By MATT HENDRIX

Lifestyle Reporter

LEBANON -- Arc Rehab Services, 900 W. Main St., Lebanon, will celebrate the completion of its $1 million renovation and expansion with an open house today.

But many who attend the 4 to 6 p.m. event will also be commemorating Arc Rehab's accomplishments during its 34-year history, and recognizing the growth its board of directors sees for the future.

Lebanon-based CF Jones Group Inc. and local subcontractors are wrapping up the finishing touches on an expansion project that began last February, more than doubling the size of Arc Rehab's main building -- from about 9,000 square feet to close to 19,000 square feet.

Installing a few fixtures and spreading some caulk "here and there" are all that remain to be done, in a project that's already allowed Arc to eliminate waiting lists from some of its programs, said the facility's top administrator.

"The majority of the project was completed several weeks ago. Now, we're just going through the final 'to-do' list or punch list," Executive Director Brent Cardin said. "We're having an open house to show the community what we've done and to say, 'thank you' for helping us."

The project began three and a half years ago, when the United Way of Central Indiana granted Arc Rehab money for a feasibility study and needs assessment.

Arc Rehab's board members came up with three goals. The first was to expand Arc's services to more people -- making room for those who were on waiting lists for programs, and allowing the busy not-for-profit organization to keep up with countywide growth.

Another goal was to make room for more staff members, particularly for programs like Job Connection, which helps local people with developmental disabilities find and maintain jobs. The third objective was to connect a "campus" of several buildings, so that clients with limited mobility could easily get from any place in the facility to certain focal points, like its breakroom/conference room and job resource center.

"The whole process was to open everything up for more people," Cardin said. "Basically, we're just trying to keep up with the growth in Boone County."

In the last couple of decades, Arc Rehab has expanded several times, gradually accumulating several buildings in the 800 and 900 blocks of West Main Street; but there has never been an expansion of this magnitude. Arc Rehab board members Paul Bowman and Ken Cross said the board has always looked ahead toward future needs, but didn't think it could afford the type of facility it really needed.

As a United Way agency, though, Arc Rehab was eligible for a 75 percent matching grant for a capital project. The grant was administered by United Way of Central Indiana, but funded primarily through a program Indianapolis-based Ruth Lilly Foundation Inc. had established with United Way.

"It was through the generosity of Mrs. Lilly, who gave money for United Way to distribute, that we found funding for 75 percent of our project," said board president Bowman. "Otherwise, we never would have been able to do it.

He also credited Home National Bank in Thorntown, a longtime Arc supporter, with helping them set up a low-interest $244,000 loan, to cover part of the expansion cost.

"Ken Cross (chairman of facilities expansion) did a real good job overseeing the project and making sure everything happened. We were only $35,000 over budget and that's good for a project that size," Bowman said.

Cross, who has been a board member for more than 20 years, said the expansion will allow Arc Rehab not only to serve more people with disabilities, but to meet a broader spectrum of their needs. Many people don't realize just how many people Arc serves, he said.

Cardin said three Arc programs, Mainstreet Enterprises, Personal training & Community Services and Job Connection, are serving about 150 individuals. The Women, Infants, Children program provides nutritional food for 572 people; and First Steps serves 174 children with developmental problems, according to recently published Arc documents.

But for Bowman, whose own daughter is an employee at Arc's Mainstreet Enterprises, it's not always about the numbers.

"We have a tremendous staff and great clients. We're just thankful we could do what we could," he said. "The other day, I had a client in a wheelchair come up and thank me for what we've done to make the building more handicap-accessible. That really does your heart good when the clients appreciate what we've done for them."