As we journey through Autumn, we turn our attention to the holidays.
We set aside the demands of work to browse for gifts to buy, bake treats, decorate our homes with twinkling lights, and gather to enjoy the smiles and laughter of friends and family. Treasured family traditions add to the joy of celebrating at year’s end. Our homes glow, and our communities sparkle.
But not everyone in our community has work to set aside, gifts or groceries to buy, and can travel with ease to gatherings. For some, simply having work would be a joy; being able to give gifts would be a deep pleasure; and gathering with friends for fun and laughter would be transformative. As we consider the blessings we have, consider, too, that many struggle to do what we casually take for granted.
As you hurry, take a moment to let me reveal what may be hidden from you.
SPARC Fills a Need No One Else Does
SPARC provides essential day programs for adults with disabilities. SPARC exists because the services these neighbors need simply do not exist elsewhere.
And what is hidden? The individuality, the motivation, the creativity, the thoughtfulness, the friendships, and the alchemy of togetherness among our SPARC Center participants.
Our dream is a community where everyone shares because living, working, and playing are easy. That is a community in the making, where homes, offices, and transportation are designed for everyone’s abilities. The term “shut-in” loses its meaning because social connections happen through meaningful services, reliable transportation, and easy-to-use internet connections.
Until then, SPARC serves those who are the least served by public and other private programs. We provide essential social, educational, and creative program for the 1% of the population of people with disabilities who have difficulty working or living in traditional environments.
Help SPARC Deliver for Those Who Need Us
This holiday season, you can help someone who is unserved in our community by making a gift to SPARC. You can add twinkling light to their darkness. Your gift will offer them the same promise of joy and hope for the coming year you and your loved ones may enjoy.
Your gift is an investment in meeting needs here in Northern Virginia. Every day during Center sessions, SPARC participants hear about and discuss the news; devote time to creative activities and conversations; and learn and practice skills that employers value. SPARC is stimulating and critical to the population we focus on. Your donation helps pay our program expenses. Each SPARC participant pays a monthly fee, but that covers only one-third of the actual cost of running our programs.
We keep our fees low because our participants have limited resources, and their families are burdened with exorbitant out-of-pocket and ongoing expenses for their care. You can see how every gift pays off.
After a long year of virtual learning during the COVID pandemic, SPARC is operating both in person and online. It is a welcome change that has pushed our operations to their limits. Without your support, we run the risk of shutting down.
You Can Help SPARC Close the Gap
We must raise $11,000 per month, month after month, year over year, to make up the shortfall between what our members can pay and what it costs to operate. Personalized, innovative programs that genuinely enrich lives cost money for facilities, instructors, aides, supplies and administration.
At each of our Northern Virginia locations, SPARC is a world unto itself. It is that dream community made real, for a few hours a day, five days a week. Making a one-time gift helps us close the gap this month. Becoming a monthly donor at any level helps us operate in a planned and sustainable way.
SPARC has always counted on the support of the wider community to ensure that our day program continues uninterrupted. This is especially vital given the uncertainties of our world, and theirs.
Join us by helping us maintain and improve our offerings and our operations.
We are grateful for your lighting the way for hope and a truly inclusive community.