ACC Students Celebrate 100th Day of Class and Write Letters to Retiring Volunteer

A yearly day of celebration at the Anne Carlsen Center (ACC) included saying goodbye and good luck to an old friend.

Students and ACC staff celebrated their 100th day of class with songs and dancing on Jan 27 in the ACC gymnasium, while enjoying picnic fare to help chase away any winter doldrums. Following the meal, picnickers wrote letters to Doug Hockert, an ACC volunteer and optician with Lifetime Eye Care. Hockert, who has volunteered his skills at the Center by fixing and adjusting glasses for the last decade, is retiring in March.

Jan Torkelson, a rehab nurse at the Jamestown Campus, has worked with Hockert on each monthly visit to the Center.

“It was hard for many of the kids to make it down to Lifetime, particularly with the cold weather,” said Torkelson, who attended high school with Hockert. “So Doug would come and visit each classroom. He tightened screws, replaced nose pieces – whatever needed to be done. It was all volunteering on his part. It was so nice of him and Lifetime for allowing him to do that.”

The Anne Carlsen Center offers a rich tradition of empowering individuals with disabilities and their families. Our experienced staff provides compassion, training, services and supports in homes and communities across North Dakota. On our Jamestown Campus, we meet the educational, residential and therapeutic needs of children and young adults with autism, behavior disorders, medical fragility, and other developmental disabilities.