February 2011
Disable the Label
by Karen Unternahrer, Coordinator of Respite Care Services, Arc Opportunities, Inc.
Phone: 260-463-4901 • Fax 888-439-6528 • The Hometown Treasure
Friend-To-Friend
With the beginning of a New Year, we are
introducing something new at Arc Opportunities, Inc.
Friend-to-Friend is a program that gives community
members opportunity to encourage an individual
with a disability by way of greeting cards. In this day
of texting and e-mail, instant messaging and Skype,
many individuals with a developmental delay are ‘left
behind’ on the communication highway.
There remains something special about receiving
a piece of mail with one’s name on it rather
than “current occupant.” Many times over a
person may go back to that card and, holding
it in their hands, they have the assurance that
someone cares. It is a tangible reminder that
they are valued just for being who they are.
Who can be a friend? You! Individuals,
families, clubs, youth groups; anyone can be
a sending-friend. The receiving-friend is someone in
our community who has a developmental disability;
Arc Opportunities currently serves more than one
hundred and fifty individuals county-wide.
There are several options to consider in what you
or your group would like to commit to in the Friendto-Friend program for the year 2011. 1) Sponsor the
birthday list and be sure every client gets a birthday
card this year. 2) Sponsor one individual, sending him
or her a greeting card once a month. 3) Sponsor a
group home, sending monthly greeting cards to each
person residing in that particular home; between two
and six people. 4) Sponsor some or all of our clients
who live on their own or with their family, sending
monthly greeting cards to brighten the day.
Confidentiality and other issues necessitate that
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