Celebrating a Career of Service: Cheryl Smith Retires After 27 Years

At The Arc Mercer, long-term employees are more than experienced members of our workforce. They are familiar faces, trusted supports, mentors to their colleagues, and an important source of consistency for the individuals we serve.

That is why we were proud to recently celebrate Cheryl Smith, a Direct Support Professional in The Arc Mercer’s Residential Program, as she retired after an extraordinary 27 years of service.

For nearly three decades, Cheryl supported individuals living in The Arc Mercer’s group homes and supervised apartments. Over the years, she helped residents build independence, work through challenges, celebrate milestones, and create homes filled with familiarity, trust, and belonging.

Reflecting on her career during a recent TAC Awards Luncheon, Cheryl shared what those years meant to her:

“I wanted to make a difference, but I never imagined how much this work would change my own life. Together, we didn’t just provide care. We built true homes.”

The Value of Long-Term Commitment

Cheryl’s career is part of a larger story at The Arc Mercer. Across the agency, many employees have built careers spanning 20 years or more, developing deep experience while forming lasting relationships with the people they support.

That kind of longevity is especially meaningful in the intellectual and developmental disabilities field. Consistency matters. Familiar staff members understand an individual’s preferences, routines, communication styles, goals, and history. Over time, those relationships can create greater trust, stability, and a stronger sense of community.

For employees, The Arc Mercer strives to create opportunities to grow, take on new responsibilities, develop professionally, and build a meaningful long-term career. Recognizing milestones like Cheryl’s retirement is also an important part of showing appreciation for the people who have invested so much of themselves in our mission.

As Cheryl reflected on the relationships she built throughout her career, she summed up what makes this work so special:

“We celebrated the small victories and laughed through the hard days and helped our residents find independence and joy.”

Cheryl’s 27 years of service represent the dedication we are fortunate to see throughout The Arc Mercer: employees who make a career out of supporting others and, in doing so, become an important part of the lives of the individuals and families we serve.

Congratulations to Cheryl on her retirement, and thank you for 27 years of compassion, commitment, and service to The Arc Mercer community.