC. My sincere thanks to all of you and again enjoy the Holidays.
Sincerely,
Mary C. O’Riordan
PHA Past President; VOR Past Board Member; VOR Development Committee Member
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(You can also download a copy (pdf) of the form below by clicking here.)
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