TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

The Good Fight: Linda Wells Battles For Funds Every Day For ARC

Jasmina Meyer/Highlands Today

From left: Linda Wells, Director of Development for Ridge Area ARC, meets with Karen Coles, manger of the Tea Room, about table arrangements for the ARC's Afternoon Tea event that will sponsor Florida Hospital recently at the Sebring Lakeside Golf Resort Inn.

ADVERTISEMENT

Pallavi Agarwal

Published: January 26, 2009

SEBRING - Giveaway baskets, prepared and half prepared, sit everywhere in Linda Wells' compact office Thursday.

They are going to be handed out at the Ridge Area ARC's annual tea fundraiser Saturday (Jan. 24th) and Wells is busy with the finishing touches.

On her table sit various folders, bulging with details on other events to raise money for Highlands County's biggest non-profit group that helps individuals with developmental and other disabilities.

There's Kokomo 2009, a golf tournament the Sebring Moose is hosting, a Valentine's Day ball and even perhaps a "bed race," which Wells describes as a relay with a bed on wheels instead of a baton.

Raising community funds for  the agency is part of Wells' job. She serves as director of development for Ridge Area ARC and executive director of the ARC Foundation. Community contributions furnish about 30 to 40 percent of the agency's budget so she's always seeking whatever she can get.

The economic downturn has meant less money from the community. More ominously, budget cutbacks from the state have forced ARC to juggle around with less.
Wells has had to do staff reductions and close one of ARC's group homes, moving residents to other group homes.

Since ARC clients now get less money from the state, some cannot do or do less of the workforce training that ARC thinks is crucial to make them self-sufficient. Others get less one-to-one companionship care, among other benefits they enjoyed in the past.

"It's a tough time," she said. What's particularly disturbing to her is how these cutbacks affect their clients' ability to stand on their own feet, get their own apartment, perhaps a job.
"We have worked so many years to get away from the past," when people with disabilities led cloistered lives, she added.

But despite the challenges, Wells' association with ARC has been the highlight of her career.
"It's rewarding when you see a smile on a face," she added.

Life's A Stage
Those who remember the widow of "Daddy Bud," from the Highlands Little Theatre red neck comedy from last year, "Dearly Departed," may perhaps remember the red-haired actress. That was Wells.
What many may not know is that the character who played her son is Allan Grosman, her real-life husband and another prolific actor.

The two met in Fort Lauderdale while acting in a play, ironically called "Cheaters." In it, their characters were having an extra-martial affair, Wells grinned. The onstage chemistry was not play acting. The two eventually married and also became professional partners.

For some time, they owned a nonprofit theater company, "On the Boards." Wells was the managing director and acted occasionally. Since the couple didn't have their own place at first, they often did Shakespearian plays in amphitheaters.

Eventually, they rented a location but "lost" the theater when the landlord raised the rent, and it became beyond their means to pay.

Armed with a black cat called Othello and memories of a bustling South Florida theater scene, Wells and her husband moved to Sebring. They wanted to be close to her mom and dad.
That was about five years ago.

"We needed a change," Wells remembered. "We wanted to go to a smaller town, get away from the hassles."

In Highlands, they've both been active with Little Theatre. Acting allows Wells to be someone else other than Linda, she said.

"I can't draw; I can't sing…," she said. "Acting is my artistic side."

Juggling A Full Plate
Most people in the community probably know Wells from the ARC or the numerous other civic duties she manages to schedule in.

When she's not at the Avon Park Noon Rotary, she's helping new members to the Sebring Chamber of Commerce get acclimated, as part of chairing the Sebring Chamber Ambassadors group, or teaching people to become better public speakers through the newly formed Toastmasters Club. She's also with the United Way of Central Florida.

Juggling all these commitments may be tough for most but comes naturally to Wells.
"I like being busy and giving back to the community," she said.

Were it not for some broken bones, she'll like to take on some new hobbies.

"I would like to learn ballroom dancing," she said. "But in the summer of '07 I broke two bones in my right foot and last year one in my left foot."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT