The Legacy of Care Holds Planning Forum for Special Needs Professionals & Families

Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina (PRWEB) August 27, 2014

On Tuesday, August 5 The Legacy of Care Group ("TLC"), held a planning forum with professionals and families across the state in the spirit of collaboration to help promote greater access to resources available to South Carolina families of Special Needs individuals.

TLC is a joint venture between Donald Bailey, Executive Direction of College Transition Connections ("CTC"), an organization that partners with South Carolina colleges to create and fund transition and post-secondary opportunities for young adults with intellectual disabilities, and Stephanie W. Mackara, Principle of Charleston Investment Advisors, a financial firm with extensive experience providing financial planning solutions to families of special needs individuals.

"Our mission at TLC is to provide a community of care and resources to help special needs children and their families maximize their quality of life," said Stephanie Mackara.

The meeting was held at Southerly's in Mt. Pleasant with 34 participants, including parents, representatives from Family Connections, Brain Injury Association of SC, DHEC, and Coastal Community Foundation. Also participating were 3 of the 5 colleges from across South Carolina.

One of the participants, the Vice President of The Barbara Stone Foundation in Greenville, SC and mother of Meredith, Amy Hallasy said, "It's wonderful that South Carolina families and professionals are leading the way to bring care and support to people with disabilities. Collaboration is the key to success, and this is just a start. We are stronger together."

Donald Bailey, also a parent of a son with special needs, said, "The emotional and financial impact on these families is beyond words. Creating a centralized, state-wide resource to give families guidance is the least we can do."

Presenters included Donald Bailey, Mindy Allen, Executive Director of Special Family Resources and Mike Teachey, member of the steering committee for the collaborative project in Greenville with the Barbara Stone Foundation.

According to Mindy Allen, "This is the start of a movement. It is inspiring to see so many families, professionals and organizations leading the way to bring care and support to South Carolinians with disabilities. If we can work more closely together we can make an even bigger difference for those who need it most."

Allen is in the process of creating a comprehensive online collection of resources at specialfamilyresource.com. The site is designed to be an information highway for parents and families to help guide them through every step of the journey a special needs family takes. To learn more about her journey go here: Allen's Journey.

Forum participants agreed that raising money to complete and expand specialfamilyresource.com was a top priority. They also agreed to work more closely and collaboratively together in the future and continue the dialog to help better address the widest possible range of needs.

About The Legacy of Care
Founded in 2014, The Legacy of Care offers financial planning and guidance to special needs families. The Legacy of Care is a division of Charleston Investment Advisors (CIA),a registered investment advisor offering a unique approach to investing for high net worth individuals, their families and businesses.

Charleston Investment Advisors has a proud history of providing personalized, independent financial advice and guidance to its clients. Visit http://www.charlestonia.com for more info.

IRN TW 14-008 (Exp 8/16)

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