HUNTINGTON -- Staff at the Cabell-Wayne Association of the Blind are searching for ways to get more funds after losing about half of its current budget this year.

Executive Director Paul Slone said the nonprofit agency is working on local fundraising, writing grants and contacting politicians for help. This October, the group will lose about $400,000 of its more than $800,000 budget.

"It wasn't a surprise, based on the way the economy has been behaving," Slone said. "We were expecting something, but this is kind of rough."

The Cabell-Wayne Association of the Blind has been around since 1975 and began receiving funds from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust to provide free services in 1989. Slone said funding has steadily increased since then, allowing the agency to provide its current programs and employ 16 paid staff. However, he said the Teubert Foundation exists primarily thanks to investments, and those have likely been less lately.

Slone hopes to be able to keep the current programming alive. The agency offers many free services to the blind and visually impaired, including transportation, rehabilitation and adaptive equipment.

"We're going to try to maintain some sense of free services for our people, but we are researching ways of accumulating more funds and maybe getting reimbursements in some way," he said.

He said most of the people receiving the association's services are also on Medicare, which does not reimburse the agency. All of the organization's funding comes from donations and grants, he said.

He said the cut will hurt across the organization.

"It's going to affect every program, every staff position. It's one of those things that no one can help," he said.

Until now, Slone said funds from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust paid for most of the association's salaries and almost 100 percent of all other donation-supported services.

More than 600 people in Cabell and Wayne counties, including approximately 50 children, are served by the agency.

Media marketing manager Jerry Crabtree has been with the organization for 10 years and is also visually impaired. He said he's fortunate to not need more serious services like mobility training, but he continues to be grateful for things like transportation provided by the nonprofit.

Crabtree said many more people in the area probably need assistance but have not been identified as being blind or visually impaired.

He remembers his own third-grade teacher helping him by giving him a large print textbook as a child.

"I just wonder what my life would have been like had I had Cabell-Wayne to assist me at that time," he said.

Crabtree went through school and graduated from Morehead State University with a two-inch magnifying glass from his childhood ant farm as his only adaptive technology.

"You're giving somebody with that type of disability that few services -- can you imagine what more they could have accomplished had they had some of the better services?" he said.

For more information about the Cabell-Wayne Association of the Blind or to donate, call the association at 304-522-6991. The association is located at 38 Washington Ave. in Huntington.

AP Video