BROOKINGS Since the 1970s, ADVANCE has gone the extra mile when it comes to supporting people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. So when they celebrate their 50th anniversary next month, theyll do so with what they know best putting in some miles to help others by hosting a Fun Run to benefit the Brookings Regional Humane Society.
We want to make community members aware of what we do and find ways we can also give back to the community, Brian Ardry, President and CEO of ADVANCE said. We are very thankful for the support of the Brookings community over the last 50 years, the opportunities that have been given to the people we support through volunteering opportunities, or employment opportunities, or just feeling valued as a member of a faith community. Were extremely appreciative to the community.
Staff at ADVANCE wanted to celebrate their own anniversary by helping a fellow non-profit. Thus, all proceeds from the upcoming Fun Run will go to the local humane society. The run takes place July 19 at 10 a.m., starting and ending at ADVANCEs main building at 301 Division Ave. Registration is $5 per person, and t-shirts are available for $30 each.
Kaitlyn Harvey is day services supervisor at ADVANCE and helped come up with the idea of benefitting the humane society.
I think the reason we came to them with the idea was because we have multiple people at our agency who love going over there and volunteering almost every day, Harvey said. Staff at the human society have gotten to know the people we support over the years. So the relationship is pretty strong with them.
Ramona Kauk is director of admissions and support services at ADVANCE and said they designed the path for the Fun Run to loop past some of the many facilities they work with in Brookings.
We wanted to run by a lot of our residential locations, so thats the purpose of that route. We are seeing much of the community, but we are also running by some of our locations, Kauk said. Its been really neat to see how much our agency has evolved. It makes me so emotional, going through it and seeing how things have changed for the better for people in our community. Its been so awesome to see.
Ardry said they have more celebratory activities planned as well.
On July 10th, theres going to be a 50th anniversary program for the people in our services, and their families, and staff at the Dacotah Bank Center, Ardry said. That will be for internal stakeholders, so thats a private event for that program. But on July 23rd, we are going to have an open house at this building, and the radio station is coming and will be broadcasting for a couple hours. Theres a food truck associated with that, and so thats going to be our public celebration.
He invites people to come to ADVANCE for public tours of the facility July 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
And then a fun thing that was planned internally: for every week, theres going to be a dress-up day celebrating the decades that ADVANCE has been an entity, Ardry said. So on July 2nd our official anniversary day were going to start off with a 70s themed dress-up day. And every week after that well go through the decades up to the present day.
ADVANCE was founded by the local chapter of a national advocacy group. Originally they offered just twice a week outings for people with disabilities.
We actually started as a volunteer project in 1972, Ardry said. Within just a couple years, there was a movement for community-based services across the United States, and funding became available for that. ADVANCE then was incorporated on July 2nd of 1974. The kind of next logical step was, if people with disabilities can earn a paycheck, maybe they can live on their own as well and learn more independent living skills. And so in 1976, a group home opened for people to live away from their families and live together and learn cooking and cleaning and money-management and all of those kinds of skills.
Since then, ADVANCE has continued expanding and currently offers services to more than a hundred people living and working throughout Brookings.
There have been a lot of changes over the years to how we provide services changes for the better but our commitment to people with disabilities and their families has remained the driving force for us over the last 50 years. And that stays the same, Ardry said. The biggest philosophy going forward with our field, and thereve been a lot of changes, is truly integrating people into the community. And so we will continue to look for ways to do that over the next decade and beyond, for people with disabilities to truly be valued and contributing members of the community.
Information on Fun Run registration and t-shirts are both posted on the Facebook page of ADVANCE.
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