Helping Hands Initiative Julianna Farella, President HelpingHandsInitiative.org

Video Transcription

Male: From your experience dealing with kids, sometimes young adults with problems, and you needed a service, what is the best way of finding some service that would help you with a particular problem? Female: Well, the first you would do is you would call—your first reference could be a doctor’s office. If not, then you can call helping hands and we will find the service for them, to— Male: Let us say, they are not quite in New York, they were in some other area and they are trying to find the service. If you had particular problems, let us say you have cerebral palsy. Obviously, it would be cerebral palsy but sometimes it is not so clear cut is it? Female: No, it is not. Male: So, that is when it gets really your problem. Female: Yes. Male: Okay. And do you find the government who is trying to help people or trying to get away with the least amount of expense? Female: They try to get away I think the least amount of expense. Male: Sure, but there are some enlightened |good people working for the government but it is hard to find, is that correct|? Female: Yes, yes. Male: So, you probably have them on your role I suppose, do you? Female: Yes I do. I have to go far and wide to find them but when you do find them it is worth worthy. Male: They are like a jewel. Female: Yes. Male: So, if you are going to look for services. The first step is trying to find a charity or a group that is related to the topic condition, the child or young adult has, is that correct? Female: Yes, it is correct. Male: Okay. You go on sometimes with blog or some other place or people who have use those services to get references because you have to be careful today, there are good and bad, but what would be your advice that you know from your experience, this would be the right place to go? What will be the things you would be looking for? Some tips. Female: Well, the first thing is I would not just go with one specific organization. I would look at several organizations because if you may find one, find one that is better. And once you take or get information from one organization, it is very hard to get information from another because— Male: Why do you think that, is it because they are competing? Female: One, they are competing for funds. And number two, if you have a piece of medical equipment, you are not going to be able to get it again. They do not like to give it out twice whether it would be the same organization or a different organization. Male: So, in other words, this little competition, for the same dollar, so you see that even in charities. Female: Yes. Male: I mean, I cannot understand why it happens, this is similar to other people as they have no choice about, but from your experience once you hear in the news, most of them are okay? Female: Most of them. I could say that 80%. Male: But there are some that— Female: That are really no good and you really have to watch out for them. From my own experience, I have learned that when they do hold fundraisers, 99% of the fund raised money that was donated goes to administrative class and not to help individuals. Male: What we put on my websites—all these websites we gave them are, I think, they will give you a couple of those fund sources and they can actually can go and get the less valiance which is still would be 2006, before we say, it is probably getting done, and my indicator, at least 80% should go to what they say it is going for, idealistically, it would be 90% but sometimes you cannot deal with that—but below 80%, can you say that maybe it is a little bit too much going to the salaries and less to the kids? Female: Yes. Male: Okay. But there are some that is low as low as 40% if you check it, 30%, 20%, that is the red flag. There could be exceptions because it might be a new charity and it takes a while to get that out there or they might at least—looks for an advertising, this billboard, but that might be education or it could be the other way, that you are putting something on the billboard about a disease, they can list that as an education, but it might b