Last Thursday (Aug 1st) Stacey Gagne, Intern Sandra and I packed the Cookie Car with Cookies, Hula Hoops,Ukuleles, KCB Pencils, magnets, and wristbands and headed to Aaron’s Acres Lancaster Location. Aaron’s Acres  provides children and young adults with disabilities ages five through twenty-one, social and recreational programs to promote age-appropriate socialization and communication skills.

I sang 5 or 6 songs with the kids.  It was awesome hearing them sing “My Mom’s a Pirate” and “42 Monkeys”.  They danced and laughed and enjoyed the sound of the ukulele.  Stacey and Intern Sandra played the “Face the Cookie” game and the “Hula Hoop” Game.  “Face the Cookie” is the game where contestants try to get an oreo cookie from their forehead to their mouth without using their hands and without dropping it.  The “Hula Hoop” game was to test who could Hula Hoop the longest. Both were big hits.  The biggest hit of the day, however was the Cookie Car.  Everyone wanted to sit in it and pretend they were driving.  We shared cookies with everyone and passed out the KCB pencils, magnets and wristbands.

The highlight of the day for me was meeting David. David is a little 7 or 8 year old guy with Down Syndrome who was enjoying spinning his piece of yarn and uncooked pasta wheel necklace.  He was covered in Oreo Cookies.  I couldn’t help but notice the residue of his snack on his face and hands while I sat beside him and talked. He looked up at me with a glint in his eye, smiled and ran his cookie-crumb-filled hands through my beard.  I don’t think he ever saw a beard like mine, or at least was never close enough to touch one.  I spent the rest of the day getting cookie crumbs out of my beard, but I hope I never get the picture out of my mind of the smile on that little guys face.  It was awesome! You can see more pics here.

Fred and his little buddy David at Aaron’s Acres