Some of the charities paying for mental health care for children and families affected by the Sandy Hook massacre are running short of money and officials don't know how much they'll need and for how long to repair the psychological scars from the mass shooting. <\/p>\n
Newtown officials are applying for a federal grant and charities are pooling their resources in an attempt to ensure that free long-term mental health care remains available following the December 2012 shooting that left 20 first graders and six educators dead. <\/p>\n
We hear in the media, 'Well Sandy Hook was 14 months ago, isn't everything fine?' said Candice Bohr, executive director of the Newtown Youth and Family Services. Well, no it's not and we get calls every day from the school wanting to address an issue. I would love to say that in 10 years we're going to see a huge drop and everyone's better and we've moved on, but that's not the case. <\/p>\n
Three of the charities that have been providing funds for services have started working together, while the charity that has raised the most money the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation says that it will likely join the alliance soon. <\/p>\n
The Newtown Lions Club, which raised $350,000 for mental-health services in the wake of the shooting, has told the 250 people it served that it could no longer directly pay their mental health bills because fundraising was being outpaced by demand. <\/p>\n
Other charities are picking up the slack. The town's Rotary Club and the Newtown Memorial Fund, which had been spending a combined $30,000 a month on mental health care for 150 families, partnered with the Lions Club, said Brian Mauriello, founder of the Newtown Memorial Fund. <\/p>\n
Those who need help are being steered to the state's Office of Victim Services, which processes applications for money from a pool created by all three charities. <\/p>\n
So far, nobody has been turned down. <\/p>\n
I don't think anybody has a crystal ball to say whether there's going to be enough money or not, said Linda Cimino, the director of the state Office of Victim's Services I do know that the plan is for a 15-year horizon. <\/p>\n
The Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation has about $4 million left after giving more than $7 million to the 40 families most affected by the shooting. <\/p>\n
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Newtown is struggling to meet demand for mental health care<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some of the charities paying for mental health care for children and families affected by the Sandy Hook massacre are running short of money and officials don't know how much they'll need and for how long to repair the psychological scars from the mass shooting. Newtown officials are applying for a federal grant and charities are pooling their resources in an attempt to ensure that free long-term mental health care remains available following the December 2012 shooting that left 20 first graders and six educators dead. We hear in the media, 'Well Sandy Hook was 14 months ago, isn't everything fine?' said Candice Bohr, executive director of the Newtown Youth and Family Services. Continue reading