ARC 2025 Annual Membership Meeting & Holiday Dinner Dance – Sunday, Dec. 14 Noon – 4 pm at Rutland Elks Lodge
Transportation is available. Please RSVP to 802-775-1370 by Wednesday, December 10, 2025 to reserve your seats. And let us know if you need the BUS.
ARC is the partner “On Tap” in Lawson’s Finest Liquids Taproom Dec. 1 – 15, 2025
ARC is honored to be the recipient of Lawson’s Finest Liquids’ Sunshine Fund for the time period above. As the partner “On Tap” Sunshine Fund awardee, ARC will receive 100% of the donations made to the Sunshine Fund by their patrons during these two weeks.
Lawson’s Finest provides their staff with a living wage and generous benefit package, therefore in lieu of tips, 100% of guest donations at the Taproom benefit local charitable endeavors all year long through the Sunshine Fund.
Please consider visiting Lawson’s during ARC’s “On Tap” time period and share this with any family or friends that live near Lawson’s and encourage them to support ARC.
Lawson’s Finest Liquids 155 Carroll Rd. Waitsfield, VT 05673
2025 GMSA Mini Conference Know Your Rights! Speak Up!
Some ARC members attended the GMSA Mini Conference: Know Your Rights! Speak Up! in Manchester, VT on Tuesday, Nov. 18th. The conference reviewed 12 rights of those living in a home-share or in housing run by an agency. All enjoyed the conference.
ARC 2025 Halloween Dance
We had a wonderful time with many in great costumes at our ARC 2025 Halloween Dance on Sunday, Oct. 26th at the Rutland American Legion. Our members enjoyed Domino’s Pizza and cake for lunch followed by dancing and socializing with friends. The winners of our costume contest were: David Garvey as Shrek for most original costume; Greg Elnicki for funniest costume in a technicolored suit; and Amanda Shea for scariest costume as a dead senorita. Our deepest appreciation to the Rutland American Legion for providing the venue and to Domino’s Pizza for providing the pizzas. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped with set-up and who picked up the pizzas and cakes.
ARC in the 2025 Rutland City Halloween Parade
ARC members, with their Magical Forest float, were excited to participate in the 2025 Rutland City Halloween Parade on Sat. Oct. 25th. A huge thank you to Nellie and Dmitri Beliakov for the photos.
ARC Second Group of Life Skills Courses
ARC’s second two, five week life skill courses – Reading for Joy and How to Cook Easy and Eat Well for Myself – were successfully completed in early October. Congratulations to all!
Our next life skills course is Movement – Why and How You Need It. This is an educational and physically active course teaching why our bodies need movement and demonstrates effective ways to do so. These classes begin on Nov. 18 – Dec 23; (there will be no class on Dec. 9th). Max of 6 students. Lisa Lynch will be the instructor. Again, we are so grateful to the Bowse Health Trust grant for making these life skill courses possible.
ARC 2025 Barn Picnic
We had a beautiful day for our 2025 ARC Barn Picnic on Sunday, Oct. 5 at the Duffy family home in Poultney. ARC members enjoyed a lunch of hot dogs, baked beans, macaroni salad, and a variety of chips followed by cupcakes for dessert. Members had fun socializing, viewing the animals, and participating in the Limbo Contest. Congratulations to James Fowler on winning the Limbo Contest!
ARC extends our sincere appreciation to the Duffy family for hosting and sponsoring this annual event along with the Poultney Rotary Club and McKenzie Country Classics. Thank you to ARC staff for their work on this and to TeeJay Morrigan for volunteering at this event. Photos by Ginger Morrigan.
ARC’s Artists First: Art By Any Other Name art show at the VTSU Castleton Bank Gallery
ARC Self-Advocates, AKtion Club, and the VTSU Castleton University Bank Gallery were proud to present “Art by Any Other Name,” a group exhibition of art created by ARC “Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered – Rutland and AKtion Club”. The exhibition ran from Sept. 18 – Nov. 1. The show was well received with several of their pieces being purchased.
This new Inclusion project, made possible by a Stewarts’ Grant, offered both groups the opportunity to create and share their artwork with the community. ARC extends our sincere gratitude to our member artists, Stewarts’, the VTSU Castleton Bank Gallery, Ginger Morrigan who facilitated this opportunity for our members, and to TeeJay Morrigan who built a ramp to make the art gallery accessible to all.
ARC AKtion Club and SABE-R Annual Car Wash Fundraiser
On Saturday, August 9th, ARC Aktion Club and SABE-R members held their annual Car Wash Fundraiser at the Bank of Bennington, on Woodstock Avenue in Rutland. Members raised funds to donate to local nonprofits to help those in need. We extend a big thank to all who came out and showed their support to make this event a success!
ARC extends its sincere appreciation to the sponsors of this event – the Bank of Bennington for hosting this event and to Napa Auto Parts store for donating car cleaning supplies. Thank you to our volunteers Gwen and Jasper!
Rutland National Night Out 2025
On Tuesday, August 5th, ARC and its members had a great time participating in the Rutland National Night Out at Meadow St. Park. Members enjoyed the cookout and learning about other service providers. In addition to giving out information about our organization, ARC was able to give away coffee mugs and chap sticks with our logo on them courtesy of our 4imprint #4onebyone grant earlier this year.
ARC & Rutland Kiwanis Club 2025 Family Fun Day
We had a gorgeous day on Saturday, July 19th for our 2025 ARC/Rutland Kiwanis Club Annual Family Fun Day at the Pittsford Recreation Center. The fun filled afternoon started with a cookout of hamburgers on the grill with potato chips, brownie bites, and a variety of drinks and snow cones. Followed by activities of lawn games, hula hoop and limbo contests, swimming, karaoke, and bingo for prizes. Everyone had a great time!
We are so very appreciative of the Rutland Kiwanis Club and its members for sponsoring and volunteering at this annual event. We also extend our gratitude to the Mission City Church Youth Group who come to help out at this event each year. And thank you to our ARC volunteers in attendance.
ARC & Come Alive Outside First Annual Summer Splash
We had a blast Sunday, June 22 at our first annual ARC & Come Alive Outside Summer Splash at Lake Bomoseen State Park Pavillion. We had hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. Members brought a variety of side dishes to share – mac ‘n cheese, salads, chips, and desserts. The we played lawn games and had hula hoop and limbo contests. Congratulations to Shelby on winning 1st place in both contests! We ended the afternoon playing Bingo for prizes.
Our deepest gratitude to Come Alive Outside for sponsoring this new event for ARC. Our members had a great time! Thank you also to all the volunteers who made the event run smoothly.
Life Skills Courses at ARC
ARC’s first two, five-week life skills courses – Budgeting and Holistic Health – were successfully completed in mid June. Congratulations to all who completed these courses! And thank you to Jen McNeil and Lisa Lynch for instructing the courses. Everyone did a great job! These and future life skills courses at ARC were made possible by the 2025 Bowse Health Trust Foundation grant to ARC. Thank you, again, for your generous support of ARC.
For a complete list of our meetings, events, and activities, please see our Calendar page.