Every day brings a new round of reporting on the pain of the state budget crisis in communities across Illinois.  Yesterday, the Daily Herald profiled Reality, Respect, Appreciation and Fulfillment (RRAF), a Lombard agency that provides day programs for developmentally disabled adults.  Despite their frugal $425,000 annual budget, the state more or less stopped funding this program earlier the year and executive director Marilyn Flanagan has been struggling to keep the doors open ever since.  In fact, due to the $118,000 in delayed payments from the state, Flanagan decided to stop depositing her own paychecks in the interim:

"The priority is to keep my staff, so whatever I have to do, I will do," she said. "When you have staff making $24,000 to $26,000 a year, you are asking them to take enough of a cut as it is."

On Wednesday, the Responsible Budget Coalition will be rallying in Springfield with agencies like RRAF in favor of a budget that raises new revenue and resolves this destructive backlog of bills.  Learn more about it here.