“I want my son to stay at BHC because I cannot take care of him at home with his behavioral problems,” said Myrtle Meyer, the mother of Bennie Clark, a resident at the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center, which is scheduled to lose its funding from the state on July 1 at the start of the new fiscal year.
Her son has lived at the home for 42 years.
“Speaking for the people who live out there that have severe behavioral problems, it’s best for them,” Meyer said.
Meyer was one of more than 500 community members who gathered at Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church on Saturday to show their support for BHC and to extend an open invitation to Gov. Matt Blunt to “come see BHC” for himself.
Major sponsors for the event included Metropolitan Congregations United (MCU), St. Louis Clergy Coalition, the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center Parents Association and AFSCME Local 2730.
Rally attendees rolled out a symbolic red carpet to welcome the governor. “We are not angry with the governor. We just think that he made a bad decision,” said Tommie L. Pierson Sr., pastor of Greater St. Mark Family Church and MCU’s secretary.
The closure of BHC is part of Blunt’s larger budget cuts, which will reduce Missouri’s metal health community treatment and rehabilitation services budget by $41 million in 2006. According to some sources, the state could lose an additional $44 million in federal matching funds, resulting in a total loss to the state’s mental health budget of up to $85 million.
A spokesperson for Gov. Blunt said, “It’s not that July 1 rolls around and there is no more Bellefontaine Center. The intent is to work with the residents of Bellefontaine to find community-based centers that work best for them.”
Jeffery Fractions, an employee of BHC and co-guardian of a former resident, explained the special bond that exists between residents and staff at the center.
“When you first get a client, you see a client. But once you get to know that person, you learn to communicate with that person, whether they are non-verbal or not. They become more like a family member.”
Fraction, like others at the rally, insisted that the only way the governor can understand the bond is by visiting the center for himself.
Pierson explained why it is essential for Blunt to “come see” for himself n the rally’s slogan.
“He will find caring workers that are taking good care of their clients. That’s what he will see.”
The rally was part of an ongoing campaign by MCU. On Wednesday, March 9, the group held a legislative day. Members traveled to Jefferson City to deliver petitions to the governor asking him to keep the facility open.
The flyer for the event read, “We will let our legislators know that we are opposed to balancing the budget on the backs of our state’s most vulnerable people.”
