Northeast Arc Raises $3.2 million for the Disabled

REGIONAL – Northeast Arc raised more than $3.2 million in a three-year campaign for its Center for Linking Lives at Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers that serves individuals with autism and other disabilities.
More than 150 members of the Northeast Arc community gathered last week to celebrate the success of the fundraising campaign in a vacant retail space.
Josh Kraft, president of the New England Patriots Foundation, said the center is a perfect representation of Northeast Arc’s impact on people with disabilities and their families.
“Northeast Arc has been serving our communities for nearly 70 years now, and the center is really the heart and soul of their efforts,” Kraft said. “This is a place that not only promotes inclusion, but also gives hope and support to families.”
Northeast Arc’s president and CEO, Jo Ann Simons, thanked the donors who made the center a reality, particularly building it during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I want to recognize and thank our campaign committee who stuck by us when we decided to move forward with this project during the height of a global pandemic and financial uncertainty,” Simons said.
Each day, hundreds of individuals receive support from the Center for Linking Lives. A main benefit is that it serves as a centralized meeting place for Northeast Arc’s clients. Northeast Arc’s programs are now more accessible than ever thanks to the center’s location on public transportation routes and ample parking.
“The Center is notable because of how Northeast Arc repurposed community space that was not being well used,” said Darcy Immerman, who chaired the campaign along with Ralph James. “Nowhere else in the country has a nonprofit organization had the creativity and drive to reimagine a vacant retail location during the height of a pandemic as a purpose-built community center that creates opportunities for people in their everyday lives.”
James said Arc has a tradition of innovation and making ideas happen. “To see that they’ve taken something that was just an idea three years ago and turned it into this space with great impact and power is incredible,” James said.
Major contributors to the campaign included the Ardis and Robert James Foundation, Janice and Ralph James, Steven Rosenthal, RoAnn Costin and Doug Flutie, Jr. Other contributors were the Eastern Bank Foundation, the English Family Foundation, the Kraft Family Foundation, PLAN of MA & RI, the Yawkey Foundation and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.