Epilepsy Foundation closes

The state's only nonprofit agency to help people with epilepsy has closed its doors.

South Carolina's only nonprofit center to help people with epilepsy closed its doors this month. That is bad news not only for those who suffer from epilepsy but also regarding the state of nonprofit organizations overall.

The State newspaper reported last week that the Epilepsy Foundation of South Carolina shut down for lack of funds, laying off its last two employees. The phone now will be answered by the Epilepsy Foundation of America's main office in Maryland.

Epilepsy is a brain disorder that leads to seizures. An estimated 65,000 South Carolinians suffer from the disease, but with proper treatment, about 70 percent of them can lead normal lives.

The state foundation served as both an information and counseling center for those with the disease. It helped steer people to public agencies or private organizations that could help them. It sponsored a summer camp. And it provided materials or classes for schools, law enforcement agencies and companies, offering instruction on how to handle seizures.

The S.C. foundation, formed in 1977, once employed five people. It received funding from state and federal agencies, the United Way, grants and public donations.

But all those sources began to shrink several years ago, according to The State. A $75,000 state allocation to pay for education programs ended with state budget cuts last year.

Finally, with the downturn in the economy, individual and corporate donations dried up. Employees found they were spending most of their time trying to raise money rather than helping people with epilepsy, so the board elected to shut the agency down.

While those involved in the foundation hope it will be resurrected when the economy improves, there is no certainty of that.

The closing of this foundation and other nonprofits in the state is among the saddest outcomes of a faltering economy. South Carolinians with epilepsy now must work with volunteers as far away as Maryland who have no real idea of the situation in South Carolina.

The same fate no doubt has befallen other nonprofits, which, without fanfare, have closed their doors as operating revenues have dwindled. Some of those agencies, like the Epilepsy Foundation, might have been the only lifeline for people with special problems.

Without publicly funded agencies to meet those needs, nonprofits are the last refuge. When they fail, cracks start to form in the foundation of our societ