Provide Scholarships for Adults with Disabilities

“Don’t stop me now,” sang Queen in the hit movie Bohemian Rhapsody. “I’m having such a good time. I’m having a ball.”

That song lyrics fits the philosophy of many SPARC members.

There’s simply no stopping us, and we have a blast because we’re fully engaged in our communities within our clubhouses and outside those walls. Sure, we’re an organization whose members are adults with disabilities, but the secret to having a great time is in our name:

Specially Adapted Resource Clubs.

Some people think our lives are defined by our disability. That’s not true in an organization like SPARC where we live by the tenets of inclusivity and staying healthy. Sure, we all have additional different challenges, but everyone has additional challenges. They don’t keep us down. Someone with a visual impairment or confined to a wheelchair can see and move in ways that would astound you.

You already know that good health means taking care of the physical, mental, and emotional self. The healthiest way to live in community with others is when you can engage all three aspects of yourself. 

So I’ll let you in on a little secret look of what we’ve done in just the past couple of weeks to engage our bodies, minds, and emotions with each other and the bigger world around us.

We donated food from our homes to a Thanksgiving food basket to help those who don’t have the financial resources to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

We worked out regularly on our adapted zumba routines. Yes, you can zumba even if you can’t walk. That’s the adapted part. And we hosted a Zumbathon fundraiser at al church, too.

We learned together how to give a toast at a festive meal. We’ve all been at holiday gatherings where the person proposing the toast didn’t say exactly what they wanted to say.

We were featured in an art exhibit called “We Are Not Wallflowers” at the Fairlington Community Center in Arlington, Virginia

We cooked up yummy dog biscuits for four-legged friends. Some of us have service animals, but truly, what doggy doesn’t look a homemade dog biscuit?

We visited two large local malls for our annual holiday shopping trip. We love seeing the different shops and have worked with some in the past to show how they can be more inclusive and friendly for adults with a disability who are shopping there.

We scheduled a session for students studying occupational therapy to talk with us. We’re kind of occupational therapy experts, and we love helping other people on their learning journey.

We celebrated during Thanksgiving Week by having ice cream parties. Look, the temperature was in the 60s, ice cream is ice cream, and were thankful for it. And for each other.

We are hosting a movie fundraiser this week at one of our clubhouses. Friends, family, and people from the community will get to see the movie Elf starring Will Ferrel, Zooey Deschanel, and Bob Newhart.

We will be sorting large bags of produce for a local church’s food pantry. We partner with them. They bring us 50 pound bags of produce that we portion into packages for individual families. That’s because we believe everyone should give back, and we love doing this every month.

We are also publishing a new holiday cookbook this year, and we’ll raise some more money by selling it to members of the community. 

Reading all of this can be tiring so you can imagine the contentment and satisfaction actually doing all this brings to us.

We appreciate your support of our living in community within and outside our clubs. Because we are so self-sufficient, our monthly fees are very low, but we still have friends who cannot afford to pay. 

Your gift helps us offer scholarships to adults with disabilities who need a little extra financial help to be able to live in the community like we do. Please help us continue to offer these scholarships and know that are faithful stewards of your gifts.