1. What are the qualification of the Caregivers/House managers?
2. What is the Caregiver turnover rate?
3. What programs are available to the resident during the day, and in the evening?
4. What are the residents’ rights to privacy and security of their possessions?
5. When you meet the residents what do they say about their home?

At Rainbow Acres, we take seriously meeting or exceeding the qualifications of Caregiver recruitment, training, and retention. Our turnover rate for employees with 90 days service or more is only 4.5%. We have a number of Caregivers with 12-20 years of service. That is incredible commitment to the Ranchers/residents in our community! Our Caregivers love the Ranchers and commit their lives to serving women and men with developmental disabilities.

Rainbow Acres has a wide range of educational, socialization, and occupational activities for the Ranchers/residents from morning through late afternoon. Weekends are special with outings, social events and participation in area religious services.

All Ranchers/residents at Rainbow Acres have their own single occupancy room where their privacy rights are protected. Each individual is able to lock his/her room as desired to secure personal belongings while away from the room or Ranch.

Just one of the beautiful homes where Ranchers have their own rooms and a family-like atmosphere, with friends and dedicated Caregivers.

Visitors are unanimous in reporting the joy, enthusiasm, peace and contentment they see and hear from the Ranchers. The Ranchers of Rainbow Acres are our greatest ambassadors!

We invite you to explore further the “Rainbow Acres experience” for your loved one living with developmental disabilities. Download more information by clicking one of the buttons on this page, or contact Dee Whitt, Director of Admissions, at 928-567-5231 and arrange for a tour!

Renee shells and packages pecans for a local farmer who hires Ranchers.

John Fleck, also called “JJ”, shows his happy smile!

The post Residential communities are not created equal! appeared first on Rainbow Acres.

A picnic table is placed in the shade of a mesquite tree on the Fit Trail.

It already had ten stops with different stretches and exercises explained in words and pictures at each one. The path is fairly easy to walk and outlined with river rock, and has light shade from native mesquites along much of its length.

One of two benches added along the Fit Trail

The Class VI Legacy Project includes adding benches and at least one picnic table, and creating a very welcome drinking fountain at the middle point of the Trail where it turns to go back to its beginning point. Beautifying native plants and runoff management are also in the plans.

VVL Class VI members dig a ditch to extend water for a drinking fountain.

What a wonderful gift for Rainbow Ranchers, staff members and visitors! The Ranchers are adults with developmental disabilities who make their home at Rainbow Acres. We are always looking for ways to improve lives and benefit health, and the Fit Trail is a great way to encourage healthy activity and social time.
The members of VVL Class VI could use your help to complete all their plans, including putting a shade over the water fountain. They need about $200 more, as of today.
You may mail a check made out to Rainbow Acres, indicating on the memo line that it is for “VVL Project” or “Legacy Project”. You may find the DONATE NOW button on any page on our website, which will take you to our secure online giving page. Fill out the credit card information and under “Designation” write in VVL or Legacy Project. Or bring it to 2120 W Reservation Loop Road Monday through Friday between 8:00 and 5:00 and we’ll be happy to accept it! Since the donation is made to Rainbow Acres, a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit organization, your contribution is tax deductible to the full extent of the IRS code – talk about a win-win!
Thank you for your consideration and many heartfelt thanks to VVL Class VI for all their hard work and wonderful Legacy Project!

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http://www.aztv.com/category/217859/video-landing-page?clipId=8822324&topVideoCatNo=217824&autoStart=true

Gary Wagner and Margie Beach talk with host Lisa about Rainbow Acres and what makes us the premier residential community for adults with developmental disabilities.

Enjoy!

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Women’s Choir of California Baptist University

On Saturday, May 11 at 3:00 p.m., the Collinsworth School of Music at California Baptist University will present their Women’s Choir in a FREE concert for Ranchers, staff, and the public at Rainbow Acres!

The Women’s Choir is 80 voices strong and will perform a variety of contemporary choral anthems, spirituals, gospel, and the classics! It will be beautiful!

Please join us!

The post Music Ministry for Adults with Developmental Disabilities appeared first on Rainbow Acres.

Three vans and a pickup made quite a convoy leaving our campus yesterday afternoon on the way to Mesa for this three day event, culminating the track and field season of practices and regional competitions.

Athletes win ribbons and medals and cheer each other on – they even cheer for competitors! What a wonderful way to maintain physical fitness and learn sportsmanship!

Special Olympics athletes ready to load into the vans and head to Mesa

Photo, L-R back row:

Larry Dakin, Shawn Lavery, Jeff Malicki, Brent Peterson, Marcus Sanders, Steve Walker, Scott Baran, Pauline Guthrie, Susan Welch.

Front row: Kelly Como, Tom Banta, Terri Schock, Trudy Schock, Billy Lewis, Roman Battistone, Stephanie Roughton, Jeanne Figgins, Lori Linderman, Debbie Powers.

The post Special Olympics Track & Field State Competition appeared first on Rainbow Acres.

Gary Wagner and Margie Beach will be on television to share a little of what makes Rainbow Acres such a special residential community for adults with developmental disabilities.

Watch in most of Arizona on Channel 7, and in the Phoenix metropolitan area on Cable 13. Outside the state, the show can be seen as a live stream as well as beginning the day after the showing at http://www.aztv.com/ and looking for the date.

