Lance Morehouse - Classification Talk
Posted by Gary O'Rielly
on Mar 17, 2015
Lance grew up in a small town in North Idaho then moved to Spokane and lived there for 17 years before moving to Lake Stevens in 2010. Lance married his lovely wife Carrie and that is what brought him to Lake Stevens, two step kids.
Lance was a single parent of his two sons for 11 years starting in the 1980’s when few fathers had custody of their children. It was the hardest and most meaningful thing he has done in his life. Lance has two grandchildren.
Lance has worked in restaurants, sawmills in N. Idaho and E. Washington for 11 years before moving into the disability realm and non-profits for the past 17 years. For 15 of the 17 years in non-profits he worked for The Arc of Spokane and The Arc of King County. The Arc is an advocacy organization for people with intellectual disabilities and Lance’s role was to organize grassroots legislative advocacy and lobby directly for issues important to people with disabilities. In August of 2013, Lance became the Executive Director of Sherwood Community Services in Lake Stevens. Sherwood provides early intervention services for children birth to 3 years old who have developmental delays, assistive technology services to children and adults that have barriers to communication, and employment support for adults with disabilities who want to work.
Lance explained why he does this meaningful work.
#1. He has a personal connection. His son, Lance Jr., had a near drowning accident in 1990 at the age of 7. He had significant disabilities as a result and lived another 17 years until he passed away at the age of 24. He lived a full live in spite of his disabilities. He attended his neighborhood school and was a member of his brother's baseball teams and sometimes had to be lifted over fences in his wheelchair to attend the games. Lance also shared some personal advocacy he did at the YMCA in Spokane around charging for caregivers to attend with the person with disabilities. In reality, this meant that it cost the person twice as much as a person without disabilities to attend YMCA activities. Their board changed this practice and now allows caregivers to attend with a person without charge.
#2. Equality and justice. Lance believes that all people with disabilities should live a full meaningful life in their communities. He believes it is the role of non-profits like Sherwood to level the playing field for people with disabilities by providing services they need. This is the passion that drives Lance to do the work he does.
Lance shared that he has seen so many success stories of people with disabilities becoming more included in their communities and making significant contributions. Many times it takes just a little support and encouragement to make a huge difference in people’s lives. Lance has met some of the best people through his experience and work and feels very lucky to have had the experiences he has had in his life.
Lance also shared how meaningful it has been to be a part of the Lake Stevens Community and Rotary. As a new member, he hopes to get more involved and support activities of our Rotary Club.