Tracy Stearns has an infectious smile. Seated on a shiny red modified bicycle, she peddals around the driveway outside her home at the Kelsey Creek House, a Bellevue group home that she shares with six other adults with developmental disabilities.

At age 43, Stearns has been a client of Alpha Supported Living Services since 1988 and an active member in the Bellevue community. During the week, Stearns splits her time between her job, working at the Northwest Center, and her many hobbies including dancing and bowling.

Now perched outside on her bicycle, she is getting ready for this year’s Big Bicycle Bash and Barbecue at Crossroads Community Park (16000 N.E. 10th St., on Saturday, Aug. 2 from noon to 4 p.m.)

This year’s barbecue is open to the public and will be hosted by Alpha Supported Living Services, a non-profit agency that provides living and group home services to adults with developmental disabilities in the King County area.

The afternoon barbecue will welcome the community to join the 89 Alpha SLS clients from Seattle and the Eastside for a day of outdoor fun and games, including water balloons, face painting, a raffle, Go-Fish, and rides on the modified bicycles provided by Outdoors For All Foundation. Staff from Alpha SLS, guardians, friends and family members will be on hand to give their support and share their experiences.

“We really want it to be a fun event for our clients and for people in the community to see what we are doing,” Josh Cutler said, the manager of Alpha SLS services in Bellevue. “That’s the most important thing.”

The free event will be a way for Alpha SLS clients to be introduced into the community and to raise awareness about the special programs in the area.

Alpha SLS’s has its roots in group homes operated by four different agencies dating back to 1974 and has evolved through mergers by Alpha Home, Spring Meadow Specialized Homes, Seattle Specialized Home and most recently Residence East. Currently the agency provides services to individuals with developmental disabilities living in homes in Seattle, Shoreline, Bellevue, Issaquah and a newly opened home in Woodinville.

The agency provides support services to a wide spectrum of individuals. Some individuals, such as those living at the Kelsey Creek House in Bellevue, are fairly independent, maintain jobs in the community and actively participate in a variety of hobbies. Others have physical disabilities that require round-the-clock assistance with personal care.

Stearn’s mother, Linda Johnson serves as a member on the Alpha SLS Board of Directors and has seen first hand the incredible impact Alpha SLS has made in her daughter’s life.

“I think the best thing for her has been her independence, which has been very wonderful for her and her family.”

Historically, aging individuals with developmental disabilities would often be placed in a mental institution or nursing home, a solution that was unacceptable to many parents and guardians. This prompted parents to work with legislation to create an agency that would better serve the needs of adults living with developmental disabilities.

“I always thought how awful that would be for Tracey to be 45 or 50 years old and suddenly at best be put in some sort of state housing of some kind,” Johnson explained. “How horrible would that be to not only lose your parents, but to be put in a situation that was completely foreign to you. I always felt from the very beginning that the most important thing would be for her to be as independent as possible to ensure she has a really good life.”

Alpha SLS aims to serve individual clients for the entirety of their life. Currently, 17 of the individuals living in one of the Alpha SLS group homes have been supported by the agency for 20 years or more. To apply for services, potential clients must go through the Division of Developmental Disabilities to obtain a referral using the state process. As it stands, there is a waiting list of about 10,000 people for services such as the ones provided by Alpha SLS.

“The Division of Developmental Disabilities often comes to us because we’re open to putting things together and finding ways to serve people when other agencies are saying they’re at capacity,” Cutler explained. “We are saying we want to meet the need, that’s our mission.”

Since the merger, Alpha SLS has become the largest non-profit supported living provider in Washington. With continued growth, the agency anticipates the opening of one new program in the form of a group home each year. The agency’s primary source of funding comes from the state and additional funding is collected through fundraising efforts. According to Cutler, the need is there, but staffing has been a real challenge of late.

“The staff who work here don’t necessarily do it for the money,” Cutler said, adding that there is never enough funding. “They work here because they really love what they do.”

The process for anyone to work with Alpha SLS clients includes a long background check and intensive training process including orientation, behavioral and supportive training specific to the clients.

As program manager for Kelsey Creek House, Stephanie Nuce has been working at the Bellevue home for eight years now. “It started as a summer job and then I fell in love with it,” Nuce said. “I can’t see myself doing anything else but serving people in the community with disabilities.”

More information is available at www.alphasls.com.

Lindsay Larin can be reached at llarin@reporternewspapers.com or at 425-453-4602.