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Comprehensive Services one of United Way partner agencies
Putnam County Comprehensive Services Inc. began in 1968 as some local residents began to meet to discuss the need for a vocational program for individuals with disabilities in Putnam County.
The original corporation was called “The Putnam County Vocational Training Center” and was formally incorporated on Aug. 8, 1968. Minutes reflect a balance of $18.50. At that time the care for individuals was considered a primarily local concern, and the board surmised that “35 percent of our funding would come from federal and state funds, while the remaining 65 percent would come from local resources.” In 1969 plans were in place to also provide a pre-school and activity center to the mix of services provided and $6,000 was awarded by the County Council and a name changed also occurred.
The agency would now be called The Putnam County Association for the Mentally Retarded. Services began in 1969 in the McAnally Center with 37 citizens being served both in a pre-school and adult vocational program.
The early 1970s saw the growth of the agency allowing for a full-time executive director, Charles Schroeder, who just retired in 2015. The year 1972 saw the agency with a budget of $31,000, and a 50/50 split of costs between fed/state sources and local sources. The 1970s saw growth in the programs and in the early ‘80s the federal government began to increase its financial participation in state programs and the agency, now called Putnam County Comprehensive Services Inc., opened two of the first Indiana Medicaid-funded group homes in Putnam County. Programs continued to expand with state and federal support, and PCCS was providing a full range of living and vocational services, while continuing to provide a pre-school program as well. The 1981 budget reflects income of approximately $500,000. The 1980s also saw the move to our current home at 630 Tennessee St., Greencastle.
The 1990s saw a tremendous increase in the programs and services provided by the state for individuals with disabilities with the creation of the Medicaid Waiver Home and Community Based Services Program. This program allowed funds normally used for institutional care to be spent in communities of choice for the individual receiving services. No longer did families and the people served have to be removed from their home communities and institutionalized. They live where they chose and be allowed to pick the provider of their services.
In 1991 revenue was $1,000,000 and by the end of the 1990s it was approaching the $4 million. Vocational programs also extended into the community with job placement in local business a goal of the agency, and with the creation of a catering company and mobile cleaning crews working in the town and at the Plainfield I-70 rest areas.
The 2000s have seen continued growth for the community-based programs and of center-based programs. PCCS expanded services to 26 Indiana counties, and opened a second day center in Greenwood. PCCS opened a restaurant in 2013, Charlie’s, to provide a training ground for culinary careers, or general job skills training.
PCCS continues to provide work in our work center through contract with Heartland Industries, IAC, NAPA, Cottage Gardens, Cook Urological to name a few. Today, PCCS employs more than 300 people and serve more than 400 individuals and families a year in Indiana. It now has revenue of more than $11 million a year, 95 percent of the PCCS income is derived from fed/state sources and contribute greatly to local economies though the wages we pay and the use of local vendors to assist us in our mission work.
Even though PCCS is not reliant on the United Way for operating expenses, it does enjoy continuing as a partner agency.
“We look to the United Way to occasionally give us assistance for special projects for which there is no other funding,” PCCS Executive Director Andrew Ranck said. “Thanks to the United Way we have been able to provide volunteer opportunities for the people we serve in the communities they chose to live.
“We have been able to provide extra staffing to be sure we meet the goal of 1,400 hours of community service a year by our service recipients, and this past year United Way funds allowed our participants to form a Kiwanis International Aktion Club and not charge dues for the first two years. We have 44 active members of the Aktion Club and they have raised money and volunteered for organizations and individuals in Putnam County, returning the charity they once received. We are proud partners of the United Way of Putnam County.”