CULLMAN, Ala. – Every year in March, the Cullman Pilot Club holds the Brain Awareness Week event with the Cullman County Center for the Developmentally Disabled (CCCDD) at the Margaret Jean Jones Center. This year on St. Patrick’s Day, the Pilot Club granted a donation of $1600 to the CCCDD.
Peggy Harris of the Pilot Club said, “One of our main emphases is on brain health and awareness and doing parties at the Margaret Jean Jones Center twice a year has been on our list of things to do for as long as I’ve been in Pilot Club which has been 20+ years.”
The CCCDD is a non-profit that supports the developmentally disabled population in Cullman County. The organization offers day services, residential services, early intervention services for babies from birth to 3 years old, a DHR certified daycare for children 6 weeks to 5 years old, a summer program for school aged children with disabilities and a work center.
Executive Director of the Margaret Jean Jones Center Charese Morris said, “What we are here for is to help people with developmental disabilities reach their maximum level of independence, so we want them to be able to get a job and live on their own. They need to be able to make their own sandwich, maybe clean up after themselves. It’s different levels of what you can accomplish to be independent.”
The CCCDD has a contract through the State of Alabama, so each applicant needs to go through a case management agency to be approved for the program. Certain criteria need to be met to participate. Since the program is for development disabilities, the disability should have occurred prior to the age of 18. Residential services can be obtained by calling 1-800-361-4491. This call will instruct clients on how to proceed with the required documents needed for admission to the programs. Applicants can also visit http://www.cccdd.com/about-us.html.
“Each person has an individual plan so their families can get together and know what the goals set for each person need to be,” Morris adds.
Since the CCCDD is a non-profit which depends on donations, Morris continued, “We are a United Way agency. We recommend that if you were going to give to us to give to United Way because United Way, the City of Cullman, and the Cullman County Commission gives us funds that we use as matching funds through our state contracts, so we are able to match that money, so if it comes through United Way then we’re able to match that at three-to-one so they’re very important to us.”
The clients and residents of the organization participate in several volunteer endeavors. They provide care at eight group homes, fill up various food pantries, visit the animal shelter to assist with animal care and do Meals on Wheels four days a week. “Our people rush the bus to get on to do that because we want to serve this community,” Morris concluded.
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