Welcoming The Arc Lincoln County
The Arc Oregon is excited to welcome our newest local chapter, The Arc Lincoln County. The team is already doing a huge amount to support people with IDD in Lincoln County. We invited their activities director, Nikki Holland, to tell us about how they started, what they’re doing, and what their plans are.
We are so proud to have established a chapter of The Arc in Lincoln County. It all started in Winter of 2022. I saw that there was a need for support for individuals with disabilities and their families here in Lincoln County, especially after the closure of Shangri-La earlier that year. As a pilot project with The Arc of Benton County, we began as The Arc Achievement Program-Lincoln County in Summer of 2022. Beginning with only two participants meeting up at parks in the Newport area for socializing, lawn games and crafts, I quickly found there was community interest in a program here. By fall we had a full time Day Support Program in Lincoln County as a part of The Arc of Benton County. In a year and a half, we have grown to serve 36 participants across Lincoln County and now have four employees.
Currently we offer Day Support Activities. Each week we gather in both our classroom at The Olalla Center in Toledo and at the Parks and Recreation Clubhouse at Frank Wade Park in Newport. At these gatherings participants socialize, take part in games, seasonal crafts, garden, participate in various classes and skill development, and Club Wellness. To support our individuals getting out into the community, we schedule many regular and special occasion activities. 11 of participants weekly attend The Bright Horizons Therapeutic Riding Center in Siletz to learn about and ride horses.
Other days of the week, individuals meet for activities such as bowling, walking on the beach, hiking, or working out at the Newport Recreation Center. In the spring, fall, and summer, we host Arc in the Park, visiting different local parks in Newport, Depoe Bay, Toledo, and Waldport. We also do litter pick-ups as a way to help the community. We have had boating days with The Toledo Community Boathouse the last two years, visited pumpkin patches, attended the movies, attended library events, had a special day at Artsea Craftsea, checked out our local lighthouses, train museum, toured Yakona Nature Preserve and went on a few local Quests, among other adventures. We also have a Family and Friends Support Group of individuals with disabilities that we are working to expand.
The CommCard training is available to our participants, their advocates and local law enforcement. This program is a great self-advocacy tool for individuals with IDD and has helped us form great relationships with various law enforcement agencies.
Our group has become involved in the community garden opening between Toledo and Newport. With donated materials and labor, we have built three garden beds and will meet weekly to help with garden maintenance, planting and growing. We have also had successful experiences donating to those in need. For example, with the purchase of adapted knitting looms, participants were able to knit hats for the homeless this winter. We also made toys for the cats at the animal shelter, and put together a donation basket for a local rehabilitation center. These are the types of causes we look for opportunities to contribute to regularly.
While I am pleased with the rapid growth of the program, I have many aspirations for the future for The Arc of Lincoln County. Beyond day support and recreation, it is my goal to bring employment services as well. We hope to provide employment path services, and provide job coaching. We will also begin offering transportation as part of our DSA and future employment programs soon. Someday we would love to broaden our online thrift sales to a physical thrift store like The Arc of Benton County has to raise funds. We also aim to broaden our services to support children with disabilities in addition to the adults we currently serve. We will also focus on expanding our work with self-advocates in our community.
Raising awareness about The Arc of Lincoln County and advocating for people with disabilities is a priority for us. We are looking for people to spread the word about the program. We are also looking for volunteers that would like to help with our programs, as well as businesses that would welcome our group to come and experience what they have to offer. We appreciate any donations of any form, including goods and services we can use in fundraising raffles, or materials we can use to create with. Monetary donations can be made via Paypal. If anyone would like to get in touch they can email Nikki Holland (email will be updated soon), call 541-602-9248, follow our Facebook page, and be on the lookout for our website to launch in the near future.