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 moved to support L’Arche NC, please click the link below to make a donation.
I also hope you’ll join us for our Open House: Sundaes on Sunday on June 23 from 3-5pm.
Thank you for the many ways you’ve helped us establish our community. We would not be where we are today without your care, prayers, and support.
