This bright sunny morning began by dropping off Liz and Morgan at the Charleston Autism Academy as the rest of the trip headed back to the adaptive gardening farm with their new friend-- Mr. Jodie.
Liz and Morgan were greeted by a groggy but friendly staff as the students began to funnel in slowly on this laid back Friday morning. One by one, familiar faces from earlier in the week came through the door to meet Liz and Morgan-- eager to play! Often, mornings begin with a period of play time to engage the senses of the students and warm them up to the staff. From a swing hanging from the ceiling and bouncing balls to keyboard practice and puzzles, the children enjoyed leading the girls around to all their favorite toys.
Play time was followed by snacks and then the shoes and socks were put back on as everyone loaded into cars to head out to Rein & Shine therapeutic riding. Back at the barn, the kids were filled with excitement to saddle up and ride down the scenic path through the woods-- some were more apprehensive. Nevertheless, everyone enjoyed being outside in the sunshine playing with toys, riding horses, collecting sticks in the woods and greeting all the friendly dogs. The benefit of therapeutic riding extends far beyond the smiles and squeals of joy. Riding improves balance, speech ability, and independence of the riders.
Having a chance to see the kids ride after picking the stalls and mending fences earlier in the week was greatly rewarding to both Liz and Morgan. Just as the last riders mounted the horses, General Lee (our big white fun-filled van) pulled up with the adaptive gardening group to take us to our next volunteering adventure.
Flash-back about 3 hours. The rest of the squad who didn’t go to the Autism Academy headed on to the Thornhill Adaptive Gardens a bit farther off the road. We grabbed some coffee and breakfast knowing we most likely had an exciting morning ahead of us. We rolled in and the fearless hippie adaptive farmer, known as Jodie, put us straight to work. We first composted some old soil and cleaned up the potting shed, then Jodie set us onto the real work: hoe-ing it up.
We hoe-d all the rest of the morning long, we hoe-d up and down those rows until we couldn’t hoe it up any more. Kerry hoe-d so much she broke her hoe and started to bleed. Zach hoe-d until he was ripe with sweat. Kyle ho-ed to the point where he got red bumps. (Those fire ants) Ayelen also suffered from these injuries. Karen ho-ed to the point wear she swore she wouldn’t ever ho-ed again. Needless to say, the hoe-ing was successful, we tore those rows up.. literally. And after all the blood, sweat, and red bumps; we felt as though we accomplished something with our hoe-ing. (This narrative was written immaturely and inappropriately by Kyle.. I’m sorry Mom and Dad.)
Beaten and bruised, we all reconvened and headed back to the main Charleston area to assume our duties at the Cooper River Bridge Kid Run. Not before Kyle backed into that tree that came out of no where! I swear, the tree just grew in place. Really guys; I’m sorry. ..It’s definitely the tree’s fault. But don’t worry, I got his insurance information.
The group we assisted at the Cooper River Bridge Kid Run was the Charleston Miracle League. They are a baseball team that has kids and adults with special needs that buddy up with volunteers and play together. There are also volunteers and parents in the stands that cheer on the athletes. This bridges the gap between the volunteers and kids by allowing them to interact via sports. There is a lot of community involvement with Charleston and the participants love playing! Today, at the run we helped by working their table, acting as crowd control, and assisting with parking.
To close out our night we went to a local restaurant and as always, made a scene. While it was tasty and filling, again, we still needed a tasty frozen dairy treat. With ice cream in tow we head out to the pier and finally the church we call home for some much needed rest before our 17 hour adventure home tomorrow. Columbia, we’re coming home.
Saturated in Sweet Tea and Fried Pickles;
The CharleSTUNNERS
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