The Arc of Augusta is shutting down its adult day support programs for individuals with developmental disabilities, the Waynesboro-based nonprofit announced on Friday.
The day program was launched in 1982, according to a letter from Executive Director Warren J. McKeen announcing the news.
“The decision to close was a hard choice to make,” McKeen wrote in the letter. “Our Board of Directors and I worked for months to see if we could remain open, hopeful that through our efforts and with the lessening of the pandemic, our situation would improve. It did not. In the end, it came down to sustainability, and with state reimbursements rates being low, our inability to hire staff and the inability to operate at client capacity, those factors created a situation that was impossible to overcome. Our day support program was the last program of its type in Augusta County.”
McKeen stressed in the letter that “we are only closing a program of The Arc and not The Arc of Augusta.”
“Our organization is more than just the day support program we operated, though that program was a large part of our work for many years,” McKeen wrote. “With its closure, we will move to other programming, and we will continue our advocacy efforts. We will not be selling our property and building as other uses have come to light, and we are looking at its use by our organization, by community partners and by individuals who also offer services in the developmental disabilities field. The Board of Directors and I are also looking at other services our Arc chapter can offer to serve the local DD population, and we still have other programs and projects that we are involved with.
“I am big believer in ‘when one door closes, another door opens,’ so give us a little time to regroup and recover from this sad ending of a much loved program, because it is our intention to continue the important work that a small group of parent advocates started many years ago,” McKeen wrote.
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