My Nonprofit Reviews

As the former Development Director, I spread the good news of L’Arche Erie, expressing who we are and what we do. By creating home, we transform lives, one heart at a time. I lived in a L’Arche home with four men with intellectual disabilities and two people without intellectual disabilities. I was also an assistant, a person without intellectual disabilities who help people with intellectual disabilities. It was during this time that my life was transformed. Most people would think that the people moving from an institution into a home would be the individuals whose lives are transformed, but in L’Arche it’s both; it’s a mutually transforming relationship.
Four months after I joined the L’Arche Erie community, I went on a recommended L’Arche retreat where I meditated on a quote by our international founder, Jean Vanier. It states, “People may come to our communities because they want to serve the poor; they will only stay once they have discovered that they themselves are the poor. ~ Jean Vanier, From Brokenness to Community, p.20
My world was turned upside down. Like many people who stay in L’Arche, I will continue to live the Gospel Beatitudes, which are found in the Bible (Matthew 5:1-12).
No L’Arche Erie community is perfect; as a matter of fact, we celebrate our imperfections, recognizing one another’s limitations while striving to grow and be the best we can be (without comparison). I pray that others who will get involved will discover the beauty that I discovered.
“Through the hands of God’s little ones, we ask His blessing. Through the eyes of those who have been rejected, we ask God to smile on us.” Excerpt from the L’Arche Prayer

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