Provide Scholarships for Adults with Disabilities

Books help people travel the world, learn about new things, and enjoy romance, adventure, or a great story. Whether a reader enjoys scholarly works or the latest thriller, there's almost always a book that can entertain, enthrall, and educate them.

We believe in lifelong learning for all members of our community and appreciate that books are the kindling that keeps the lifelong fires burning.

That's why we've decided to create a LIttle Free Library in our communities.

The concept is simple: volunteers build a weather-resistant library shelf that lets visitors leave a book or get a new book to read.

There are now more than 80,000 registered Little Free Library book-sharing boxes in 91 different countries. The idea is great for building community anywhere and helps improve everyone's quality of life. We think it's a way for everyone to benefit even if they don't visit the library themselves.

There are some costs involved in building and registering a Little Free Library, which is where you come in. We want to build these libraries and add them to some of the community centers in Fairfax County, Virginia, where our clubs meet.

Registering each library costs $40, building them might cost $100-$200 each, and we need to install them, too.

With your help, we can work with volunteers to learn how to create a Little Free Library, stock them with their first books and make sure they stay neat, clean, and organized.

Please consider giving today as we embark on this new chapter of helping ourselves as we help others.

You have probably learned by now that SPARC is a special place for adults with disabilities. Participants craft their days around things that they want to do. Some opt to receive job training and support to enter the workforce. Others prefer a place to socialize and learn about interesting topics that run a gamut from Mandarin cooking to mindfulness. And still others prefer a mix along with recreational therapy and activities like yoga and art therapy.

We have offered participants art therapy options since our early days more than a decade ago. I've watched a group of club members excitedly work on painting canvases, drawing pictures that would later be notecards or assembling crafts. The art created by SPARC participants has been shown in community centers and other exhibitions throughout our area. And ornaments we decorated were hung on the Virginia tree at the National Mall during the 2016 holiday season.

This isn't just fooling around and making pretty things, although they are very nice. "Central to creating most of these works on canvas and paper has been the idea of experimentation--all allowing the specific characteristics of the materials and processes to direct the effort and the outcomes. The therapy part of recreational therapy holds real benefits.

Art and other recreational therapies are an important part of our world. Our entire organization is built on the belief that everyone is able to partipate in their community.  

We need your help in securing more art, yoga, and recreational therapy resources for 2019. An adult with a lifelong disability can be a SPARC member for as little as $7 per hour. That means that more people can engage with their community and not be trapped inside their homes with nowhere to go. 

As we enter Year 13 in Virginia, we've grown from one location with four participants to four locations.