Penny
Penny Cannon lives in a private home with four housemates where The Arc provides daily living support. As a child, Penny learned to draw and paint along with her siblings. Years later, after moving into a home of her own in Spokane, Penny began to pursue her long-time interest in painting in earnest. With encouragement from her family and help from The Arc's Residential Support staff, Penny purchased the necessary supplies and began painting at her home as often as her busy schedule would permit. In time Penny's collection grew large enough to feature at local art shows, where they began to sell. Recognizing the potential for her talent to generate income, Penny had prints created of her best works which she is successfully marketing to scores of local businesses in Spokane.
(Residential Support)

Claire
Claire is a Spokane resident who'se been coming to The Arc Community Center for five years. In addition to seeing her friends, Claire enjoyes the Center's community outings and is a great help to staff when it's time to tidy up at the end of the day. When two volunteer nursing students from Washington State University started an aerobics class two years ago, Claire wanted to help. With guidance from the Center's manager, Claire now leads the class. With up to 25 members, making the class fun while providing a good workout can be a challenge. But Claire knows just what to do. She's gentle with those who need encouragement and tough with those who need a nudge. Claire's success as aerobics leader has not only helped her grow, it's helped improve the health of her friends at the Center too.
(The Arc Community Center)

Luke
Luke has been a constituent of The Arc's Financial Management program since 2004. After Luke revealed that someone was taking his Social Security income, his counselor contacted Adult Protective Services (APS) to investigate. An APS case worker found numerous illegal squatters in Luke's apartment, eating his food and stealing his income. Living conditions in the apartment were also very poor. Regular visits by the Spokane Police helped run the squatters off, but it was clear that Luke was having difficulty meeting his personal care needs. Nearly 70 years old, Luke also needed medical and dental care but was reluctant to accept help even though he qualified for assistance through Washington's Division of Developmental Disabilities. It took two years of gentle persuasion from financial counselors at The Arc and case workers at APS to convince Luke to take the steps that would improve his qualify of life. But their persistence paid off. Today, Luke lives in an adult family home in Spokane where he enjoys a clean home, good health and friends who truly care about him.
(Financial Management)   

Carmen
Carmen is a constituent of The Arc's Person to Person program. She loves her job as a noon aide at Hamblen Elementary, where she helps students resolve conflicts in the school's "Solutions Room." When an in-home accident left Carmen severely injured, she refused to let the enormous challenge of recovery get the best of her. Through multiple reconstructive surgeries and months of painful convalescence, Carmen's determination and unfailing positive attitude never faltered. Today, she's back at Hamblen Elementary, helping students overcome life's challenges. There isn't anyone better suited for the job.
(Person to Person)

Lisa
A letter written by a member of The Arc Community Center to the manager, Jenna:

"Dear Jenna - The Arc Community Center has helped me a lot in the passed years. Even though I am only able to attend once a week. I received many benefits like meeting friends, and going places I would not of been able to go if I did not attend the Arc Community Center. The exercise classes really help me a lot to loose weight that is not needed. Coming to the Arc also gives my mom time to get things done here at home so I get to have fun while she does things she needs to do.

Also, at the Arc I learned a craft I was looking for forever. I was looking for a hobbie or a craft to do at home. Some thing to keep me busy when I got tired of computer games. Lani, one of the Arc's craft staff, found a craft that everyone enjoys a lot and she got me started. She even had to find different stuff so I could do it because I can only use one hand and she did. But I now do the craft at home and my family and I were racking our brains trying to find something to keep me busy. Lani did just that. Thanks a million.

The Arc has done quite a lot for me and my family. I enjoy going there to help others and meeting new friends. Which I get to do every Friday. Thank you, Jenna, Lani, Marie and Jeff. I also enjoy playing Bingo with Al on Fridays. That is fun too. The Arc is really enjoyable!"
(The Arc Community Center)

DJ
DJ is an adult man with a developmental disability living in Spokane. Although DJ lived on Social Security benefits for a number of years, he now supports himself financially with a full-time job. A financial counselor at The Arc of Spokane helps DJ pay his bills. When DJ's counselor learned that the Social Security Administration was demanding repayment of $6,500 for overpayments they had issued previously, she notified The Arc's Individual Advocate. Although financial self-sufficient, DJ had little money to spare, and the demand was causing him a great deal of anxiety. The Arc's Individual Advocate participated in an interview with a representative at the Social Security office to review the matter further. After carefully reviewing the facts, the Social Security representative determined that neither DJ nor his financial manager was at fault for the error. Soon thereafter, DJ learned that the demand for repayment had been dropped.
(Individual Advocacy, Financial Management)

Bradley
Bradley was a young, homeless man who wanted to rent his own place. He had enough money for a deposit, but his income from Social Security was limited. With help from an Individual Advocate at The Arc of Spokane, Bradley found home that met his income requirements.  However, because of a prior incident involving the police the landlord refused to rent the apartment to Bradley. At a meeting involving Bradley, the landlord and the Individual Advocate, Bradley explained the circumstances surrounding the prior incident and demonstrated that he was a responsible renter with life goals. The landlord decided to rent Bradly the apartment.
(Individual Advocacy)

Anonymous
A letter written by a constituent student who attended the Partnership's annual Safety Rally at the STA Plaza:
 
"Dear Theresa - Thank you for letting my class come to the safety Rally. It is important to be Safe in the community because there are some people that are not safe people to hang out with or be with if you don't know them and they might try something. It is important to say no to that person. If you are not safe go some where that you are safe. It's important to be safe were ever you are."
(The Partnership)