SHORELINE — Carolyn Wolff is grateful for the services provided by the SARAH Foundation for her autistic son, Harrison.
Harrison Wolff, 32, has been with SARAH for over 11 years and currently lives in a group home in Clinton. He also receives one-on-one day support, including assistance with his window washing business, trips to the gym and accompaniment to piano lessons.
To continue to serve clients like Harrison Wolff, SARAH announced their newest fundraising venture, the SARAH Project, a unique home improvement project done by the people behind The House that Social Media Built.
For more than 65 years, SARAH has helped individuals with intellectual and/or other disabilities along the Shoreline. In addition, the KIDSTEPS Birth to Three program assists children and families throughout the state.
Like many other local nonprofits, SARAH has been forced to think about creative ways to raise money as a result of the pandemic. Many fundraising events were cancelled, resulting in a loss of donations for much needed programs.
“Last year was a real scare for all of us,” said Ken Alberti, SARAH Foundation executive director.
It was at this time that lots of brainstorming went into the question, “How are we going to continue to move forward and support the mission in this new way of living,” said Alberti.
In collaboration with Nicole White, founder of Social REdesign, SARAH Foundation unveiled the SARAH Project.
White was the creator of The House that Social Media Built. With this innovative real estate idea, White flipped houses, from 2016-19, with social media followers helping to choose everything from kitchen cabinets, tile, appliances and home color.
The plan is to have SARAH Foundation purchase a house and have White and her team redesign the house with input from the community. Guilford’s Rick Spotlow, owner of Heritage Home Improvement, will serve as the general contractor.
SARAH is prepared to buy a fixer-upper house with $400,000 that is earmarked specifically for the SARAH Project. The aim is to resell the refurbished home for a profit.
The public will be asked to vote, weekly, on interior and exterior design elements via social media, “so people feel they are buying into and they feel ownership of the project,” said Alberti.
There is a myriad of ways the community will be able to contribute to the project.
“There’s going to be an opportunity to engage the community to help with vendors and sponsors to actually do the work of renovating the home, product donations, sponsorship contributions, donations of people’s times and skill,” Alberti said.
When the home is completely redone it will be sold with 100 percent of the profits going to the SARAH Foundation.
Under the umbrella of Guilford’s SARAH Foundation, more than 1,500 individuals receive support through SARAH Seneca in Branford, SARAH Tuxis in Guilford and SARAH Inc. Services include residential housing and support, day programs and recreational activities, transitional and employment services, respite care and birth-to-three early intervention services.
The first step is to identify a home that can be used for the SARAH Project.
Alberti said SARAH hopes to “bring the community along as we find the right property and then begin the renovation process.”
White talked about the type of house they are looking to work with on this project.
“Anything under $400,000, three bedrooms, two and half bath, in a nice location,” she said. “We can steer a little bit in this and that direction, but it’s really going to boil down to what does it need, and obviously cost.”
Whether the property is donated or sold to the SARAH Foundation, Alberti said “ideally we’d love for it to be in our footprint, because our brand awareness is strongest here on the Shoreline.”
Alberti said this is a new way for the SARAH Foundation to raise money, in addition to connecting with the community.
“More importantly for us is to be able to tell the SARAH Foundation story and mission, to education people further,” Alberti said.
In addition to benefiting from services of SARAH on a personal level, Wolff serves as the secretary on SARAH Foundation’s board of directors.
This Westbrook resident said the services her son receives are invaluable.
“You can’t put a price on that,” Wolff said. “You really can’t.”
While SARAH receives funds from the Connecticut Department of Developmental Services, there are services that are not covered by these funds.
“The donation money from SARAH Foundation is used for many things to enrich their lives and make their lives better and safer,” she said, referring to the individuals that benefits from SARAH services.
The donations, she added, “help them enrich these people’s lives and do things that they normally would not have the money for.”
This includes helping seniors with disabilities stay involved and active; providing family support and early intervention services to young families; training and placing people with disabilities into meaningful jobs and providing transportation so they can get to work, according to the SARAH Foundation website.
Alberti is excited about the SARAH Project and raising funds for SARAH programs.
“Now it feels good, things are getting back to normal, it feels like,” Alberti said. “If we’re vaccinated, we have our normal events back on the calendar for this year, which is exciting.”
“But, at the same time, we also know how quickly those things can change,” he added.
The organization relies on donations through its myriad of fundraisers including the SARAH Foundation Gala, Summer Breeze Ride for Autism, SARAH Golf Classic.
While these events resumed in 2021, the attendance was lower than in previous years according to the SARAH Foundation.
Alberti talked about how important these events are to SARAH’s mission.
“It is the primary way that we, and most nonprofits, generate resources to support our mission and programs,” he said. “Our annual events are absolutely critical to the wellbeing of our organization and how we’re able to help serve both individuals with intellectual and or other disabilities.”
As chairman of the annual SARAH Gala, Wolff knows how important all the fundraising events are and is looking forward to seeing this new project start.
“We’re always looking for other means for making money,” she said. “So, I’m really excited about this house. I think that this could turn out to be something really amazing.”
Alberti said the SARAH Project will allow the SARAH Foundation to grow and continue to serve the community.
“We want to make sure that we’re continuing to innovate and find creative ways to not only raise important resources, but also to engage the community in a different way,” Alberti said. “We feel the SARAH Project is going to allow us to do that.”
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