We’ll be on “The Morning Scramble” with host Lisa Schneider-Cipriano this time around. If you see the show, please let us know what you think by emailing media@rainbowacres.com.

The post TV Again on Monday! appeared first on Rainbow Acres.

Jack came to Rainbow Acres for a visit 17 years ago. He was reluctant about, and even resistant to, the whole idea of coming to a place like Rainbow. His fears were of being put away in an institution in the desert and forgotten. But putting his fears aside, he stayed on the Ranch for three days and two nights.

While on the Ranch he saw the Weaving Room, Arts and Crafts, and the blue skies of Arizona. He felt the breezes of fresh air, and he enjoyed not having to cook his own meals. Then there was the Harvest Dance and Party one evening. He hadn’t been to an event like that since his days in high school 40 years before! Several ladies asked him to dance.

Jack with a sample of his weaving skills. A beautiful ruana on display at Sedona Public Library last fall.

Jack slowly began to see the potential for a good life at Rainbow Acres. While Manhattan Beach in California had been his home all of his life, the burden of living alone and caring for the family home and yard was getting to be more than he could manage.

Jack agreed to come live at Rainbow Acres for 90 days. Then he would evaluate his experience and plan for the future. The 90 days came and went. Jack has a good life at Rainbow Acres and his sister and brother have peace of mind, knowing that Jack has a safe and secure home, that he has broken the walls of isolation and has friends, and that he has a rekindled passion for weaving! We are so pleased that Jack is a thriving member of the Rainbow Acres Family and Community!

Rainbow Acres Ranch offers promising futures and lives of purpose for adults with developmental disabilities, and peace of mind for parents, family members and guardians.

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Larry is an adult with special needs, developmental disabilities, cognitive challenges – however you want to say it. He is also full of fun and life and many wonderful abilities, and has an infectious smile and a joyful attitude.

Larry came to Rainbow Acres in  1991 from Long Beach, California.  He was first assigned to Sunburst Farm where he became involved in Crew and the Learning Center.  Most of all he liked his new friends, the blue skies, fresh air and the absence of traffic.  But it was not until he moved to Rainbow Acres Ranch that he began to find his groove!

Larry works on the design for a Stepping Stone

At Rainbow Acres he is involved in the Stepping Stone Crew and is a master at mixing concrete for pouring into the stepping stone molds.  He knows the proportions of water, cement, sand and the Sedona red color that goes into each mix.  He takes great pride in pouring perfect stones.

Stepping Stone with a frog design

Music is another of Larry’s passions.  As soon as the Rancher Choir was organized, Larry was one of the first to sign up!!!  He has a nice tenor voice, gifted in playing rhythm instruments, and confident in singing solo parts in a piece being performed by the Choir. He gets so caught up in the music he spontaneously rocks with the beat of the song.

Larry’s third passion is “being a friend!”  He has a sensitive and tender heart.  When he sees another Rancher having a struggle with one of life’s issues, Larry is among the first to offer an arm around the shoulders and a word of encouragement!

Much to his parents delight, Larry says, “I want to live here forever!”  Imagine Mom & Dad’s peace of mind.

You can have peace of mind for your loved one with developmental disabilities, too!  Give Rainbow Acres a call at 928-567-5231 and arrange to visit the Ranch.  You will be glad you did!

The post Special Needs Adult Finds Purpose in Life appeared first on Rainbow Acres.

In serving adults with developmental disabilities, Rainbow Acres:

Provides loving care for the most vulnerable members of society;

Breaks the cycle of isolation and loneliness;

Breaking the cycle of isolation and loneliness – Ranchers make friends at Rainbow

Assists families in providing a safe, secure and peaceful residential community for their loved one;

Empower individuals to become productive members of society through employment and volunteerism;

Nurtures each individual in all dimensions of personal growth and development;

Protects each individual from exploitation, bullying and or other forms of abuse;

Advocates for individual rights and social justice for persons with disabilities;

Relieves the taxpayer of the burden to support its residents;

Gives parents, families and guardians peace of mind;  and

Engages socially aware individuals, churches, civic organizations and businesses/corporations in serving adults with developmental disabilities.

Indirectly, Rainbow Acres leads the way in addressing homelessness, hunger, and social justice for individuals with developmental disabilities.

The post What We Do at Rainbow Acres appeared first on Rainbow Acres.

Through kind donations from parents and others, Rainbow Acres is able to provide opportunities for the adults with developmental disabilities who live here to experience various kinds of professional performances through the Fine Arts Series. The performers are also moved to reduce their usual fees to benefit our not-for-profit organization and the special needs residents we call Ranchers.

This allows Rainbow to offer exceptional entertainment to members of our local communities at no charge, because we love for people to come see our beautiful campus, experience the state-of-the-art facilities of the Palmer Community Center at Rainbow Acres and possibly meet Ranchers and staff members.

This Sunday’s concert begins at 2:00 p.m. with complimentary light refreshments following the hour-long show. Please join us on a trip down memory lane with Lorena and Mike singing such favorites as “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”, “Ma, He’s Makin’ Eyes at Me”, and “Swinging on a Star”!

Lorena and Mike form musical duo Cactus Cats

Future Performances:

Coming up on Saturday, May 11 at 3:00, join us for a special performance by the Women’s Choir of California Baptist University. Over 60 voices raised in song – don’t miss it!

Sunday, June 9 at 2:00, enjoy our own All Rancher Choir in their new summer concert. You’ll love it!

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