House Update: The renovations on the house will be completed this week!
Friends,
I am so excited! The renovations on the house will be completed this week! The accessible bathroom is beautiful. The new wider entrance to the kitchen and the large electric stove are wonderful. The basement bedrooms have lovely new floors, and more! The only thing that is left is painting. As the ceilings were scraped, re-mudded, and painted during the professional asbestos abatement process, this left a large white trim around many of the rooms. Therefore, we are painting with the help of volunteers.
As I walk around the L’Arche house and see the updates, I am filled with joy knowing that everyone, regardless of ability, will be able to enter the home and use the facilities. Prior these renovations, if someone used mobility aids or a wheelchair, they would have needed to be carried up the stairs into the home and into the bathroom when they needed to use it. However, with your generous support, we can now say that everyone is welcome and belongs at L’Arche NC! Thank you for making this possible.
We are now in the home stretch (pun intended) of welcoming our first Core Members and Assistants to live at this first L’Arche NC home. However, we are still in great need of your financial support. If you are unfamiliar with the Direct Support Professional (DSP) crisis across the U.S., I’d like to briefly explain more (if you’re already familiar, skip the next paragraph).
The DSP crisis in the U.S. is an urgent issue affecting many organizations like L’Arche. DSPs play a vital role in the lives of individuals with disabilities, yet they are often underpaid, leading to high turnover rates and staffing shortages. Medicaid reimbursements simply do not cover the true cost of providing quality, person-centered care. To ensure that we can recruit L’Arche Assistants and create a sustainable environment so that we can offer the compassionate, reliable support our community members deserve, we must raise additional funds to provide them with fair wages. This will help us attract and retain dedicated staff, ultimately enhancing the quality of care and stability for those we serve.
Over the next couple of months, we will begin the final steps of our licensing process, including hiring our Residential Care Manager and live-in and live-out Assistants. You’ve helped L’Arche North Carolina in our journey to purchase and renovate our first house. Will you join us once again to help us open the doors of this home?
If you’re read more
Reflections on L’Arche NC’s May Musical Showcase
At our May 4th Virtual Musical Showcase, we had participants join us from coast to coast. One of those participants was Chris, a Core Member at L’Arche Wavecrest, in Orange County, California. Chris performed a wonderful rendition of the Disney song “When You Wish Upon A Star”. When asked how he felt about sharing his musical talent, Chris replied “I’ve been practicing my music and learning how to share it. I was proud of what I did.” Chris was one of eight performers who shared their musical gifts and talents that evening. One of our participants, Ricardo, who called in from Atlanta to listen, was blown away by the performances. “I really enjoyed listening to everyone’s musical talents, everyone has their own talents from ukuleles to piano playing… but the thing that I really really enjoyed, besides making new friends, was a version “Maybe” from the musical Annie performed by Mary Evelyn from North Carolina. For the rest of that night and the rest of the weekend I couldn’t get it out of my head! The way she delivered the song was incredible. I don’t know how I’m read more
If you missed the Disability Justice Panel…
If you missed the Disability Justice Panel, you can still watch the recording here! We are grateful to our panelists and poets for contributing so thoughtfully to this educational evening. http://youtu.be/ULNmAHOMx9M
Meet our Disability Justice Conversation Panelists
Join us on April 7th at 6:30pm EST for a panel discussion on Disability Justice. Register in advance here.
Mr. Rogers’ Birthday Celebration with CUCC
On Saturday, March 26th, we gathered with friends, new and familiar, to make puppets, sing songs, reflect on the lessons of Mr. Rogers, and put on some improv puppet shows. This morning spent with Community United Church of Christ in Raleigh was filled with laughter, creativity, and good spirits.
Opportunities are Blooming!
Opportunities are blooming at L'Arche NC, and we are ready for spring! February was filled with so many new opportunities for friendship! At the beginning of the month, L'Arche NC friends gathered for a "Crafternoon" where we painted jars with thumbprint hearts and made friendship booklets. We had many new friends join us for this gathering. After the event, one parent shared with us that for an hour after the Zoom call their daughter continued to say on her communication device "painting with friends, painting with friends!" We are so grateful to be able to provide these opportunities to connect. In February we also joined with L'Arche Atlanta for our monthly prayer service, "Y'All Belong Here". We have been gathering on the third Wednesday of each month at 2:00pm EST for this event since May 2021! It has been a real blessing to create this recurring sacred space of friends where we often see familiar faces and greet new friends. Last month, as we watched our community members encourage each other and pray for one another, the sense of belonging was visible! We hope you'll join us in read more
Cultivating Inclusive Community
Last year, our Board of Directors created a special task force to review our Mission Statement. Our goal was to evaluate our purpose and intentions. The outcome of this task force was an updated mission statement: L’Arche North Carolina cultivates inclusive communities where people across the spectrum of intellectual and developmental disability identities live and flourish together. For us, this is more than a just a statement to add on our website or business cards. It is a driving force behind everything we do. We have some really big goals for this year, including establishing the first L'Arche community in North Carolina. We can't wait to have a physical space in the Triangle where we can gather together. At the same time, we recognize that each month, we are are creating an inclusive community of friends and neighbors across the Triangle (and beyond) through accessible events and programs. Our hearts are full knowing that we don't have to wait for a physical space in order for L'Arche North Carolina to have a community! As we look to another month of "Zooming" from each of our own homes or read more
Sailing through 2021
Did you miss the end-of-year update we sent in the mail this month? That must mean we don't have your updated address. Please email [email protected] to be added to our mailing list. It's been a great year and we could not have done it without YOU. Thanks for your prayers, presence, and support.
Our Hope for 2022: Creating Belonging
When our friend John calls the L'Arche North Carolina office, he doesn't just say "hello." He calls with purpose and gets right to business. John asks, "so, what programs do you have coming up? Anything I can join?" We share the list of upcoming events, and he confidently responds, "I have more ideas! How about a trivia event or a talent show?" John is an amazing individual with autism. His ideas are big, and his enthusiasm is tangible. We take his suggestions seriously and welcome his calls as part of our workday; we want to craft events that EVERYONE in our community, including John, will enjoy and find meaningful. These gatherings serve a much greater purpose than simply offering fun activities for people to do. We plan and host such events to create opportunities for friendship, where every person is included and celebrated for their unique gifts. L’Arche North Carolina is on a mission to create communities of belonging for people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). We seek to foster the flourishing of individuals within a community setting. While we currently gather together for events read more
