Richard Blanco, the poet who spoke at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration, will speak at the Syracuse University campus on Dec. 15.

The event will be held at 2 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel with tickets costing $20. Proceeds will benefit the Building Futures Foundation and the Arc of Onondaga Foundation. Both organizations are locally-based groups intended to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities live their lives fully. Blanco will recite some of his poetry as well as entertain the crowd.

The event itself was inspired by Cheryl Neveu, the sister of Blanco’s partner Mark Neveu, and her struggles with developmental disabilities. Mark Neveu said Cheryl had a relatively calm childhood, but began to have violent outbursts in her teen years, which led Mark’s parents Carol and Louis Neveu to make the difficult decision to transition Cheryl to a group home.

“I remember that sometimes she would just cry a lot and I know it’s because there’s a part of her brain that just knows she’s not normal like everyone else,” Mark Neveu said.

Because Cheryl’s situation is non-genetic and extremely unique, there aren’t many options to treat her constantly degenerating condition. When Mark visits his parents’ home for the holidays with Blanco, he said he has noticed her communication skills constantly weakening with each passing year. Cheryl was also abused in various group homes in the past, which aided in deteriorating her conditions.

“Richard comes back home with me every time around the holiday season so he’s noticed the degeneration of Cheryl throughout the years,” Mark said. “When he was given the opportunity to do this, he was more than willing to accept it.”

Today, Cheryl resides at a group home in Oneida, N.Y. Cheryl, as well as other members and employees of the group home, will attend Blanco’s event.

“It’s really sad because I’m not sure how much of the event she’ll be able to understand,” Mark said.

Blanco said he has spoken at large events such as Boston Strong, which is held to help heal emotional wounds of the Boston Marathon bombings, and the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, held at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Due to Blanco’s popularity, Lauren Kochian, director of development for the Arc of Onondaga, predicts the Hendricks event will sell out.

Kochian said Blanco is the perfect speaker for the event because his poetry focuses on the human condition regardless of ability.

“He’s really a reflection of the human condition in the truest sense,” Kochian said. “His work is very compelling and fascinating and it’s a fundraiser for two really amazing places. And now more than ever, as business models change due to changes at the state and federal level to Medicaid, the foundation dollars that we raise are increasingly important to what we do.”

Tickets for the Hendricks event are currently available for purchase at the Arc Foundation’s website. All proceeds from the event will go to the two developmental disability foundations hosting the event, according to Arc of Onondaga’s website.

Blanco will also host a meet and greet brunch at noon. Tickets for the meet and greet are $75 and include VIP seating, according to the website.

“I truly believe in Arc’s mission,” Blanco said in an email. “It is my honor to be part of this event and helping Arc continue its good work. I invite all to attend and learn about the power of poetry and power of Arc to create a better world.”

Published on December 5, 2013 at 3:10 am

Contact Margaret: mglin@syr.edu