KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — People are repelling down to help one agency reach new heights. The Arc Knox County held its biggest fundraising event of the year in downtown Knoxville. It's called "Over the Edge." The Arc Knox County has been serving the Knoxville area for 71 years.
"We provide programs and services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities," said Jackie Johnson, the marketing and development coordinator at The Arc Knox County. "We have a range of services from residential, supported employment, Sunshine industries, early intervention, community participation and leisure. So it extends just very, it's very extensive on all of the programs and what we're able to cover with the individual's life. So it's important for our communities to have because we really like to bridge those gaps where an individual is ever sitting idle. "
To raise money for the nonprofit's programs, rappellers scaled the 12-floor Langley Building for the Over the Edge event.
"We're fundraising $1,000 to repel off of a building in downtown Knoxville, over the edge is the actual company that we are reaching out to to get their engineers to rig up the system on the building," said Johnson. "And we just have so much fun with it. We bring out so many great vendors, a lot of partnerships."
Fundraising runs through the end of the month.
"A big thing for us is community participation," said Johnson. "So for us to even just be out and being seen by our community, getting that visibility and that recognition, and giving that gives us opportunities to interact with our community and learn to navigate our community, which a lot of us are still learning."
There was also a block party held below the Langley building. It featured a performance by the Sunshine Ambassadors. They are a group that provides dance programs for people with disabilities.
"We don't do professional choreographed dancing, we call it movements and music, because we kind of morph each class to each dancer and their abilities," said Melanie O'Dowd, the executive director. "So we have wheelchair dancers, we have arm crutches, we will cater to whatever the needs of the individual is."
O'Dowd says the current youngest dancer is 3 years old and the oldest is 65.
"We joke that we bring the sunshine and we bring the happy tears wherever we go," said O'Dowd. "We've come into contact with a lot of families that are like I wish we had this when my sibling was younger or my family member was younger. Everybody smiles, and all the dancers light up when they dance. It's really great."
Both groups said they're always looking for volunteers.