Dear City of Berkeley Council,

I am writing this letter to advocate for the Lifelong Acupuncture Detox Clinic at Ed Roberts Campus. As a UC Berkeley student volunteer and a Berkeley resident, I have witnessed how the clinic services have positively transformed the lives of its homeless, low-income and substance abuse clients, whose welfare represents among the most imminent concerns and profoundly influences the many policies, and thus the future, of the city and its residents. The clinic’s effort can be evidenced by the stories the clients and Hope McDonnell, the clinic director, already presented at several of your hearings. The impact Lifelong Acupuncture Clinic brings about for the community is not only a beneficial but also a sustainable one: On top of long-term acupuncture treatment, most clients receive not only regular mental counseling but also become registered patients under the Lifelong Primary Care Clinic, which they can visit whenever ill and therefore their health can be managed holistically. Equipped with physical and psychological well-being, the benefited clients then are able to invest their health stock and energy to achieve upward mobility.

Acquainted with the clinic’s operation, I can testify that the clinic dedicates its every fund and resource, without any administrative inefficiencies, to expand the scope of its services, both in terms of the population served when we outreach local shelters to recruit more clients and in terms of the types of help we offer when we distribute food and clothing donations, refer clients to safety-net program registration centers, and set up mental counseling sessions. Because the clinic is operating cost-effectively with a large service output to resource ratio, it is in a precarious condition when faced with further funding reduction by the city. The clinic risks losing its vigor and the consequence of this will be devastating to its client population and all others to whom it can potentially contribute. We realize that your understanding of our stance is crucial to the ultimate decision and hope that you carry this serious consideration to support us during coming Tuesday’s voting. Thank you very much for reading this letter and heeding to us.

Sincerely, Julie Cheng 
Berkeley resident and Lifelong Acupuncture Clinic Volunteer

Subject: Fwd:
Letter in support of the Lifelong Acupuncture Detox Clinic from Julie Chen
Response From: Worthington, Kriss ‪<KWorthington@ci.berkeley.ca.us>‬ Date: Sun, Jun 28, 2015

I agree and will keep fighting for this funding. – Kriss W

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