Hi everyone, its time for an update on what has been happening here at disABLEDperson Inc. As you can see from our website, we continue to move forward with our mission to connect individuals in our community with employers who want to hire them.

To date, we have begun a pilot program with the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. Hopefully, within the next year or so all of the approximate 90,000 Californians with disabilities who are clients of the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation will be on recruitABILITY. Councilors for the Department are also using recruitABILITY for their employer groups. Other states have decided to use recruitABILITY, they are; Connecticut, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Florida. These other states are not using recruitABILITY to the extent that California is because simply, we do not have the money because of distance to cultivate the same relationships. Also, many organizations such as Goodwill, Light House and Independent Living Centers to name a few are utilizing recruitABILITY.

I think that you all will agree that trying to reduce the almost 79% unemployment rate amongst the disabled community nationally is a daunting task. To do this on a national scale takes money. It takes a lot more money than we have. We have applied for and we are waiting for answers on a number of grants to help support us. We have asked for donations on our website from you our community members and we haven't received one penny. Simply, we need your help to make the national impact that we know we can make. No gift is too small. If all of you give a little, it will add up to something substantial. Please remember also that any money you give to disABLEDperson Inc. is a tax-deductible donation.

I'll give you a perfect example. Currently, over 300,000 of you are visiting our site each month and spending time posting your resumes and searching for jobs not to mention reading the content. Because of this, we need new computer servers so that we can handle the volume from you and now from the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. Our current servers have just been updated with new motherboards to try to accommodate the volume. We think that it will work for a little while but what we really need are new, state of the art servers. We can't afford to by them because the ones we need would cost close to $10,000.00.

We need to move the servers into a state of the art data center where traffic won't be an issue. Currently, we are simply in a hosting center. This will cost up to $2,500.00 per month. Again, we can't do this until we have the money.

We have plans to create a "Transition to Work" program. This program will be geared to helping graduating high school and college students with disabilities find gainful employment. We want to host job fairs right on our site, making it simple for you to gain employment. Also, we are talking with companies about an "Alternative Work Settings" situation where through our site you can train for and perform a job for a company right from your home. This is for those of you who can not leave their homes.

As you can see, we have some wonderful plans to try to help you, our community members find work. All this however takes money. It seems that everyone wants to help the disabled community as long as they don't have to put out any money. Everyone that we have spoken to and asked to help us with our mission asks the same question. "How much is the disabled community itself contributing to your charity? This is for them, are they contributing?" Unfortunately, we have to say "nothing." We haven't received any financial backing from anyone in the disabled community. Then we hear, "well if they don't want to contribute to help themselves, why then should we contribute to help them?" You know what, that is a great response. I have always been told that God helps those that help themselves.

We can't do this alone. Our mission is pure. That is to connect our community with employers who want to hire them. We need your help. We need you to send us your tax-deductible donation so that we can expand and grow. So that we can upgrade our operations! We have close to 10,000 members. If all of our members donated $12.00 per year, that would give us $120,000.00 a year to operate and expand. Help us help you. Send us what you can.

Please send you tax-deductible donation to disABLEDperson Inc. PO Box 230636 Encinitas. Ca. 92023-0636