Like just about every single non-profit organization that relies on state funding, the DeWitt County Human Resource Center is owed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state.

Lynn Scovill is the new Executive Director of HRC and she explains when she started a little over a month ago, the Center faced a massive deficit. She says since that time they have received money from the state, but they are still owed quite a bit more.

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With HRC unlikely to see the full amount of money the state owes them, Scovill says they need to become more self-sufficient. She says they can do that through expanding the revenue generating programs they have in place, but they also need to put pressure on the state to pay their bills.

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HRC East's Encore Thrift store provides them with revenue to fund programs, but when clothes that are not selling need to be removed for new items, Scovill says those clothes can be shipped overseas, and HRC receives revenue for those items as well.

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Scovill believes part of the reason groups and programs that deal directly with a persons mental health have been neglected financially is because of a lack of focus those issues. She points to the recent Newtown, CT school tragedy as proof that mental health issues need to be addressed.

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Scovill says most people with a mental illness learn to live normal, productive lives despite their handicaps. She feels these services allow them those opportunities to be productive members of society and cope with their illnesses in healthy ways.