Albany ARC hosts annual awards banquet | PHOTOS

ALBANY — Albany’s James H Gray Sr. Civic Center in Albany was awash with smiling faces and excitement Monday night as nearly 600 people attended the annual Albany Advocacy Resource Center (ARC) awards banquet.

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The banquet, which has been the organization’s most important event for 37 years, serves as a way for the ARC to recognize the community partners that help make its mission a reality, and to celebrate the important accomplishments of the intellectually and developmentally challenged individuals that are the recipients of the organization’s tremendous community efforts.

“It’s the biggest thing we do all year long because we celebrate the people we serve and the people who help us serve them,” said ARC Director of Marketing and Public Relations Eddie McCarty. “It’s a tremendous event.”

This year the organization had the good fortune to welcome a distinguished keynote speaker, Peter Berns, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Arc, which is the national advocacy resource center in Washington D.C.

During his remarks Berns shared a great deal about the history of the organization which started more than 60 years ago as a “true grassroots non-profit” movement.

“The ARC was formed 65 years ago when parents of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities started organizing all around the country in church basements and people’s living rooms and community centers with the goal of creating a better life for their sons and daughters ,” said Berns. “At that time very little was known about the condition of intellectual and developmental disability. There was very little in place to support families.”

Berns explained that as those families continued to work toward solutions for how to care for their loved ones, their plight was eventually given a tremendous boost 50 years ago by then President John F. Kennedy.

“Emboldened by the collective desire to raise their children at home and their stubborn refusal to accept that institutionalization was the only option, the ARC’s founders, moms and dads across the nation, fought for change and their voices began to be heard at the highest levels of government,” Berns said. “Including 50 years ago when John F. Kennedy called on the nation to bring people with intellectual and developmental disabilities out of the shadows and provide them the opportunity to participate and be included in community life.”

Berns continued by sharing some of the highlights of what the ARC has been able to accomplish since that time in terms of advocating for new laws and legislative changes aimed at the better the lives of those individuals.

In his comments Berns also shared that the Albany ARC was part of a larger family of advocacy resource centers across the country that can boast 670 state and local chapters in 48 states and the district of Columbia, that serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities at over 4,700 locations.

He also shared that the “vibrant network” of chapters has more than 7,000 board members, more than 50,000 volunteers and more than 124,000 staff members that now serve more than one million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.

“You are in good company,” said Berns.

While Berns remarks captured the larger picture of the ARC’s mission and its accomplishments, the night belonged to those individuals for whom the organization exists.

More than 160 of the intellectually and developmentally challenged individuals the ARC serves in the Albany area were honored and presented with awards for their achievements.

Of those who were honored 150 received Annette’s Shining Star awards, named after ARC legend and past Executive Director Annette Bowling. Those who received those awards did so by making significant progress on their Individual Service Plans (ISP) in the past year.

An additional 18 individuals involved in 12 of the the ARC’s programs were also given Personal Achievement Awards which were based on meeting certain goals pertaining to one of the 12 programs.

“These individuals did really well in their ISPs,” said McCarty. “They truly achieved a high level of excellence.”

The 18 who received those awards were Tyler Steck, who earned the a Preschool Award; Brayen Harris who earned an Autism Award; Romeigus Benjamin, who received a Treatment Court Award; Deborah Golden and Collela Ebron who received Mental Health Awards; Rodney Johnson and Derrick People who received Special Olympics Awards; Mike Ragan and Willie Hayes, who received Project ARC Awards; Tammy Jones, Willie Peterson and Travis Smith, who received Adult Day Awards; Pearl Revill, who received a SOURCE Award; Nakuma Childs, who recieved an EmployAbility Award; Amy Collins who received an ICWP Award; Dale Hogan and Mauel Osborne who received Residential Awards; and Billy Griner, who received the Ray Carte Special Olympics Award.

In addition to the awards presented to those the ARC serves, the night also saw ARC officials recognize several businesses, individuals and organizations which partner with and support the ARC and its programs with Community Service Awards, Collaborative Partner Awards, and Employer Partner Awards.

The ARC also presented a High School/High Tech Collaborative Partner Award to Leslie James and Brandi Sutton of Kroger; the Outstanding Board Member of the Year Award to Debbie Fulford, the Volunteer of the Year Awards to Danny James and Vicky Leister.

More than 180 awards were given out at the banquet.