One-Day Event Evolves to Year-Round Engagement
Announcing Summit Stories!
For 17 years, The Arc--JCCGC has celebrated the life stories of people with IDD at our annual Summit of Hope. In that time, loyal event supporters have helped us raise over $1.1 million —funding that has allowed us to empower thousands of people with IDD and their families through advocacy. Further, each year’s Summit of Hope event has been a day to build understanding, make connections and take action for our shared cause.
In recent years, we have noticed that our community’s interest in large-scale, in-person events has declined. Other organizations have observed this trend, too. Since event expenses have also increased, we have decided to evolve with the times. We have considered all aspects of Summit of Hope and have made the decision to pause the event as we have known it. In its place, we are excited to be introducing a brand-new effort: Summit Stories!
Summit Stories will be a year-round series highlighting the self-told stories of people with IDD in our community.
Our vision is to reach our community through compelling, emotional, and deeply personal stories of advocacy and self-advocacy. This new initiative will preserve most of the elements of Summit of Hope and engage our community in a more convenient and lasting way than a one-day, one-hour event.
The Summit Stories series is coming soon! You will see the first of these stories in the coming weeks and months. This compelling storytelling will continue throughout the year in the eNewsletter, on our social media, and on our website. Instead of having to put a few hours in your calendar, or drive to an event venue, you’ll be able to experience Summit Stories in just a few minutes—however and whenever it’s convenient!
We’ll also share these stories with the broader community by working with the press, at “lunch and learn” events, or at small presentations to groups we—or you!—are connected with. Our goal is for our full community to continue to learn more about the ongoing nature of the challenges people with IDD face, and how essential The Arc’s work is to people’s lives.
We will seek out your response to the Summit Stories you experience, and we are open to your ideas for people or topics to feature—simply email communications@arcjc.org. And just like at the in-person event, we’ll ask that if you are moved by a particular story, or the series of stories, you consider helping us create change by making a donation.
To ensure that we all still have opportunities to experience the joyful feeling of connection that Summit of Hope provided, we’ll celebrate Summit Stories with a brand-new spring celebration. This event will be unlike anything our chapter has ever hosted. (Stay tuned for more info!) And as always, we will continue to gather in-person at our annual Summer Picnic and Holiday Open House.
We’re almost ready to launch Summit Stories. To ensure you don’t miss out:
- Make sure you’re signed up for our eNewsletter
- Follow us on Social Media
We plan to keep all the past video and other content from past Summit of Hope events on this section of the website to honor all we have accomplished together so far. Whether you participated in Summit of Hope as a table captain, donor, sponsor, Board member, committee member, volunteer or guest, we are grateful! You helped set the bar for what we could accomplish together, and what we’ll strive to do ongoing. We look forward to sharing Summit Stories with you and hope you’ll continue to show your support for people with IDD and The Arc.
Thank you to our year-round sponsors!
Want to learn more about year-round sponsorships? Click here to explore our levels and value bundles. Please get in touch with veronica@arcjc.org with any questions.
