A group of us went to the NCCDD Legislative Caucus Wednesday, April 29th to speak out for getting people off the waitlist for those with IDD that are waiting to get people off the waitlist for the services that they needs. Hwere we are meeting with our state senator Terry Brown. We also advocated for more funding to be able to pay our staff more and be able to hire more people.
A group of us went to Washington, DC to do some advocating where we met up with some staff that worked for our political leaders in this picture we are standing outside of Senator Thom Tillis' office. We met with Ryan Adams who is one of his represenatives and spoke to him about the need to do away with the SSI marriage penality law, raise the amount you can save while receiving SSI and streamline the process for getting approved for SSDI faster. We also met with Carolina Drury that works for Congresswoman Alma Adams. Currently you cannot save more than $2,000 a month if you are single or $3,000 if you are a couple. There is a propose bill that could change some of what we are advocating for: This is from Caroline Druary with Congresswoman Alma Adams office: . I had mentioned in the meeting that there were bills in Congress that may be of interest that relate to the issues you raised. I believe this is the most comprehensive one to date-- SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act (H.R.2540/S. 2767) https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/2540
This would increase the asset limits for SSI recipients from the current $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for couples to $10,000 and $20,000, respectively. It would also tie the new limits to inflation. The bill would also eliminate the marriage penalty. Please sign the petition below that shares the cause of the SAM members going to Washington in October. I just created the petition “URGE: Legislators do away with the unfair marriage penalty / $2000 a month SSI savings cap” and wanted to see if you could help by adding your name. Our goal is to reach 1000 signatures and we need more support. You can read more and sign the petition here: https://chng.it/6rPsQDwCbQ Thanks! Adria We had our annual Christmas party at Golden Corral on Monday, December 15th and we ate a lot of good food and we had a visit by Santa. A group of us went to the legislative building in Raleigh Tuesday, October 21 to advocate against proposed Medicaid cuts and spoke to some of our representatives and went to a Caucus with 200 people to share their concerns about how the Medicaid cuts would affect them. Go on the website for NC Legislative.gov and look up your representative and contact them to tell them how the Medicaid cuts would affect you. We had a booth at the CW Williams back to school health fair August 9, 2025 and we gave away a lot of goodie bags with school supplies and promotional supplies. We were able to get a good many signatures for our SSI marriage penalty law to do away with an unjust law that penalizes people who receive SSI from getting married. Everything went well until an hour before it was to end, a lady decided to break up a fight between her son and another kid, it would be a good idea to shoot some bullets up in the arm. Then everyone started to run away. Fortunately, no one was hurt. We had a gift basket we were going to raffle off, but we waited until a couple of days later and drew a name and were able to bless a lady with one of our Hope is on the Horizon books, as well as Avon bath supplies, and some other things. She was excited to receive it. A group of us went to Hodges Farm October 18th where we saw the animals, went on a hayride and bought some pumpkins. The people who went were Nikki, Laura, Rob, Gudrun and Brian, Islah, and Harley and Stephanie. Sign the Petition URGE: Legislators do away with the unfair marriage penalty / $2000 a month SSI savings cap change.it Our Self-Advocates of Meck. Christmas party will be December 15th at the Golden Corral 7701 N. Tryon St. Charlotte; N.C. Time will be 5:30-7:30 pm. Price with a drink is $21 without a drink it will be $17.30. If you are a senior, it is $16.39 without a drink. Bring a present that can be for anybody $10 or less for a gift exchange. We will be going to the Billy Graham Library Monday, December 22 if you are riding in the van then meet at the InReach day support center at 4:30 p.m. otherwise we will meet there 5:00 and see the live nativity and learn about the real meaning of Christmas (which is the birth of Christ). It does not cost anything to go there but if you want to ride the horse and carriage tour it will cost $12. To RSVP for any of these activities contact Laura Newell at 704-561-1076 M-F 8:30-4:30 or email me at [email protected]. We need you all to contact your state senators and legislators and advocate against more Medicaid budget cuts that will affect some services in N.C. Some of us are going to Raleigh Tuesday, October 21 to speak to some of our legislators in person. Here