Center of Hope director: 'Virtual saved us'

FRANKLIN -- The St. Mary Parish Council passed a resolution Wednesday proclaiming March to be Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. The director of the Arc of St. Mary made the council aware of how COVID-19 has affected the agency's work.

The Arc of St. Mary/Center of Hope in Centerville offers training and employment to adults with intellectual and developmental challenges. It's also a congregant setting that was shut down March 17 by restrictions targeting the spread of the coronavirus, Executive Director Kristal Hebert told the council Wednesday.

Not only did the virus interrupt the center's services, but it also threatened state and federal funding based on attendance, Hebert said. And that wasn't the biggest problem.

"I was worried about them being engaged with each other because that's so important," Hebert said.

Technology came to the rescue.

Hebert rounded up iPads for the center's clients, and ZOOM meetings began in August.

"Virtual saved us," Hebert said.

The center's store, which offers employment and funding, had been closed but is now open again.

The Parish Council resolution says developmental disabilities are "part of the human experience that does not diminish the right of individuals ... to live independently, to exert control and choice over their own lives and to fully participate in and contribute to their communities. ..."

Hebert was joined at the lectern Wednesday by Bobby Terry, a longtime center client who recently retired.