“MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Thousands of Minnesotans with disabilities depend on day programs offering therapies, enrichment and employment help.

But the pandemic has shuttered hundreds of facilities, meaning their clients are without services. The agencies they depend on are struggling to pay their bills, and they’re asking the state for a badly-needed lifeline.

On a normal day, Midwest Special Services day facility in Apple Valley, or MSS, would be alive with adults with disabilities doing art and developing skills to be self-sufficient. Julie Johnson is CEO and president.

‘We’ve been forced to close all of our programs,’ Johnson said.

MSS serves the needs of 600 clients, giving them employment and enrichment skills. But as fee for service, it only gets state payments if it’s open. COVID-19 has it closed.

‘Many of the folks we serve don’t understand what this is, and they don’t understand why those things are not available to them,’ Johnson said.

Two-thirds of its staff are furloughed. But for it and others serving this need, bills still need to be paid.

‘There may be people in sectors in the state that don’t have community supports, and the infrastructure will crumble,’ she said.”