Amador County – Mike Sweeney will retire after 23-and-a-half years as executive director for ARC of Amador and Calaveras Counties at the end of June.
His replacement, Shawnna Molina starts June 12. He said: “We’re going to work together through June and she takes over as the executive director on July 1. Molina comes from a long career of nonprofit work, most recently with the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Sacramento.
Sweeney said: “It’s been a wonderful journey. I’ve learned so much from the people we serve, about perseverance, resiliency and sticking to something.”
Arc is a support company for people with developmental disabilities. Sweeney said this fiscal year they have 160 participants in the two counties. Services include supported employment, supported living and transportation for work and play.
Sweeney has been in this field since the early 1970s. In Monterey County he ran Gateway Industries, which served about 80 people with developmental disabilities to find work in landscaping, packaging, and collating. In the early ’70s, he worked in Gilroy, setting up a physical development program at a school. After that he went to Cresent City in Del Norte County and set up the North Coast Regional Center evaluation unit.
Sweeney is a native of Morgan Hill, in the South Bay. He graduated from Live Oak High School with the class of 1970, and recently got his old soul band back together, Sweeney on the trumpet, to play for their 40th class reunion. They played James Brown, Wilson Picket and a lot of soul music. The band played into the early 1970s then he had to get serious with work.
All his old buddies still play music as professional musicians. The lead singer plays with the Chicano All Stars in Santa Fe. Jim Murphy, saxophone player played with Wayne Newton, Sinatra and Lawrence Welk and now plays in Branson, Missouri. His Solid Gold Motown Review is going on a tour of Europe.
For retirement, Sweeney said he may get back into his photography and do more writing. His dad lives in the Midwest and is in his mid-eighties, he said “it will be nice to visit and not have to be in hurry to get back.”
He also thought about “dusting off the trumpet and playing a little bit around here.” He definitely wants to stay busy. He will do some non-profit consulting with the Nonprofit Resource Center in Sacramento. He said there ought to be some benefit for having done this for 35-40 years.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
