This year, The Arc Master Trust is celebrating 25th years of serving Hoosiers of all disabilities. Over the next several months I plan to use our blog to share some of the history of the trust. There have been several landmarks through the years that I will share. I hope these blogs will be both informative and entertaining.
The trust was the brainchild of Alan Kemp, the first director of The Arc Trust. Prior to 1988, when the trust was founded, he had been The Arc of Indiana’s Governmental Affairs Director for several years. He decided to go back to school to get his MBA and while doing that started researching different endeavors that The Arc of Indiana might enter into to offer different services to Hoosiers with developmental disabilities.
A thrift store was very appealing and a lot of research went in to possibly starting one. The Arc in New Mexico had started one and it was becoming (and still is) very successful for them. The idea of beginning a special needs trust program was also investigated.
Two proposals were taken to The Arc of Indiana Board of Directors. The first proposal was The Arc of Indiana to open a thrift store, and the other proposal was for a pooled special needs trust.
The rest, as they say, is history. The board approved the pooled special needs trust rather than the Thrift Store. Just think, I could be the manager of The Arc’s Second Time Around store right now instead of The Arc Master Trust!
The Arc of Indiana has opened a store in the last month though, and I hope you will visit it and do a little shopping. The new store is called Works of Arc and you can visit it without leaving your home. Just go to www.worksofarc.com. You will find a wide variety of art pieces completely done by people with disabilities. There are some amazing things on that site.
I also hope that you will visit The Arc Master Trust’s new website – www.thearctrust.org. Please take a look at it and let me know what you think, I would love to get your feedback.
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