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“Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.”
— John Muir
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Art by Self-Advocate Joe Schultz
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Become A Partner With The Arc of Rensselaer County
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With Spring comes a renewal of energy and commitment for change. As the nature of Spring, we are taking positive steps forward!
As you read this, New York State is finalizing the 2019/2020 State Budget. We realize that there is not an infinite source of money. However, some of our staff have not seen raises in 8 out of the last ten years.
Be a partner with our Arc
and call your local representatives and tell them to support adding back in the Human Services Cola, and include the Be Fair 2 Direct Care funding for this year's budget. Please follow the Be Fair 2 Direct Care on Facebook and our website.
If you need help your local representatives follow these links:
Our Direct Support Professionals Fund 2019 (DSP Fund) continues until December. 100% of all net profits from donations and fundraising will go directly to our DSPs as a lump sum payment.
Be a partner with our Arc
and consider donating to this fund.
For more information or to donate, go to our website
or call me at 518-274-3110.
Our Hoffman's Car Wash Fundraiser is still active.
Be a partner with the Arc
and purchase a car wash through us. 50% of each car wash purchased through our fundraiser comes back to our Arc.
Follow this link to order:
We would like to invite you to
be a partner with our Arc
for a promising tomorrow. Through your support, we can provide the needed resources for quality person-centered services and community inclusion of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I offer you a wish for a warm and enjoyable season and a clean car!
Donald J. Mullin, CEO
PS Check out our #ARCSYNC post on April 1st 12 PM on our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @renarctroy
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SAVE THE DATE!
June 26, 2019
The Arc of Rensselaer County's
Evening On The Lake Fundraiser
We are working to have our largest and most exciting Evening on the Lake event yet! If you can partner with us by donating an item for our auction or you know a business or restaurant that we could ask please let us know by calling the Development Office at 518-274-3110
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Know Anyone Who Is Looking For An Egg-Citing Career?
We'd love to hear from them!
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Play With Your Food Dinner Theater A Huge Success
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Joe Starzyk and His Merry Players
Mary Daigneault, Joe Starzyk,
Jake Fisch,
Bill Douglas,
Kelsy Nevins,
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On March 13
th
, 130 of our family, friends,
and partners packed the Revolution Hall in Troy for our Sixth annual
P
lay with your Food Dinner
Theater
.
Laughter from this sold-out crowd filled the evening as Playwright (as well as a 30+ year employee of our Arc) Joe Starzyk and his Merry Players:
Mary Daigneault, Kelsy Nevins, Bill Douglas, and Jake Fisch entertained us with t
hree one-act plays of humor and
lighthearted pleasure
. We thank you, Joe and the Merry
Players for your gifts of time and talent to make this evening a success. We thank those who joined us and for our sponsors who supported our event. I big
thank you to the Dinner Theater Committee: Kathleen Shepherd, Caren Story, Melinda Colangione and Lisa Romeo-Mullin. We raised $20,000 through this event.
This money will be set aside for our Direct Support Professional Fund (DSP
Fund).
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Thank You To Our Play With Your Food Dinner Theater Sponsors!
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2019 Membership Drive Has Begun!
WE ASK YOU TO STAND BEHIND US
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The Arc of Rensselaer County is part of The Arc of New York family. With all of our chapters combined, we are the world’s largest family led provider, supporting people with developmental disabilities and their families. The Arc family is celebrating 70 years of support and dedication. It was 70 years ago that parents stood up and said "No! My son or daughter deserves to be included in society. Over the long haul, we have been a leader in bringing people out of institutional care and into community-based supports. We break this down even further and allow people to be supported right in their own homes.
Becoming a member is much like signing a petition that shows you support our mission. You show concern for individuals with developmental disabilities.
When you become a member, you are telling the state legislators and national leaders that you support the work we do. The stronger our membership, the stronger our advocacy voice for better funding, opportunities, government policy, and inclusion.
As a member, you will receive satisfaction in helping us be better community connectors. These connections can result in more volunteers to help us meet our mission; connections for the individuals we support to have better access to the community; and connections to potential employees that we need to help provide critical services.
