Disclaimer: I am on the board of our local Arc chapter, so my views may be biased.  I just want to share a bit about the fun we had at our Fun Fitness Walk, and encourage you to support your local Arc chapter.  They do good work.

Today we woke up the crack of hey-it’s-too-early-to-be-awake-on-a-Saturday and bundled up in layers because I am just not going to put on my winter coat yet.  We had somewhere to be — our Fun Fitness Walk.  I was volunteering at the t-shirt table, and thought The Boy might help me with that (Um, turns out, not so much, but oh well).  I had spent the previous evening sorting, folding, bagging, and tagging shirts into the wee hours of the night.  We arrived, and The Boy wandered off into the park, while I set up the T-shirt table.

We checked in almost all of the 50 or so registered people, and took donations from random people coming to the park, as well.  There were people of all ages, with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and those without.  The walkers were warmed up en masse, walked for awhile, and then explored the activities, games, and treats.  We had a presentation from our police force’s K-9 unit, which was very intriguing and entertaining.  People continued to mill about, dance to the music, get balloon animals from the clown, and generally have a good time, forgetting that it never did get as warm as the weatherman promised.

We raised money for our little nonprofit and had a great time doing it.  Our chapter sponsors activities like this, bowling, teen dances, informational presentations for parents about trusts, IEPs, and transition services, and so much more.  There is probably a chapter near you, and they probably do very similar things for families just like yours.

Look up The Arc, check them out.  As I said, they do good work.

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