On September 7th, 2015, nationally recognized activist Richard Propes headed out on his 26th Annual Tenderness Tour. This year's event included a 62-mile wheelchair ride across the full-length of the Cardinal Greenway from Marion, Indiana to Richmond, Indiana along with community service days in Marion, Muncie, Randolph County, and Richmond, Indiana.
All proceeds from the 2015 Tenderness Tour went to Arc of Indiana's Erskine Green Training Institute.
The Arc strives to empower people and inspire change in many ways , including expanding employment opportunities for people with disabilities. We not only advocate for change, we are working to be part of that change by developing the Erskine Green Training Institute and the nation’s first teaching hotel – the Courtyard Muncie at Horizon Convention Center.
After receiving training at the institute, individuals will apply those skills through an internship at the Courtyard Muncie, developed by our for-profit affiliate, Arc Innovations. Other internship opportunities are available at the Thr3e Wiseman restaurant that will be located at the Courtyard Muncie and at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital.
The Courtyard Muncie at Horizon Convention Center opened in December, 2015. The Erskine Green Training Institute opened to students in January, 2016. It was the goal of the 2015 Tenderness Tour to raise enough funds, estimated to be between $9 - 12,000, to provide one full scholarship so that a person with a disability will be able to attend this groundbreaking opportunity for persons with disabilities in Indiana. Tenderness Tour Founder/Director Richard Propes, in addition to being a paraplegic/double amputee with spina bifida, is an eight-year employee of the State of Indiana's Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services and has long credited his own decision to leave life on Social Security Disability and enter the workforce as a vital step on his own road to healing and empowerment. After 25 years of the Tenderness Tour, Propes is working to establish the Tenderness Center, an art gallery and creative space celebrating "the art of social justice," in Central Indiana.
2015 Tenderness Tour - September 7 - 11, 2015
September 7, 2015 - Arrive in Marion, Indiana, Possible Evening Event
September 8, 2015 - Wheel from Marion to Muncie w/Evening Event
September 9, 2015 - Wheel from Muncie to Losantville w/Evening Event
September 10, 2015 - Wheel From Losantville to Richmond w/Evening Event
September 11, 2015 - Return Home
