a monthly newsletter for families and friends of Easter Seals Wyoming August 2010

MISSION

TALES AND TIDBITS

Easter Seals Wyoming • 991 Joe Street • Sheridan, WY 82801 • (307) 672-2816 anitab@esgw.org • www.esgw-nrm.easterseals.com

At Easter Seals Wyoming we create solutionsthat change lives.

Rounding up someRodeo Week fun

Don’t miss ourOpen House!

Participants at the Community Access and ABI Centers headed out Friday, July 2 to test drive the newest fun spot in town, the Klean-burn Recreation Area, just north of Sheridan. Previously an exhausted coal bed, Kleanburn was reclaimed to a beautiful five-acre water com-plex by city and county agencies using federal grants and local dona-tions. Thirty participants and 12 staff members, along with some family friends, celebrated the Fourth of

Easter Seals Wyoming staff and participants celebrated Sheridan’s Annual Rodeo Week July 12-16. Everyone from Community Access and the ABI Center gathered on the corner at Main Street and Grin-nell on Friday to watch the Rodeo parade. This year’s entries took almost two full hours to travel the parade route. Each entry reflected the theme “80 Years in the Saddle” to commemorate

Now that all the boxes have been unpacked and everyone has had time to settle in and decorate their new digs, we’re inviting the entire community to come on over and see Easter Seals new apartment complex and community home. We’ve scheduled a Ribbon Cutting and Open House on September 10 from 2:30- 6 p.m., following the Annual Awards Celebration. The residents are all so proud of their new homes and are excited to show off their decorating skills. We hope you’ll come by for some light refreshments and a tour of this new facility.

the event’s 80th anniversary. By noon participants and staff gathered at the Joe Street Center to enjoy a hamburger and hotdog BBQ, expertly presented by chef Don Glaze a Community Access assistant, and accompanied by chips, potato salad, cold drinks and cookies. With temperatures hovering around the century mark, the water war that broke out immediately fol-

lowing lunch was inevita-ble. Water cannons, pis-tols and any other device capable of carrying and flinging water was used to dispatch the heat and the opposing team. Everyone was too drenched at the

end to determine which team actu-ally won.

Katie, Mike and Dyanna took a cool dip in the lake.

(top)Rebecca, Kit, Mary, Alice and Cindy sit peace-fully and enjoy their lunch in the shade. (Bottom) Par-ticipants beat the heat with a water war on the front lawn of the Center

4th of July funat Kleanburn

July a little early with a fun-filled picnic BBQ and fishing derby at the new lake. The lake’s inhabit-ants, small mouth bass and crappie, were immediately the main focus of the group. From about 10 a.m. until lunch, staff members were kept busy unhooking fish, baiting hooks and rescuing snagged tackle. If a baited hook landed in the water it usually came back with a fish. At noon the BBQ grill was lit. Hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, watermelon and grapes were served throughout the afternoon. Temper-atures climbed into the high nine-ties, but the group was sheltered by tall and spreading cottonwood trees and cooled by the air coming off the water. By 3:00 pm everybody was back in Sheridan and ready to officially start the long Fourth of July weekend.

April (right) points to the deepest part of the hole as Jay C. watches his bobber.

“Tales and Tidbits” is published monthly by Easter Seals Wyoming for the friends and families of our participants. For questions or comments please contact Anita Badgett at 672-2816 or e-mail anitab@esgw.org

The team Wyoming Unified Softball squad; (bottom left to right) Shannon Mares - Gillette, Ben Updike - Laramie, David Bedford - Sheridan, Jackson Ventling - Sheridan and Robert Lynam - Sheridan. (back row left to right) Assistant Coach Colleen Sutherlin - Sheridan, Player/Coach Jesse Dahl - Sheridan, Jacob Brooks - Laramie, Cliff Haley - Casper, Will Barnes - Cheyenne, Dean Rose - Laramie, Izzy Vijiilo - Gillette and Head Coach Maria “Paula” Durham - Sheridan. .

At left, Jackson honed his catcher’s skills behind the plate at a infielder’s clinic conducted by former major leaguer Frank Kolarek, president of League of Dreams.Below, David takes part in a fielding clinic at the Fleming Softball Complex between games on Thursday which was presented by current U.S.A. Olympic Softball Team member Amanda Freed.

Athletes shine at National Games

Team Wyoming brought a taste of wild western hospitality to the Nebraska plains and came back with honors for their efforts at the 2010 Special Olympics National Games. The Games were held in Lincoln July 19 through 23 on the University of Nebraska campus. Contributing to the success of the Wyoming delegation were eight people from Easter Seals Wyoming – four athletes, two unified players and two coaches. Jessica McPart-land and Taylor Brandt competed on the Wyoming’s bowling team with six other participants from around the state. David Bedford and Jackson Ventling played on Wyoming’s Unified Softball Team. The softball team was coached by Sheridan volunteer Maria Paula Durham with assistance from Easter Seals Housing Coordinator Colleen Sutherlin and Transporta-tion Manager Jesse Dahl, who also

played on the team as a unified partner. Robert Lynam, Commu-nity Services Manager in Sheridan, rounded out the roster as a unified player on the team. The week-long extravaganza included 3,000 athletes (and easily

twice as many fans) from all over the country in health and fitness semi-nars, free medical and dental check-ups, live music and communal dining to ignite camaraderie and friendship every waking min-ute of the celebration. Jessica brought home two awards, a bronze medal in singles bowling with a three-game score of 241 and a silver in the team bowl-ing competition with a team score

of 237. Taylor earned bronze honors in mixed doubles with a final score of 205 and placed sixth in her division in single’s com-petition. On the diamond, the Unified Soft-

ball Team played six games in pool play competition and two tournament games to come out of the brackets with a fourth-place finish overall. Wyoming sent 55 athletes and coaches to the games from Chey-enne, Laramie, Jackson Hole, Cody, Casper, Thermopolis, Gillette and Sheridan. All in all, 46 states sent teams to the games. Everywhere you looked there was a sea of color, smiles and unity.

It’s almost time for Easter Seals Wyoming’s Annual Awards Cel-ebration. We hope you’ll make plans to join us on Friday, Septem-ber 10 as we recognize and cel-ebrate the growth and outstanding achievements our participants have made over the past year. In addi-tion, we’ll be honoring community partners and Easter Seals Wyoming staff for their important contribu-tions to the success of our programs and services here in Sheridan. This year the Awards Celebration is being held from noon until 1:30 p.m. at the Best Western Sheridan Center at 612 North Main. Cost of the luncheon is $15. You can reserve your spot at the Awards Celebration by contacting Mandy Bennett at the Joe Street of-fice. Her e-mail address is mirand-ab@esgw.org. or you can call her at 307-672-2816. RSVP’s are due to Mandy by Thursday, September 2. This is always an inspiring event, as we take time to give our partici-pants all the praise and accolades they deserve for a job well done. We hope to see you there!

Join us for the2010 Annual

Awards Luncheon