NEWS RELEASE WASHINGTON, D.C.

Wayne Maloney (202) 690-0498
Beverly Helton (334) 279-3441

RAINBOW OMEGA BREAKS GROUND FOR HEALTH CARE FACILITY FOR DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED ADULTS

     EASTABOGA, Ala., October 5, 2005--Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural Development Thomas C. Dorr joined Rainbow Omega, Inc. CEO and President Stentson Carpenter, and a crowd of supporters for a ground breaking ceremony for a new intermediate health care facility here today at Rainbow Omega's Cedar Ridge Community. USDA Rural Development recently awarded Rainbow Omega a $500,000 Rural Business Enterprise Grant to assist with the construction of the new facility.

     "Over the past decade, USDA Rural Development has made a series of investments in these facilities totaling almost $2.5 million and today we're here to renew and strengthen our partnership with Rainbow Omega, Inc. We've helped to finance group homes so that residents could live in dignity and with an increasing level of self-sufficiency," Dorr said. "We've assisted in the construction of greenhouses and remodeling projects. Now, we're here to mark the beginning of construction of an intermediate health care facility. As important as today's groundbreaking is, I look forward to the ribbon cutting ceremony because the opening of the health care facility will mark still another important milestone for this organization and the residents it serves," said Dorr.

     The project is the result of a two-year feasibility study and a capital campaign to raise $1.6 million to build the state-of-the-art 15-bed Intermediate Care Facility for developmentally disabled adults. This project creates 20 new jobs and increases the total number of employees at Rainbow Omega to 83. The feasibility study was funded in 2004 by a grant from USDA Rural Development.

     "As residents age, their needs are similar to the needs of other elderly, especially if they are frail or have high risk health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and Alzheimer's," said Carpenter. "Aging-in-place' is Rainbow Omega's goal for its residents, and we will make every effort to provide lifetime continuum of care."

     Rainbow Omega's residents live in eight group homes built on 80 acres in Eastaboga. As residents become frail and need more care, they can move into the health care facility. Parents are assured that their disabled family member will be cared for as long as he or she lives.

     According to Carpenter, there are no known private, non-profit facilities in Alabama that provide lifetime continuing care for frail adults with developmental disabilities. Over the last decade, USDA Rural Development assisted Rainbow Omega with financing for six group homes, as well as funding to construct five greenhouses.

     Founded in 1991, Rainbow Omega opened its first two group homes four years later with facilities that accommodated 16 residents. Rainbow Omega pioneered the way in Alabama to develop a comprehensive program of continuum care for adults with developmental disabilities. The founders saw a need for such a project in the late 1980's and early 1990's and moved ahead with the establishment of a specialized program to benefit families and their mentally and physically challenged adult children who could not function without supportive assistance.

     Rainbow Omega, licensed by the Alabama Department of Mental Health/Mental Retardation, provides residential and vocational services for developmentally disabled adults.

     USDA Rural Development's mission is to deliver programs in a way that will support increasing economic opportunity and improve the quality of life of rural residents. As a venture capital entity, Rural Development has invested over $54 billion since the beginning of the Bush Administration to provide equity and technical assistance to finance and foster growth in homeownership, business development, and critical community and technology infrastructure. As a result, over one million jobs have been created or saved through these investments. Further information on rural programs is available at a local USDA Rural Development office, by visiting the Alabama Rural Development web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/al. or by visiting USDA's web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov.

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