Our 2023 Benefit brought our community together for a 20 year celebration as special as our Day Program!
On September 21st, we enjoyed our annual Benefit Dinner once again at Garner United Methodist Church, welcoming almost 400 people to celebrate the night with us. Our Benefit began with a walk down Memory Lane, the hallway to the delicious catered dinner by Angie’s Restaurant. Throughout Memory Lane, we featured milestones from our organization’s history such as community awards, portraits of our ATS family and an event-exclusive table of items crafted by Participants in our Day Program. Guests made their mark on the evening by stopping by our photo booth and signing our signature panels that we proudly display in our building throughout the year.
After enjoying our dinner, we kicked off the program with a celebration parade where all current participants proudly displayed the year they began serving with us. We then leaned into the Able to Serve story with experiences from 2003 – 2023. Speeches and interviews from our staff, participants, volunteers and family members shared how our ministry has made an impact on their lives.
The highlights of our evening were our participant-led moments, building a “gratitude gallery” (scroll to bottom of this post) and sharing “Why I Celebrate Able to Serve”. Every person recorded their reason and gave the audience a glimpse at what drives them to be “Able to Serve”.
Our Benefit was blessed with support from a dedicated community of people, organizations and businesses. Their financial investment into our event offset our costs, channeling significant funds to our Day Program and keeping our costs affordable for participants and their families. We are sincerely grateful to our hosts Garner United Methodist Church and Angie’s Restaurant as well as event sponsors Capital Production Group and 4imprint for helping us give this amazing night to our ATS community!
Thank you ALL for giving abilities a chance for 20 years!
