Sunny makes friends wherever she goes
Published in The Bulletin October 30, 2018
Sunny leads with a smile. She laughs hard at jokes. She has a way with words, pointing at you when she makes you laugh, saying jovially: “Got your tickle!”
The SEAT bus in Norwich is Sunny’s domain. She rides it everywhere with her mother Ada – to work, gro
cery shopping, to Groton and Waterford. Sunny’s mother also has a social bent. Sunny laughs about it. “She knows everybody!”
Sunny has been involved with The Arc New London County for more than 20 years, and she is a veteran with The Arc’s Volunteer Corps. “I do all the marathons,” she says ticking off the gigs. “Mystic Eats. Polish Festival. Mental Health Awareness Day.”
“I really like to volunteer. I like to try different jobs I haven’t done before.” Do new things make Sunny nervous? No. “I like new stuff! I really like it.”
Sunny, 45, works in a thrift shop processing and hanging clothes. On weekends, she embraces volunteering. In September, at Mystic Eats, she managed three tables discarding trash, wiping them clean, helping newcomers find a seat. “I enjoy doing it,” she says of volunteering. “Keeps me busy. Gives me something to do.”
When Sunny went to Hartford to represent The Arc NLC at provider awareness day, she met Senator Ted Kennedy Jr, handed him a brochure and began telling him about The Arc. Kennedy was so impressed he asked for an agency tour.
After a visit to the Norwich Fish & Game Association where he observed The Arc NLC lawn crew working at minimum wage and training for community jobs, Kennedy pronounced The Arc NLC’s training program “a model for the state, possibly the nation.”
“I’m glad he came down,” says Sunny.
How does she make friends so quickly? “I go up and introduce myself. ‘Hi, I’m Sunny.’ I talk to them. I love it.”
When people join The Arc NLC’s volunteer corps, Sunny shows them the ropes. Sunny is, well, sunny. “I like to hang out with friends,” she says, “do the social things. Social butterfly, that’s me!”
NOTE: For assistance from The Arc NLC Volunteer Corps, call Debbie at 860-889-4435 x 108.
Kathleen Stauffer is chief executive officer of The Arc New London County serving people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. For information on The Arc, go to www.thearcnlc.org. For more articles by this author visit www.kathleenstauffer.com
Vern nicely stated……You are having a positive effect on so many people. God bless you!