We made sure to wake up early today so that we could accomplish everything on our busy schedule!
We started off the morning with a sponsored breakfast at Arby’s including breakfast sandwiches and French toast. We then made our way to two friendship visits to spend time with kids with disabilities.
The first visit was at a local school, where I was paired up with a young boy named Connor. Connor has autism and absolutely loves the movie Shrek. I was told to try and help him learn some of the words on his flash cards, but I was able to convince the teacher to let us draw Shrek characters instead. We had a blast trying to draw the characters and we soon made our way outside for free time. Connor and I played on the swings and playground set until we were absolutely exhausted! As I was leaving Connor said goodbye to me. While this might not seem like a big deal, the teacher said that it was a big step for him and that she had never seen him act as happy as he was today. It was definitely one of the moments from the trip that I will certainly remember.
We had to leave the school to make it to the park for our next friendship visit. We spent the early afternoon playing Frisbee and climbing a rock wall with kids with disabilities. It was great to be outside and enjoying the beautiful day while we played games. While we were at the park, Tammy explained to us the history of the park and how JOH impacted its creation and development.
Push America was instrumental in securing some of the playground equipment as well as supplying the manpower (Pi Kapps) to build it. In addition, there is a tree dedicated to one of the brothers who rode through last year and recently lost his life. It was moving to see the impact that Pi Kappa Phi and Push America has had on the lives of those in Grand Island and especially in the history of the park.
Next, we went back to the hotel for some rest and relaxation time. I was able to cram in a couple hours of sleep before having to go to the bike shop for some new tires.
Dinner was provided by the Grand Island women and was located back at the same park. We had a friendship visit and Kids on the Block show to accompany dinner and recreation. When we left dinner we all thought that our fun in Grand Island was done, but there was one more surprise in store. Tammy, Sue, and Andrea put together a slideshow of pictures from past trips as well as our own so that we could see the progression of JOH in Grand Island. It was extremely moving to watch all of the pictures, and when the show was over we all said our goodbyes to the friends that we had made.
Tomorrow is another 100 mile and I need a rest day!
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