Ask anyone what makes Newport County feel like home, and you’ll hear about the people: the familiar faces at the coffee shop, the neighbors who wave from their porches, the friends who save you a spot. At the James L. Maher Center, we believe everyone deserves that same sense of belonging, including the adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) we’ve been proud to serve since 1953.
That’s why community integration sits at the heart of what we do. It isn’t simply about being out in the community; it’s about being part of it. Our participants travel throughout Newport County every week for activities and thoughtful outings, visiting local businesses, parks, libraries, and gathering places. Each outing is an opportunity to build confidence, try something new, and form real connections with the people who live and work alongside us.
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Finding the Rhythm Together
Some of those connections happen on the dance floor. At the Common Fence Point Community Center in Portsmouth, our participants join an All Accessible Zumba class, sponsored by the Fogarty Foundation, where everyone is welcome and nobody is keeping score.
Others happen around a dinner table. Once a month, Emmanuel Church hosts a soup kitchen open to anyone in need of a good, warm meal. And every month, a team of Maher Center participants, staff, and volunteers is there to help make it happen. They set the tables, serve the food, and clean up afterward, and they do it all with a smile. The guests who come through the door treat our team with warmth and genuine respect, and that respect flows both ways. In that room, no one is defined by a label. Everyone is simply a neighbor, either sharing a meal or helping to serve one.
When the Community Shows Up
Inclusion works best when it goes both ways, and we’re grateful for the many ways our community supports us in return.
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This September, Ferreira’s Wine and Spirits became a valued community partner in our 48th Annual Golf Tournament at Wanumetonomy Golf & Country Club. Frank Rego didn’t stop at sponsoring the event. He also paid for a group of Maher Center participants with IDD to play in the tournament themselves. For those golfers, it meant more than a day on the course. It meant stepping onto the first tee as full participants in one of our community’s great traditions, sharing the fairways with the same friends and supporters who make our work possible.
That gesture captures what community integration truly looks like: not people with disabilities watching from the sidelines, but everyone playing the game together.
How You Can Be Part of It
Building an inclusive community doesn’t require grand gestures. It can start with a warm welcome when our participants visit your business, an invitation to join a class or event, or a partnership that opens a new door. Every connection helps our participants live life to its fullest, and makes Newport County a stronger, kinder place for all of us.
We’re so grateful to the neighbors, businesses, and organizations who already walk this path with us. We’d love for you to join them.
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Join Us This Holiday Season
The easiest way to be part of our community is to come and see it for yourself. Two upcoming events are perfect places to start.
On Saturday, December 5, we’re hosting our Family Fun Holiday Day at the Maher Garden Center. The Watchkeepers LEMC will be on hand to help load Christmas trees and spread plenty of holiday cheer, and there will be crafts for the kids, hot cocoa, and so much more. Pick out your tree and wreaths, enjoy the festivities, and get to know the people of the Maher Center.
On Saturday, December 12, join us at Ocean Pointe Church for Christmas in Sign, a free concert of beloved Christmas music performed in American Sign Language by adults with IDD. It’s a joyful, moving evening, and a beautiful reminder that music speaks in many languages.
Whether you join us for a cup of cocoa, a song, or a lasting partnership, every connection helps our participants live life to its fullest, and makes Newport County a stronger, kinder place for all of us. We’d love to see you there.
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