🌟 SPARC Newsletter – August 2025 🌟

Celebrating a Month of Growth, Friendship, and Joy

August was a vibrant month at SPARC! Across our four centers, participants explored creativity, practiced independence, strengthened friendships, and enjoyed exciting outings in the community.

📊 Attendance & Engagement

80% overall attendance across all four centers, with McLean leading at 88%
100% of participants engaged in 3+ activities daily
95% reported feeling “happy” at the end of their SPARC day

🌍 Community Adventures

This month, SPARC participants enjoyed exploring and giving back:

🛍 Leesburg Outlets
📚 Brambleton Library
🥫 St. Anne’s Food Pantry (all centers)
🍝 Olive Garden – McLean
🎬 Movies at Tysons Corner
🏛 National History Museum
🎮 Dave & Buster’s Social Outing – where air hockey and claw machine skills stole the show!

🏡 Center Highlights

SPARC ~ McLean

🌟 Participant of the Month: Amanda – Her love for Zumba, crafts, and Disney’s The Little Mermaid brought joy to everyone around her.

SPARC ~ Alexandria

💡 Spotlight: Kyleigh – Once shy and quiet, Kyleigh has blossomed into a leader, excelling in cooking, technology, and participation.

SPARC ~ Arlington

🎶 Spotlight: Mo – Known for his energy and love of Zumba, Mo has made huge strides in respecting boundaries while remaining a joyful, active friend.

SPARC ~ Leesburg

🤝 Spotlight: Anee – A SPARC member for over 10 years, Anee is a quiet leader, advocate, and cornerstone of the Leesburg community.

✨ Special Moments

🎉 All-Center Pizza Party at the Credit Union
🎶 Music therapy with A Place to Be
✨ Social Group outing to Fair Oaks Mall & Dave & Buster’s
🏆 Katherine’s group won a $10,000 grant to improve universal design mapping for wheelchair accessibility!

📅 Looking Ahead

🎀 September 20, 2025 – Old Firehouse Ribbon Cutting & Block Party in McLean (1–4 pm)

⚽ September 28, 2025 – SPARC will be the Featured Nonprofit at Loudoun United’s Children’s Night

Fairfax Area Disability Services Board is hosting a virtual community forum on Housing on Monday, October 20th from 7-8:30pm. They are seeking community input to identify systemic gaps in service and/or barriers Fairfax County, City of Falls Church, and City of Fairfax residents with disabilities face with housing.

Learn more about community forums here

An email with the meeting links will be sent to registrants.

An Evening to SPARCle

Celebrating the 2025 SPARC Award Honorees

Celebrate a night of inspiration and impact as we gather to honor exceptional achievements and support a brighter future for adults with disabilities. Mark your calendars for an evening filled with hope, joy, and community spirit.

Sponsor or buy individual tickets by Clicking Here

2025 SPARC Hero

Phyllis Randall

Phyllis Joycelyn Randall is an American politician and mental-health therapist. She is chair at-large of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Virginia, and the first African-American woman to chair a county board in Virginia.

Chair Randall has long been a steadfast advocate for equity and inclusion, particularly for adults with disabilities who have historically been excluded from services due to the severity of their needs or their inability to participate in traditional employment programs. Her leadership played a pivotal role in welcoming SPARC to Loudoun County in 2025, ensuring that a population too often overlooked—adults with significant intellectual and developmental disabilities who cannot work—finally had access to meaningful day support and community connection.

SPARC Lifetime Achievement

Jessica Burmester

Jessica Burmester is a grassroots organizer and an advocate for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She co-founded an organization for parents of children with disabilities to advocate for more community-based services. She and her husband, Ray Burmester, worked together to successfully convince the Board of Supervisors to invest in the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board to provide respite care for families.

Jessica's greatest impact has been in teaching people how to advocate. She believes that change requires a collective effort, stating, "One person isn’t going to make any change. You have to have a lot of people to make a change."

Education Partner

George Washington University

Through a groundbreaking pilot program led by the Principal Investigator and Director of GWU’s Biomedical Informatics Center and School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dr. Qing Zeng, and with art therapy activities led by Dr. Jordan Potash, this initiative empowered SPARC participants to express their stories, emotions, and identities through adaptive AI-driven digital art. Funded by the NIH AIM-AHEAD program, the project exemplifies the potential of interdisciplinary collaboration in advancing equity, creativity, and well-being. Together, we’ve reimagined what is possible when access, innovation, and compassion come together in service of inclusion.

Sponsor by Clicking Here

An Evening to SPARCle Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsorships for an Evening to SPARCle and SPARC's operations go towards operating costs and participant scholarships. We welcome both individual and company/organization sponsorships at all levels.

Visit this page to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

About SPARC

SPARC provides essential day programs for adults with disabilities at six locations in Northern Virginia. SPARC offers the same supportive structure and continued education that its participants enjoyed in school and provides a variety of services in the form of leisure learning that allows participants to work on life skills while socializing with a community of peers.

Thank you to all of our current Sponsors

Presenting Sponsor