As a member, you will receive monthly newsletters from us keeping you up to date on critical advocacy issues, provide invitations to special events and the Annual Membership Meeting. Member will also provide a connection to
The Arc of NY.
Becoming a member is simple!
Go to www.renarc.org and click on Membership or call 518-274-3110. For an annual due of $10 ($3 for staff, $1 for self-advocates) you could give the Arc of Rensselaer County the voice we need to spread our mission, advocacy, and opportunity even further in the community.
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International Women's Day is March 8 of each year. This year's theme was
#BalanceforBetter.
Strong Nonprofits for a Better New York is a Statewide coalition of more than 350 nonprofit human services providers that
participates in honoring chosen women who provide critical services across New York. These chosen women and their stories are placed in the Women In Human Services Hall of Fame
Two of our professionals won the honor of being recognized in this Hall of Fame for 2019. We would like to congratulate Lucinda Ballard and Carrie Painter for winning this honor!
To find the Hall of Fame and their story go to:
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Who Is Lucinda:
Lucinda Ballard is the Quality Assurance Specialist at The Arc of Rensselaer County. Lucinda has been an integral part of getting many things accomplished during her time on the Arc team, including advocating for someone to live independently, assisting 2 people through a complicated divorce process, and helping someone get back in school. The list of meaningful contributions can continue; these are just a few examples of how she has significantly improved the quality of the lives of others.
How She Makes Her Community Strong: "Lucinda goes above and beyond regularly and never settles for doing only the bare minimum. She is willing to step up to the plate when there is a vacancy and will pitch in to ensure quality services are delivered and individuals are safe."
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Who Is Carrie:
Carrie Painter, Director of Brunswick Center Services, has worked to help The Arc of Rensselaer County meet our mission for 11 years. Carrie brings her passion, energy, and bridge building to the community at large. She has a caring personality and tremendous respect for people. We have seen several neat connections where the participants of Brunswick Center have been able to do wonderful things to connect to the community. In addition to this work, Carrie has served on the Board of Trustees for the Brunswick Community Library for the last six years.
How She Makes Her Community Strong: "Carrie is known around the organization as a go-getter who works on improving herself and others around her. She has been active at bringing opportunities for integration into community settings for all whether they are artists displaying their work, individuals obtaining employment, or attending various activities at local community centers and libraries."
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On March 25 parents, self-advocates, direct support professionals and providers from across New York State joined forces to advocate for a living wage for our Direct Support Professionals. The Governor expressed support. We are waiting to hear more about what this will look like when the final report comes out. Thank you all who took the time to attend this to make our voices be heard!
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Snow Troopers
Any one who lives in the North East is no stranger to the snow. We each have a personal relationship with it. Most of us either want to play in it or hide from it. We send kudos out to
Aaron Scheilding and Joel Aker.
Regardless of how they feel they were always on the ready to move it along.
Thank you
for always jumping into the truck and making sure our driveways and walkways are plowed!
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Employees and Self-Advocates gave back to the community at a American Red Cross blood drive at our Business Office. The Red Cross set a goal of 16 donors for our agency, but we rocked the house with a record-breaking number of 26 donors who gave!
Way to go RenArc!
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You Are Invited To
A Learning Opportunity
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NYSARC Trust Services Livestream on Special Needs Trusts April 11
Do you have questions about Special Needs Trusts (SNT) and how to save for your loved one's future without jeopardizing their eligibility for services through government benefit programs?
On
Thursday, April 11th from 12 - 1 PM
Nadia Arginteanu, Esq., trust counsel at
NYSARC Trust Services
, will be speaking with
includeNYC
about SNTs and financial support for people with I/DD through different life stages.
Attendees will learn:
- What is a special needs trust (SNT) and what are the different types?
- How to identify the right trust for your situation
- When to establish a trust
- How does a family establish an SNT?
- Questions families should consider when establishing an SNT
- Best practices for selecting a trustee
- What are ABLE accounts and how do they differ from an SNT?
Who should attend?