is part of a letter to the governor about the cuts we are facing and how it will affect us. The need for additional funding is without dispute. Both the House and Senate agreed during the September session that the Medicaid program requires additional funds and even agreed on the amount needed. Unfortunately, the chambers allowed ancillary matters to get in the way of a deal. The time is now to set those matters aside and produce a clean bill. This month, the General Assembly has the opportunity to look forward and reverse these devastating cuts. There are at least three options to avoid or delay the cuts, which I list below in order of preference: 1.) Fully fund NC Medicaid at the $319 million level NCDHHS’s economists and actuaries estimate is required. 2.) Appropriate the $190 million that both chambers agreed on in September enabling NCDHHS to delay the cuts until at least January 1. We can come back together at the end of the calendar year to evaluate where spending is tracking. 3.) Utilize non-recurring funds from the $500 million Medicaid Contingency Reserve to fill the funding gap and reverse the cuts. Of course, appropriating these funds spends one-time money, making next year’s Medicaid requirements even larger. Given our shared commitment to do everything in our power to protect the people of our state, and in light of recent events in Charlotte and Southport, we know that supporting our mental and behavioral health system is a key priority. We must fully fund Medicaid, which is a major payor of mental health services in our state. We will be going to Hodges Farm Saturday, October 18th from 1-5:00. The farm is free and you can either bring your lunch or buy something from the food trucks. If you want to ride the hayride it is $5.00. You can buy a pumpkin, prices range from $7.00-$20 depending on the size of the pumpkin. We donated school supplies for FIF and Keiba was excited to receive them to give them out to kids who have disabilities.
RIP Amie Wright, thank you for your service on the SAM board. She is cheering us on from heaven. She passed away August 2025.
At the daytime SAM meeting May 4, we bagged up hugiene products that we donated to the homeless people that come to the soup kitchen at St. Marl's Lutheran Church where they come for a hot meal on May 14th
Our officers and board awards, Mara at daytime meeting, Autism panel, Rob the leprechaun and Laura, RIP Carla Mara with her Pam Richards award and Valerie with her Pam Richards award. Jennifer W. is our newest board member..
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About Us
The Self-Advocates of Mecklenburg County(SAM) was established in 1998 by Laura Newell. Laura envisioned a group that would connect people with intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) with each other and the community. SAM now serves people with I/DD as well as family members, support staff, and friends in Mecklenburg County. Throughout the years, the group has advocated for rights of those with I/DD at the city, county and state levels, helping change laws that directly influence those we serve. In addition to advocacy, we also provide ongoing support to each other in a group setting and on an individual basis through regular meetings and social gatherings. At our nighttime SAM meeting November 24, 2025, we elected new officers starting in January 2026. Congratulations to our new officers Renee Buchanan-President, Rob Newell-VP, Valerie Ventetta-secretary and Brian Petho-treasurer and Mara St. Aubin will remind at the first chair of the daytime meeting. Welcome our newest board members Harley Edwards Jr, Stephanie Edwards, Julie Shapiro, Aaron Toney, will join our current board members Islah Umazar, Jennifer Williams, Whitney Bullock and Zandria White. |
We weill have a restaurant fundraiser Monday, March 30th at Red Robin bring this flyer with you and show it when you are placing your order and give it to the server. We will get 20% of the proceeds. We will have our nighttime meeting at the restaurant at 6:00, come before 6:00 and order your food before we start our meeting.
Our Vison
Our Mission
We are a community of people with intellectual/developmental disabilities who are united by our personal experience. Our group promotes education, self-determination, and social engagement while advocating for our rights and the rights of others.
Our Vison
Our Mission
We are a community of people with intellectual/developmental disabilities who are united by our personal experience. Our group promotes education, self-determination, and social engagement while advocating for our rights and the rights of others.
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We envision that people with I/DD, parents, natural and paid supports, and the community will achieve empowerment, awareness, and understanding through the work we do.
We celebrated our 26th anniversary of the SAM group with some of our officers at the Jason's Deli fundraiser November 25th, 2024 |
