Another Wonderful and Successful Event
By: Valerie Harrison
Event day. A day I anticipate with both eager excitement and nervous apprehension. Every year for the past 8 years, I have trouble sleeping the night before as the thoughts race around my head in circles: Have I forgotten anything? How are we going to handle something unexpected? What if the weather is bad? What if something horrible happens? And on and on it goes. I camp at the event site the night before to make sure I'm there when things start happening in the morning. Getting up at 4:30 a.m. in order to drink a quick cup of coffee before heading to the marina is the quietest, most peaceful time of day and I think, "Here we go again. Are you ready?" An answering "Yes!" echoes through my mind and off I go to the marina; my friend and invaluable volunteer, Pat, making coffee and heating water for hot chocolate at the pavilion for the early birds like me, her, our husbands, and boat captains.
The weather this day was a bit on the cool side with mist rising from the lake surface. The sunrise was simply beautiful and reminded me of all my many blessings. Strawberry Reservoir, at 7600 feet in elevation, sits in the middle of a wide open sagebrush and aspen valley, 30 miles from the nearest city. Pat and I had just begun to set up tables when the boat captains began showing up for the continental breakfast. Barely Controlled Chaos ensued as we tried to get the boat captains signed in, give them their packets; get the equipment, life jackets, hats, t-shirts, and so on sorted and stacked, and give everyone last minute instructions as well as we could.
The families were trickling in until the 26-person Jameson family showed up, then it was a major and fun undertaking to get them all on the pontoon boats reserved for them. Alva and Christi Jameson have spent their lives adopting and raising children who have disabilities, which range from Down Syndrome to Angelman Syndrome to Bardet Biedl, spina bifida, cerebral palsy and Sotos Syndrome. This trip out, they brought 12 of the children and all but two of the kids had an older brother or sister as a companion. The other two were accompanied by the parents.
By 10 a.m. we had everyone out on the lake. Since some of the families who had registered didn't show up, we were able to send some of the volunteers with their kids and one mother who had stayed on shore with younger children out on a boat for a while before lunch.
Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner John Keys III, and Deputy Regional Director Darryl Beckmann, arrived early and helped all day. They worked as hard as any of us and I am very grateful to them. Commissioner Keys was so good to the kids, families, boat captains, and other volunteers. His assistance was invaluable and truly an inspiration! Deputy Director Beckmann was a master at launching and retrieving boats; you'd think he did this kind of thing all of the time!
The excitement was palpable as the kids got ready to go. Huge smiles lit up their faces and you could hear some of them saying, "Going fishing! Gonna catch a fish! Gonna go on a boat! Gonna catch a fish!"
For children who were not able to get out on a boat, we had on-shore activities at the pavilion, and catching crayfish is a popular pastime at Strawberry for children and adults as well.
Jennifer, 13, became frightened of being on the open water, so her boat captain, Marvin, brought her closer to shore and told her he'd bring her back. Once she saw shore and knew she was coming back, the grin began again. Her mother, Bonnie, was so grateful for the chance to have her daughter participate in the event, she cried as she told Pat thank-you, which in turn made Pat cry. If not for being pulled aside to answer a question, I would've burst into tears also.
Another little boy, Henry, this being his first time out on the water, was also frightened at first, but once he got comfortable, the boat captain put him in the "captain's chair" where the youngster promptly went to sleep! He slept for about 30 minutes or so while his father fished.
Rachell, 15, fished for a little while and was not at all frightened of the water or the boat, but she was more interested in the boat ride. She kept telling her captain, Rick, "Go faster!"
Many of the kids were very interested in the boats, with little Conner proclaiming, "Look at the big boat! Big boat!" Many of captains, indulging the kids' fascination let them steer the boats for a while.
There were not too many fish caught, unfortunately, but the kids didn't seem to mind, although I'm sure the boat captains were disappointed. Some of the fish caught had to be let go because of size restrictions; something we're going to see if the Division of Wildlife Resources will waive for our event next year.
Once we brought everyone back in, lunch was served by Weber Basin Job Corps at the group pavilion up the hill. We had volunteers shuttle people up there and back as parking is limited at the pavilion. While the families were eating, they were entertained by Lightfoot, the Tread Lightly! Squirrel; Smokey Bear; Woodsy Owl; and Otto the Otter (for water safety). One little boy, Conner, didn't want to leave Smokey's side and gave him hug after hug as he held his hand.
As lunch was winding down, we held the awards ceremony and this year, in addition to the photo plaques and fun packs, we had fishing medals for all of the kids. They were a big hit and one mom wrote back after the event to let us know that one of her sons hadn't stopped talking about the fish he caught and the two boat captains, while her other son hadn't stopped wearing the medal yet. She wrote, "For special needs kids the opportunity to feel like a winner doesn't happen very often, so I thought that [medals and plaques] was perfect."
Event day. A day I anticipate with both eager excitement and nervous apprehension. A day that, when done, I look back on with a warm glow of satisfaction that I can help bring some happiness to the children and their families. A day that, when done, I breathe a sigh of relief then tell myself, "Let's do it again!"
|
(Click on a picture to enlarge)
|
