Columbus Care and Rehab Says Thank You for the Support

COLUMBUS - One area business donated $5,000 to the staff of Columbus Care and Rehab, and is asking the area to help step up and keep supporting. Columbus Care and Rehab was one of several centers across the state placed on receivership, after the owning corporation, Skyline Healthcare, was unable to pay it’s employees. They've since continued to work with no guarantee that their going to be compensated for the hours they've worked. A GoFundMe page was started to try and raise money to pay the employees for the missed pay checks. Preffered Sands of Genoa donated $5,000 to effort, and Danette Stone and Glinda Bills say they want to challenge other businesses in the community to donate to the cause as well. "As HR professionals, this has really touched our hearts. We know how hard it is to get great people. A lot of these people are living paycheck to paycheck and you know it's real struggles for their families," says Stone. "Our challenge now is to other businesses of the area to donate to, and to prove that something good is happening in this community." CCR's Mona Mireles and Lindsey Long said the decision to show up, even when they weren't getting paid, was an easy one. "My residents are the reason I'm here. They're more than just my patients, they're my family," says Mireles. "You expect to get paid for the work you do, but you still need to be here to take care of the residents, because they need us and it's the right thing to do, and they need taken care of too. They pretty much shaped our lives now, so we need to help them," says Long. Lindsay Kaasch says she and the other staff at CCR are extremely thankful for the donation that have come in so far. "Thank you so much for all your support, and just knowing everything we do, it's huge to have that help. A lot of people live paycheck to paycheck and it's really really hard to get by with 3 weeks of no pay, so it's tremendous. It really does help," says Kaasch. The group still has a long ways to go, to meet their fundraising goal, but they say any dollars that people can spare will help. The donation count $7,540 of the $147,000 they need to cover their employees costs for food and necessities. If you would like to help, you can reach CCR at 402-564-8014 or you can check out the GoFundMe by clicking here.  Preffered Sands of Genoa also donated 85 $100 gift cards to the employees of the Fullerton facility.