02 Mar The Arc Westchester Honored with a Red Shoe Award for Community Partner of the Year

The mission of The Arc Westchester is to empower children and adults with developmental disabilities to achieve their potential based on personal choices, abilities, and interests. This is accomplished through person-centered services, supported decision making, assistance to families, advocacy and leadership, that together inspire the community to value the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities. Each day, the Arc Westchester supports more than 2,000 individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. Program participants range in age from birth to senior citizens over 90 years. To meet the needs of this diverse population, The Arc Westchester offers a broad range of innovative and effective programs and services.
Choices is a dynamic, educational, community-based day program of The Arc Westchester, with the goal of assisting young adults to develop important life skills needed to work in the community, through career exploration, classroom training, volunteerism and/or internships. Each day, small groups participate in community activities with their peers. Twice a month, a group of bakers from the Choices Program come to the House to bake for the families. The individuals love researching new recipes, shopping for supplies, and seeing how the delicious baked goods buoy the spirits of the families at the House, tired and hungry after a day of meeting with doctors and supporting their children in the hospital.
The Arc Westchester’s dedicated Pull Tabs Team, led by Samantha, arrives at the House every Thursday to pick up donated beverage can pull tabs. The tabs are then brought to a local scrap metal business to be weighed. The cash received for the tabs goes directly to support programs of the House. This project provides the Choices group with valuable life lessons on the importance of recycling, money management, and giving back to the community.