Four decades ago, an annual rite of spring sprouted in the Fredericksburg area. And, 40 years later, Rappahannock Adult Activities‘ spring plant sale still helps adults with developmental disabilities flourish.
This annual fundraiser first took root in 1986, a decade after we established RAAI as a private nonprofit to provide daytime support for adults with developmental disabilities.
Sowing Seeds 🫘
In 1976, day support was a novel idea to meet a significant gap in our community. Adults with disabilities often stayed at home all day, without any meaningful activities. A year earlier, ARC and Stafford County Public Schools developed a plan to offer a three-days-per-week program at Brooks Park Activity Center.
We joined those efforts and expanded them a year later to launch RAAI out of the Little Falls School Building at 750 Kings Highway in Stafford County. At the time, the building was owned by the Stafford County school division. In 1977, the schools rented the building to RAAI.
Sprouting Support 🌱
Three years later, the Mary Ball Woman’s Club donated a greenhouse to RAAI, which established our horticulture program. Day support participants embraced the opportunity to tend plants—and many of the participants grew and bloomed alongside the seedlings.
In 1986, we started using the greenhouses at the National Park Service site at Chatham. That same year, RAAI’s board of directors held a spring plant sale to raise funds and increase community awareness of developmental disabilities.
The timing was perfect—the day support program burgeoned with the plant sale. In 1989, we saw a rising need for services as the first wave of students graduated from special education services, which had started in local schools in the early 1970s. While a 1973 law mandated education for all students, regardless of disability, there were no mandated services for adults as they aged out of school-based support.
Blossoming Blessings 🌸
Stafford County donated land surrounding the Little Falls School to allow us to expand the day support program. The Harper A. Gordon building was opened on that site in 1996, and it still houses the main site of our day support program. We now also offer day support in the same locations as our Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania, and Stafford clinics—and we recently started offering community-only day support services operating out of local YMCA buildings.
RAAI turns 50 this year, and the program has supported hundreds of individuals over those five decades. In that time, the plant sale has blossomed into a beloved community tradition—offering gardeners high-quality plants while supporting a great cause.
Customers can shop the plant sale at 750 Kings Highway in Stafford County on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon.
RAAI will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a community event on May 16 from noon to 2 p.m. at 750 Kings Highway.