Hi and welcome back to DCARA’s vlog, I’m Jim Brune.   I want to talk about last October 11 Oktoberfest.  Our first annual Oktoberfest and it was a huge success.  About 127 people came for the event at DCC, which was held outside and the weather was wonderful for the event.  People had an opportunity to sample 14 different breweries.  We have a live and silent auction.  Everyone had a chance to mingle and enjoyed themselves.   I’m thrilled that event raised over $10,000, which is our most successful event in the last 5 years.  The success of that event couldn’t happen at a more fitting time.   I say that because on September 26, the state of California passed their budget.  Governor Schwarzenegger cut to our budget by 10%, which means we had to cut 126,000 from our budget.  

Now, it’s the beginning of November and our economy is not in good shape as there are more and more foreclosures and people losing their homes.  That means less property tax is being paid to the state and the state is not gaining much in revenue.  People are also shopping less, which also means less income from sales tax, which is another hit to the state revenue.   Both of those have an impact on the states ability to pay for different services.  Currently, the projected deficit is $10 billion dollars.  Yesterday, Nov. 5th, Governor Schwarzenegger called a special session of the legislature to discuss the deficit and how to address the deficit, which possibly means more cuts to education, health, and human services and that, includes DCARA.   It is our utmost priority to continue to provide services to our deaf and hard of hearing community.   That means we need YOUR help so that we can continue to provide services to our community.    Your donation is important!  There are two different ways that you can donate to DCARA; first, by going to the website (www.dcara.org/donate) and second, you can email donations@dcara.org and one of our staff will follow up with you to help process your donation.   Thank you for your help as we navigate through this troublesome economy.