UMAR STORIES
Read about how UMAR’s participants LIVE, WORK, and THRIVE.
UMAR residents help nourish neighbors in need
At the heart of UMAR’s mission is an effort to promote community inclusion for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Working with businesses, churches, and other organizations across western North Carolina, we help identify and facilitate opportunities for our participants to get involved in their communities in ways that matter to them.
Lisa and DeeDee, UMAR residents living in Winston-Salem, have found their opportunity to get involved and make a difference in their community by volunteering at the Maple Springs United Methodist Church Food Pantry.
Published 7.28.22
UMAR helps smooth out life's edges | A lifeline for the Bianchi Family
If you couldn’t join us for our 2022 Charlotte Friends of UMAR Luncheon in April, you missed a powerful story of family, love, and perseverance. Speaking before an audience of dozens of UMAR donors and supporters, sisters Rosemary and Antoinette told the story of their brother Sal’s journey to find a place of acceptance, safety, and independence.
Sal, the oldest of the Bianchi siblings, was born with an intellectual and developmental disability. His parents, Mary and Sal, had an unwavering sense of responsibility to provide for Sal’s care, often sharing that “God entrusted him to us.”
Read more about how UMAR became a lifeline for the Bianchi family and helped smooth out life’s edges.
Published 6.23.22
Dynamic Duo thrive at Lenny Boy
When Lenny Boy Brewing Company was struggling to fill open spots on their production team, UMAR stepped in with two eager employees ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work.
Kenna and Stephanie, roommates at a UMAR group home in Charlotte, have found themselves right at home with their new part-time jobs preparing shipping boxes for Lenny Boy’s popular kombucha – an effervescent beverage of fermented tea and fruit juice.
Published 2.1.22
Fostering a love of sports and painting
Jack loves sports, especially North Carolina sports and he loves painting. Through the art classes he takes at UMAR in Lincolnton, Jack has realized an amazing talent. He hadn’t quite put the two together until he started attending art classes at UMAR. He went from painting sunflowers to sports figures and venues. His work has become so popular that he now has a waiting list for commissioned art. What’s even more amazing about Jack’s art is that he has cerebral palsy and paints from a wheelchair.
Published 12.6.21
by Lincolnton Times-News
Picking produce for hospice patients
UMAR strives to make a difference in the lives of those we serve, but we also endeavor to encourage our residents to make a difference in the communities in which they live, work, and thrive.
Earlier this year, to give back to their community, a group of UMAR residents partnered with Charlotte Green to pick vegetables for hospice patients and their families.
Published 12.3.21
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