Graham Friends of the Arc continue work on The HERO House

After purchasing a facility in Graham for The Arc of Wichita County, the Graham Friends of the Arc organization is working to outfit that facility to provide for the needs of those in the area with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

The HERO House at 611 South St. in Graham will serve IDD adults in Young County and as a permanent location for those individuals. Since January, Dennis and Andy Heath have worked to establish the nonprofit to provide a location for The Arc due to Helen Farabee Centers closing its IDD Provider Services Division.

“On Jan. 18, we got a phone call from Helen Farabee that dayhab (day habilitation) was no longer going to be provided, they were going to get out of the service business of the IDD individuals in Graham, and we didn’t know exactly what that meant,” Dennis Heath said. “We just knew that (our daughter) Katie not having a place to go during the day for several hours was going to be devastating to her. A lot of her friends love to get together and do anything.”

The two connected with Executive Director The Arc of Wichita County Anthony Watkins who said if a location was provided for The Arc in Graham, the organization could bring its programs from Wichita Falls.

“We formed a nonprofit called Graham Friends of the Arc, and our mission is, was and will continue to be to provide, at no cost, a place for The Arc of Wichita County to come down and provide their programs,” Dennis Heath said.

The Arc of Wichita County is a nonprofit that advocates and provides services for IDD such as an adult day habilitation program where adults can learn independent living skills, an independent living program and more. Day habilitation provides a needed service for those IDD individuals in the community.

“A day habilitation center is designed to provide assistance and teach individuals with disabilities social skills, social development, which is probably the most important thing we try to teach first before we move into the other things,” Watkins said. “(They also learn) independent living skills, whether they’re going to live on their own or not, …and employment skills, whether they get a job or not. That’s what a dayhab is intended to do, and we do it through community inclusion.”

In May, the organization bought the property on South St. for $300,000 and reopened day habilitation services at a temporary rented location in the Helen Farabee building. The daily attendance for the program also jumped from six to around 18 with a waiting list for more to join.

The Graham Friends of the Arc are now in the process of renovating the building, and raising the funding required for those renovations. After raising $300,000 to purchase the building the organization found out after contacting an architect that the renovation cost of the building would be an additional cost of over $300,000.

The organization will be approaching the Graham Economic Improvement Corporation at their meeting Tuesday, Oct. 29 to request funding for the renovation. Along with the GEIC, they will be reaching out to more organizations for funding.

“We feel like we’re going to be able to stay real close to $160,000 on this renovation. We’ve worked with Anthony every step of the way. We got the ADA bathrooms. We’re doing complete legit (work) on all the electrical, the lighting, making sure that it’s a safe and inviting place for our IDD individuals to thrive,” Dennis Heath said. “So after we go to the GEIC, we’re going to be hopefully approaching a couple of other foundations.”

One organization that will already be working to assist on the renovation project is the Texas Baptist Men, which will be building the walls inside the facility.

“They’re building the walls at no charge. All we have to do is supply the wood and the place, and they’re also doing the wiring,” Dennis Heath said. “An electrician is going to buy all the wiring for us, and we’ll buy it from him through Elliot Electric in Wichita Falls, because they give the Texas Baptist Men a great deal. So God has just supplied every need.”

With work ongoing, the organization is hoping to have the facility ready for The Arc by next year.

“We’re hoping by the first quarter of next year, or definitely by our (anniversary) when we opened May 2 with The Arc, that we will be open and ready to serve more people who are standing in line waiting to take advantage of the programs,” Dennis Heath said.