Individuals, families and Chapter staff who wish to learn more about this topic are encouraged to register and attend a live stream of the interview. If you are unavailable to watch at that time, a recording will be available on the
includeNYC YouTube page
following Nadia's presentation.
Register today
to learn how a Special Needs Trust can help people with disabilities protect benefits and secure a better financial future.
We ask that you please share this opportunity with your staff and the individuals and families you serve. An event flier can be found
here
.
For questions, please contact Sarah Szewczyk, Director of Marketing at NYSARC Trust Services, at 518-556-2928 or
szewczyks@nysarc.org
.
Thank you,
Sarah Szewczyk
Director of Marketing and Business Development
NYSARC Trust Services
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From The Desk Of Stephan Roberts,
Writer and Self-Advocate
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A self-Advocate is a person who speaks up for themselves and the group they represent (Schaufelberger). The Arc of Rensselaer County's self-advocates represent people with developmental disabilities. They can speak up for themselves and make their own decisions. This includes asking others for help when they need it. Other things self-advocates may speak up for are their personal life goals, what jobs they’re interested in, what doctors they want, what type of transportation they want, what foods they prefer, hire/fire direct staff, and rights and responsibilities of the group they represent. Schools, at home, hospitals, stores, public transportation, and job places are all locations that a self-advocate may speak up at (Schaufelberger).
As a self-advocate myself some of the things that I have accomplished are being in three Special Olympics three years in a row for horseback riding. I live in my own apartment next door to my sister, and I am able to ask for help with socializing with other people. My Friend and I re-met at the end of July and started to date on August 20
th
, 2018. I found a job that lets me be as creative as I can be, and I’ve also become a published writer. As a self-advocate I hope to accomplish eventually going into self-direction and move in with my girlfriend. I hope to get my GED so I can go to a college of my choice and major in History.
Other self-advocates also accomplished things like I have. They have been able to participate in the Special Olympics, art shows, living in their own apartments, and also putting on events that fulfill their interests. Some examples of events are dances, blood drives, and picnics all with different themes such as making more friends. Recently, we had a dance that was themed High Speed Friend Dating & Dancing. The goal of the dance was to help people the Arc supports make new friends. The decorations were Valentine’s Day themed. They had a picture both, a questionnaire to help get to know each other, along with dancing games, and really good food. Self-advocates can also lobby for they own rights, the rights of people that support them, and the rights of the people they represent. Presently, self-advocates are lobbying for the rights of DSP living wages. DSP are a part of the group that helps support individuals with special needs. There is a monthly meeting of self-advocates. At these meetings we talk about and plan events, bring up issues, share opportunities to speak up/Lobby and work on projects.
A self-advocate goes to #Bfair2direcare events to support evens. Direct care is made up of people that help individuals with developmental disabilities with their everyday tasks like to remind them about tasks, and. The Direct care person my living the apartment even comes in and out thought the day and every day, working with them on their goals important to them. A self-advocacy can help their friend or family member become a self-advocates themselves.
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SPRING is here, and soon it will be time to PLAY BALL! Once again the ARC of Rensselaer and Jaeger and Flynn will be sponsoring the Renarc Renegades (25 years) coed slow-pitch softball team. All staff and significant others are encouraged to get out and recreate while earning points for your wellness program. There is no cost to players, and these games serve as an excellent opportunity to get outside and enjoy some exercise. We play 15 regular season games and a championship series, which we won two years ago. All games are played in Albany (Abele field) and Menands (Ganzer Smith Memorial Park). We will have practices on April 18
th
and 25
th
at Knickerbocker Memorial field at 106
th
St. in Troy. Games begin on May 1
st
(one per week) and alternate between Tue, Wed and Thursday evenings at 6 pm. Please spread the word to staff who may not have access to e-mails.
Please e-mail or call (518-376-7607) to let me know if you are interested, and I will get you a schedule and details
. ARC staff and participants are also encouraged to come and cheer the team on while enjoying some great summer weather.
Kim Burns Senior Coordinator
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The Arc of Rensselaer County | www.renarc.org
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