Day #2: Rainbow Acres

With our hosts, Bill & Louise Searcy, Neil and I spent most of our second day of the trip at Rainbow Acres. Let me tell you about this unique and truly special place. At the risk of sounding trite, "WOW!" is the word that comes to mind to describe our day.

Rainbow Acres was begun in 1974, started through the vision and efforts of Rev. Ralph Showers. Ralph was a youth pastor when Neil and I were in college and seminary, so we knew him when he began to implement this dream of his and have been supportive of the organization for many years. For the past 12 years, Gary Wagner, pictured above with Bill & Louise and Neil in the dining area of one of the new houses, has been President and CEO of Rainbow. The first time we had a chance to visit with Gary at Rainbow Acres was about 7 years ago, and the changes since then are incredible!

OK, OK, you are asking, "WHAT is Rainbow Acres?", aren't you? Rainbow Acres is an amazing residential facility in the high desert of northern Arizona for developmentally handicapped adults, dedicated to providing a safe, loving, Christian, caring community for the residents and to helping each resident (aka "rancher") develop his/her full potential. There are currently 85 ranchers, with 2 new residents due to arrive early this fall.

When we visited several years ago, the ranchers lived in trailers -- very clean and livable, but now they live in beautiful new homes that need to be seen to be believed! Each of the new houses (there are 8, with the 9th due to be completed by early fall) have 10 bedrooms, with the ranchers each getting his/her own room, plus staff quarters. Each house is uniquely decorated: each rancher decorates his/her own bedroom, and the "great room" of each house is also uniquely decorated so there is no "cookie cutter" feel to the homes. The "great room" of each home is a lovely large area with a living room where residents can visit or watch television, a dining area for their breakfast and dinner meals (noon meals are in the Rainbow dining facility), and a computer nook.

Because Rainbow is committed to helping each resident reach his or her potential, there is a wide variety of programs offered: they have a neurological development program that includes equestrian training, "patterning" (to help gain neurological functioning that was somehow missed during the early development as infants/toddlers), and music. There are also exercise programs, computer training, a study hall type area where people work on educational/reading type things, and work areas: some of the residents weave beautiful rugs, while others work on making jewelry, vases or votive candle holders, stepping stones for people's yards, and other hand-crafted items. Some are able to hold jobs in the community at WalMart, in a recycling center, and other local establishments, while others work on the campus in the skill areas already mentioned, in the kitchen preparing the daily lunch meal, or at other tasks necessary to keep their community running well.

As I told Gary at the end of our visit, "If I had an adult child with developmental disabilities, Rainbow is the place I would want my child to be!" In addition to all that is available to help a rancher reach maximum potential, there is also a palpable feeling of love, respect, great humor, and deep caring. We went away truly blessed to know this wonderful Christian facility is available for people who cannot live on their own, who need a place to live where they will be valued, that will allow them to be as independent as possible, a place where they will be cared for and supervised by people who truly love them and want the ranchers to be the best they can be. Awesome!

(If you want to learn more about Rainbow Acres, go to: www.rainbowacres.com)