NORMAL - Occupational Development Center - which provides life skills, job training and job placement for people with disabilities in McLean County - will cease operations Aug. 1 unless the state restores some of the agency's funding for the fiscal year that begins next Wednesday.

"It is an absolute tragedy that it has come to this and that the legislature and the governor are using people with disabilities as pawns in their game," ODC Chief Executive Officer Matt Jackson said Wednesday.

"It's going to be devastating," said Teresa Harpenau, 79, of Bloomington, whose son, Leo, 41, has been an ODC client since 1989.

"It's going to be very hard for the clients," said Harpenau, whose son has Down syndrome. "Leo has grown up (at ODC). He loves it out there."

Meanwhile, Marcfirst, which provides home skills assistance for people with developmental disabilities, has cut $1.4 million from its $6.5 million budget because of the state cuts. As of next Wednesday, 150 people will be without services and 60 jobs have been cut, including 31 full-time jobs, said Marcfirst CEO Rick Glass. Of the 31 full-time jobs, seven vacant positions will not be filled, 17 people have been reassigned and seven people have lost their jobs, he said.

Twenty-nine staff members, including managers, have taken a 12.5 percent salary cut, Glass said.

ODC served 800 program participants with disabilities in the past year and has more than 90 employees, Jackson said. All those people would lose their jobs and services by Aug. 1 without action by the state.

"We still have hope," he said.

The ODC board on Tuesday night unanimously approved a budget for the fiscal year that begins Wednesday. The budget projects revenue of $114,887, compared to revenue of about $3.3 million for the fiscal year that ends Tuesday. The difference reflects state budget cuts, Jackson said.

"We will begin a wind-down of agency operations starting July 1," he said. "This is pending changes from the state."

If some state dollars are restored, Jackson will report back to the board, which will decide which programs may be restored.

ODC program participants bag belts and filters and refurbish components for vacuum cleaners for Electrolux Home Care Products Inc. and assemble greeting card stands for Hallmark Global Services Inc. at ODC, 360 Wylie Drive, Normal. Clients with disabilities also provide cleaning services for several local businesses and agencies, for downtown Bloomington and for the four interstate highway rest areas surrounding Bloomington-Normal.

Leo Harpenau's job is doing assembly work at ODC, including bagging vacuum cleaner belts. He also gets life skills training there (he's taking a cooking class now), has participated in exercise classes and is learning sign language.

He lives with three other men with Down syndrome in a Homes of Hope home in Bloomington. His mother doesn't know whether that home will be affected by the state cuts.

"I'm getting up in age so I don't know what's going to happen with Leo if he has to come home. I thought I had everything set up for him."