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HOLLIDAYSBURG - State-funded program supporters chanted "Fair budgets for families!" and carried signs reading "Pass a good budget" and "Level funding for public libraries" as they approached the steps of the Blair County Courthouse Tuesday morning for a rally.

Several program leaders and recipients spoke about programs struggling to keep afloat as the state budget standoff entered its third month.

Theresa Funtal of Altoona has five special-needs children - four adopted and the other a foster child. She and her husband normally receive about $3,000 a month from the state through the Blair County Resource Families program to care for them, but with no state budget in place, they aren't getting the money.

Retirees Carol and Dennis Albright of Claysburg are parents to four adopted foster children and care for an adopted granddaughter and a grandson who live with them.

"I don't know," Dennis Albright said when asked where they can turn. He said his family made the commitment to rear the children and the government should hold up its end of the deal.

The education of her children and a job is on the line for Jennifer Freet of Altoona.

A laid-off child support specialist at Pre-K Counts in Martinsburg, Freet not only lost her job, but her sons - Dylan, 5, and Owen, 4 - cannot attend the Pre-K Counts program at Kids First Blair County/Lilly Pond because of the state budget stalemate.

A handout at the rally indicated more than 17,500 children would lose services and at least 2,007 employees could lose their jobs under Senate Bill 850.

The fate of the Blair County Human Services Office's Teen Link program is also on the line.

The program not only helps teens who are pregnant or already parents, but it also encourages "healthy behaviors" in junior-high age girls, Director Kathy Gregg said.

Nurturing and networking programs for parents are also offered.

Gregg said program recipients wrote letters to government officials in June to share how they had benefited from the help.

Kids First Blair County President Jackie Clouser took issue with comments made last week by state Sen. John H. Eichelberger Jr., R-Blair, who called the child care subsidy an entitlement program.

She encouraged attendees to get in touch with lawmakers and tell them they want a fair budget for families now.

State Rep. Jerry Stern, R-Martinsburg, was in Harrisburg when those participating in the rally came to his Hollidaysburg office door, he said in a phone interview.

"I sympathize. I honestly do," he said of those suffering because of the budget stalemate. "We're facing a fiscal crisis in the Commonwealth."