-
(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Dennis and Andy Heath sit behind a counter with The Arc of Wichita County Executive Director Anthony Watkins (right) at the Hero House. The renovated kitchen area is one of the features of the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities day habilitation facility. -
(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Inside one of the main rooms of the Hero House in Graham which will be providing day habilitation services for members with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. -
(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Storage containers where members of the Hero House will store items when they are at the location. The new facility will have its grand opening in May after a year of fundraising and construction. -
(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) The Graham Lions Club donated $5,000 to the Hero House during their meeting Wednesday, March 19. The club is one many organizations, businesses and individuals that has donated to make the Hero House a reality.
After only one year of requesting support for a new home for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities day habilitation services, the Hero House will be having its grand opening in May.
Since January 2024, Dennis and Andy Heath, along with the Graham Friends of The Arc board, have worked to raise funds to establish a facility for The Arc of Wichita County and renovate the new location at 611 South St.
“It's been a very exciting year for us,” Andy said. “When we first started out trying to get this off the ground, we put out 500 donor letters. We had a good response, and then at some point… God took over, and Dennis and I have just been riding this wave as God has made straight our path for this mission, and it's been amazing and humbling.”
Helen Farabee Centers closed its IDD Provider Services Division due to it no longer being financially sustainable. With its closure, many Young County IDD clients that utilized the day habilitation services were impacted.
After the Heaths discovered that the IDD service was being closed they immediately got to work finding a way to bring a new organization to Young County and connected with The Arc of Wichita County.
“They agreed that if we could provide a place... for them to come down and provide the programming that they would come, and so we've been working on a building,” Dennis said.
The Heaths established a board called the Graham Friends of The Arc which purchased the building and completed renovations with community donations both monetary and through labor.
The renovated building includes a number of new features such as windows throughout so employees can monitor the members and a kitchen for the members to plan and make their own meals.
“The members will be able to plan a menu, go shopping for the food, cook it and this will be a team and they'll do it once a week,” Dennis said. “...Every day they'll plan the menu and they'll be eating there rather than bringing their own lunch like they do now.”
With the building complete and ready for The Arc of Wichita County to move in, the board will now serve in a role as the landlords over the property.
“We will always be involved down there as much as they will allow us to be,” Andy said. “Graham Friends of the Arc, we're the landlords, and we'll do our job to take good care of the building and do our best as parents to take care of the needs also of our special folks down there.”
The Arc of Wichita County Executive Director Anthony Watkins has been hard at work training local employees for the Hero House.
“We're eager to get into the building,” Watkins said. “I can tell you this, when Dennis and Andy contacted The Arc and heard about our Hero House and what we did in Wichita Falls, I knew there was a need here. We came down to assess the need. I saw that it was a bigger need than what I even thought.”
Dennis said that when services were shut down in Young County members that utilized the services had dwindled due to the restrictions behind receiving those services.
“They had gotten down to six or seven (members) because so many people that needed services did not have the proper support from the state, and they operated just on state support,” Dennis said. “That's the beauty of a nonprofit. A nonprofit is able to do whatever they want to do, as long as they follow the state rules. They can take someone at no pay and provide a scholarship if their family can't afford it.”
The IDD program has expanded to 18 members with other members waiting for the opening of the new location to have expanded room to serve those individuals.
The Arc of Wichita County also sees a community need for transportation, a teen to adult bridge program and an independent living program and will be asking for support to expand its service locally.
“We do plan on everything that we do here, every dollar that people give, goes to services to service Graham,” Watkins said. “...Whatever funds that we request, it's to enhance the quality of our service that we do at the dayhab (in Graham). And then if there's extra funds, that's where we can obviously do more programs.”
Watkins said fees for the services vary but some individuals could pay $20 per day for private pay, which is not typically offered by other providers along with other services.
“All of the money that we can generate, it's to improve the quality of services,” Watkins said. “So for instance, I don't think I've ever seen another dayhab that provides lunches. They bring their own lunches. We provide lunches, we provide transportation, we provide gas, we provide getting into the community, paid activities. All of these things are why we need community support.”
Though their name might not have Young County in it, the mission of the organization is one that involves service for all IDD individuals.
“Our name is The Arc of Wichita County, but that doesn't mean anything,” Watkins said. “We'll serve individuals as far as we can serve, because our mission is to serve as many people as possible.”
