Reaching Out to the Community: Petals Meets Phi Beta Chi

One of my favorite things about Petals class is the way in which we become involved with the larger Chapel Hill community. Everyone that is involved in Petals is so committed to service that wonderful connections to other organizations in the community are made! The week of March 20th was extremely special because we were able to work with the Phi Beta Chi sorority for their Breakfast for Bethesda fundraiser. Phi Beta Chi holds a special place in our heart as one of their member's, Katelyn Blanchard, is one of our most dedicated and creative volunteers! We created over 20 vases to go to the Breakfast for Bethesda fundraiser, which raised money for Phi Beta Chi's philanthropy, Bethesda Lutheran Communities. The mission statement of Betheseda Lutheran Communities is very similar to that of the Arc of Orange County's: To enhance the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through services that share the good news of Jesus Christ. This is what Katelyn had to say about the fundraiser and the organization:

"Since we cannot volunteer and make visits (it’s based out of the Midwest), we hold an annual pancake (and sausage) dinner entitled Breakfast for Bethesda. It is so much fun! This year and last, it was set on a date that was the first round of basketball March Madness, which we thought would be a problem because we weren’t sure how many people would come if they couldn’t watch the games. However, we set up a computer and projector in the main dining area and it was a huge hit.
 

Individuals, at the end of the night, take the vases of flowers that the ARC has made for us and we are able to bring people happiness through friendly service and full tummies. It was huge success, raising approximately $2,000 for Bethesda Lutheran Communities (2012). We also are involved with Bethesda by creating banners for their dances throughout the year as well as doing Valentine’s Day cards for their members. This year (2013), we have, as of our current count, raised $2,300 for Bethesda through the pancake dinner. We hold the event at our house and provide unlimited pancakes to those who come to the event.

The reason that we love the ARC/love working with the ARC is because 1) we’ve taken the ARC as one of our local philanthropies and want to encourage and help with their projects and classes in any way we can. We support one of their cooking class participants and we wanted to help with their other classes as well. This is easily done by allowing the participants at the ARC to use their skills and potential in helping us through their work with Petals. They get to give back to the community by bringing joy through flowers and lighting up a room through their contribution to our event. They also get to gain skills of concentration, development of fine motor skills, and also just a love for helping others, which is something that the ARC tries to instill in its participants. It’s also really neat to have the ARC’s Petals class take part in this because it allows the ARC participants to help out an organization that has similar goals and values of working with their participants to help discover and foster individual talents and personal development.

 That was always the thing that made me the most glad in working with the ARC was seeing people working to their strengths and finding joy in what they were doing. It was always about making that individual feel as though they had were important and the task they were working on was something that mattered, because it does. Not everyone has the ability to bring a smile to people’s faces, but these individuals do so every week when they make these beautiful arrangements and donate them to various outreach programs and community centers. By giving them the opportunity to meet their full potential, we get to meet our full potential as well. It’s much like the Marianne Williamson poem, “We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” These individuals make manifest that glory every day through what they do and in showing their own abilities, they give each of us the encouragement and the push to continue doing what we do for the pure and simple reasons: because we can and because it makes a difference."

Coming together and working with other organizations truly is an absolutely beautiful thing. I am glad Petals class has made an impact on so many people's lives, and I that the ARC will continue to work with other organizations in the community that want to make a difference! When working together, the impact that we can make is HUGE! 

It is so nice to see our hard work being displayed for a good cause!