2016 Summit of Hope Community Awareness Luncheon
Alicia and Ben Eakins, along with their children Ezra and Imogen shared their extraordinary story at the 2016 Summit of Hope. Click on the photo to see event pictures on Facebook!
It was an event to remember! The Arc’s Summit of Hope Community Awareness Luncheon was held on October 18, 2016 and featured heart-warming stories that showed the crowd just how much people with intellectual and developmental disabilities can achieve.
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The 2016 Summit of Hope was kicked off by Arc Advocate Patricia Fulton, our very favorite emcee. She introduced the audience to Anton Kiwimagi, who sang a beautiful rendition of “Lean On Me”, and who earned a standing ovation from the audience after his performance!
After a brief break for lunch, The Arc's Executive Director Lori Ropa spoke about how people lean on The Arc for many things – compassion, support, understanding their rights, meeting other families, encouragement, optimism, and a path forward, and The Arc leans on the people who are part of our community to provide us with inspiration, energy, strength and motivation.
As an organization dedicated to helping people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) to learn how to do life in an ever-changing world, we find that the people we serve often need more assistance at different points in their lifetime. It's when we follow the people we serve over time that you can really see the power of advocacy to transform lives and bring the seemingly impossible within reach. To see for yourself, below is a video that includes the stories of Traci Loeffler and Kaiden Rivera.
Alicia and Ben Eakins, along with their children Ezra and Imogen (pictured at the top of the page) then took the stage to share their extraordinary story.
As our program drew to a close, our friend Lesley Dahlkemper took the stage to rally support for The Arc. Thanks to her passionate appeal, The Summit of Hope has already raised over $70,000 to ensure people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) have the right help at the right time to help everyone achieve their dreams. If you would like to be part of the 2016 Summit of Hope's success story, click here to donate now. 100% of your donation will support our friends and neighbors right here in Jefferson, Clear Creek & Gilpin Counties.
