Member Art Wolfe invited everyone to his home for a fundraiser to support the Aurora Symphony.   Special guest Kelly Augustine will be in attendance along with members of the symphony.  Please RSVP to Art ( wolfeaso@hotmail.com ) .  Details in link below:

 

• Using the latest Rotary resources and technology, including Social Media, websites and ClubRunner
• The Rotary Foundation & How to Get Grant Money for Your Projects
• Club Spotlight: Mental Health Initiatives
• Rotary ABCs – Great for the Newest Members
• Successful Fundraising!

Luke Stahmer joined us this week to discuss The ARC of Colorado and all of the great support they provide to Aurora and the State of Colorado.  He has been a board member for 11 years.   The Arc of Colorado, along with local Chapters, provides crucial educational information for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. The Arc of Colorado works to connect people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families to community resources, strives to help them understand and access government services, and stands with them when they need an advocate.   ARC has reached their 50th anniversary and is a national organization with local chapters.  They will do 90 million dollars in revenue from their thrift store operations through capitialistic principles.  They will give 13 million back to their local chapters.  They attribute their growth to the hiring of their CEO, Lloyd Lewis, 10 years ago.  After 40 years, their organization was beginning to stagnate and Lloyd brought in the business principles he learned through many successful years in his previous career opportunities.   He decided to join Arc after the birth of his son who was diagnosed with Downs Syndrome.  He redesigned the board from a non-profit board to a corporate board focused on maximizing profit so they have more to give back to the communities they serve.  Chapters provide an array of services to local communities directed to people with special needs.  They have 305 individuals with special needs and found that this effort along with other endeavors and sticking with their mission have helped build their growth.  Arc Ambassadors University with support of Anshutz Foundation is an educational program to develop life skills courses for those that attend.  This has provided a great ability to build support for the Ambassadors and an opportunity for them to blend in.   The provide a graduation for attendees that many of them were not given the ability to attend earlier in their lives.  Arc has received 40 best in class for their thrift stores.  They have done over 40 million customer transactions in the last 5 years, which continues to bolster their visibility and efforts in their communities.  Many people are familiar with Jane or Jack calling to offer a home pickup.  They specialize in recycling all donations including vehicles.   They focus on keeping items out of landfills including 75,000 vehicles.    Those items that might not be usable in the U.S. might be used in other countries. They are always working on partnerships with community members and other non-profits.  An example of one of these partnerships has been with the American Red Cross to support them in recycling vehicles.  They will run the program and provide the funds back to the partner organization.   Another example is working with Volunteers of America helping them support their Wheels on Meals program by raising over 3M pounds of food.   Arc is the largest non-food bank provider in the community at-large.   Since 2011 they have had the support of 3M hours of volunteer efforts.   Arc is also a large supporter of the Global Downs Syndrome Foundation to help with the research and development.   There has been a connection developed between Downs and Alzheimers and the hope is that the support provided could provide a cure for both.   Arc has an array of other services they provide to communities and Luke would encourage you to check out their website for more information on donations, volunteering opportunities, or as a resource for those that need help.

 

Luke, thanks for providing some insight on Arc. Thank you for your support of Aurora and surrounding communties.