Carol DeMoulin of The Arc Foundation of Monroe Announces Transition to Retirement

Employment, Staff Perspectives, Uncategorized, What's In The News

Carol DeMoulin, the Executive Director of The Arc Foundation of Monroe, recently announced her plan to start a transition to retirement. Since starting her role as Executive Director in November of 2018, The Arc Foundation of Monroe has raised nearly $1.5 million to help fulfill The Arc’s mission and uphold its core values. Leading this charge, she acknowledges the “strong and mighty” team from the Foundation and Marketing department who have helped drive this success. “The Arc Foundation is solid and stable,” said Tracy Petrichick, CFO and acting CEO, The Arc of Monroe. “We had great success in 2020 despite …

LifePrep@Naz Employment Readiness Program May be Perfect “Next Step”

Uncategorized

Transitioning from high school to the “next step” can be an exciting time in a young person’s life. It can also come with a lot of questions and unknowns about where to begin. The LifePrep@Naz might be that perfect next step. The design of the LifePrep@Naz program stems from the overall goal of providing individuals with disabilities, of typical college age, a similar-aged learning community that allows for the transformation from high school students to self-determined and competitively employed contributors in our society. The program is designed to prepare students for success, not only in the classroom, but also at …

Looking Forward to the Next Adventure

Uncategorized

When Barbara Wale finishes her tenure at The Arc of Monroe at the end of this month, she will have spent over 40 years working in the field of disability and human services with a professional record that boasts extraordinary contributions to the field. Wale has dedicated her life and her career in service to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Remarkably, all of those years have been with The Arc of Monroe, where she started in 1978 as a speech pathologist. Five years later, she was promoted to Director of Clinical Services and in only one year, became Director …

A Match Made for the Holidays

Uncategorized, Volunteer, What's In The News

Doug Hoyt has wanted to illustrate books since he was a little kid. So when he got the opportunity to make his dream come true, he jumped at the chance. Hoyt has teamed up with Rochester broadcast legend Don Alhart to produce a holiday children’s book this season. The 13-WHAM anchor had his own dream – to create a holiday book about a nostalgic memory of his that centered on Sibley’s Toyland in downtown Rochester. “Sibley’s Christmas Adventure,” was a story Alhart had created about “Sibley,” a mouse on a magical Christmas adventure set on the fourth floor toy department …

A Toast to The Arc Family!

COVID-19, Programs and Services, Uncategorized, Volunteer

Wow, what a year this has been. Each and every one of our lives has been affected in different ways. We have also become unified in our determination to contain the spread of this virus. This could not be done without every single one of us, doing our parts, and extending ourselves even more than we thought we could. While drawing close to our loved ones at home, the staff at The Arc of Monroe left theirs to stand together with those we support in their homes. They became heroes overnight, doing everything they could to keep the people we …

Celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month

Programs and Services, Stories Of People We Support, Uncategorized

Celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month During October, we are celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month and highlighting a few people we support who are employed through our Job Path program. First up, we highlight Steve Blum who works as a Lot Attendant at Home Depot where he’s been since 2002. Steve says he enjoys the job and his coworkers very much. He’s been working throughout the pandemic, thankful for the opportunity to keep patrons safe by sanitizing the Home Depot carts – something completely new for him. Now he’s used to it and enjoys keep the customers know the …

Sibley’s Christmas Adventure debuts from Don Alhart

Uncategorized, Volunteer, What's In The News

Before WHAM-TV, Channel 13 anchor Don Alhart rushed out to do the 11 p.m. news on October 3, he spent the evening with us at The Arc of Monroe’s annual celebration, A Toast to the Arc. We were thrilled to help him launch his first children’s book, “Sibley’s Christmas Adventure,” wonderfully illustrated by Doug Hoyt. Join “Sibley,” the mouse on a magical Christmas adventure set in Sibley’s Toyland in downtown Rochester. “Downtown Rochester was a special place during the holidays, and the fourth floor toy department at Sibley’s was the center of the universe for me.” All sales from Sibley’s …

How Do Our Brains Respond To Trauma?

Uncategorized

Our brains are amazing.  They are the control centers for our whole body, and they make us who we are.  But for some people, it can feel like they are fighting a constant battle with their brain.  People who have experienced trauma, such as violence, abuse, a serious injury or a natural disaster, are at risk for developing a condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  PTSD impacts the way in which a person’s brain functions. There are three specific areas of the brain that are impacted by traumatic events.  The first is called the amygdala.  The amygdala’s job is to …

Covid 19 masks

Asking for volunteers to sew masks

Uncategorized

We have been so grateful to all of the support that we have received from our community! You may be asking, how can I help during COVID-19? We could use some handmade masks for people working in our residential homes, to provide a little extra barrier while cooking, playing a game of cards, and interacting with the people we support. Handmade masks in a sealed bag can be dropped off inside the lobby at 2060 Brighton Henrietta Townline Road, Rochester, NY 14623 Monday – Friday 8am – 4pm. Here is a link that has been helpful to our community of …

The importance of educating medical residents

Staff Perspectives, Uncategorized

It is with open arms that Kim Rinehart, former Director of Community Arts Connection (CAC), welcomes medical residents from UR Medicine’s Pediatric Links with the Community (PLC) intern community rotation program. CAC supports adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) with a focus on arts programming.  Between one and six medical residents visit the day service location in Brighton at a time. Residents are required to attend a variety of different local community programs to spend time anywhere a patient might receive services, for example a homeless shelter or CAC.   What do the residents learn while visiting? When residents arrive …