Submitted by Active Members Lauren Leviner and Nan Krieg
The Healthy Kids with Special Needs Committee has been
working hard to plan events for families here in the Midlands. This year, the
committee expanded to partner with Family Connection, Winston’s Wish, SC Autism
Society and the Arc of South Carolina. All four groups specialize in the
support, education and care of families with children with various
disabilities. Working under this new umbrella the Healthy Kids with Special
Needs committee has fifteen events planned for the 2012-2013 calendar
year.
Several of the events have already taken place, with great
success and a wonderful time had by all!
The committee kicked off the year with Family Connection
Princess Workshop in September. Girls from Family Connection were invited to
come enjoy a day of fun and food and were treated like royalty. Games, hair and
makeup and other fun took place, before each child was crowned a Princess! The
Princess Workshop is organized by former Miss SC Crystal Garrett and her
mother.
Healthy Kids with Special Needs has also partnered with
Winston’s Wish for a year-long Autism Ambassador program. Each JL Ambassador
participated in Autism training and is now paired with a child from Winston’s
Wish. They serve as pen pals and meet three times during the year for a fun
outing. The committee held their first event in November at Tag It Art Studio,
where the children painted a special gift to give to their parent for Christmas!
During this time, the parents were invited to go next door to Happy Café and
enjoy coffee and dessert!
SC Autism Society and JLC also enjoyed a fun night in
November. This event took place at the PLEX and the Healthy Kids with Special
needs committee assisted SC Autism Society in their RESPIT event! Children were
paired with volunteers from SC Autism Society and JL Members helped play games,
serve food and provide a very fun family fun night for all!
The Junior League of Columbia’s Children with Special Needs
Committee assisted in throwing Family Connection’s Holiday Social on Sunday,
December 2, 2012. This fun family event was held in the Cardinal Newman High
School gymnasium and included an array of crafts, games, music and Santa.
The approximately 300 participants arrived on Sunday to a
decorated gymnasium filled with music, food and an assortment of activities. A
local Girl Scouts troop was on hand to paint children’s faces and league
members provided crafts, including coloring, decorating snowflakes, making
reindeer antlers and food for Santa’s reindeer, decorating reusable shopping
bags and creating handprint ornaments. There were games galore, such as ice
fishing, hula hooping, tic tac toe, bean bag toss, a parachute and cake walk. There
was even a photo booth with costume accessories and props for families to take
home memories.
Entertainment and special guests of the day included Miss
South Carolina 2007, Crystal Garrett, who performed a Christmas song, as well
as one of her originals for the families. At 1:30 p.m., the DJ/Magician
performed an exciting and interactive magic show for the children. And of
course, a holiday party would not be complete without a visit from the big guy
himself, Santa Claus.
To end the holiday social on a high note, children, parents
and League members danced the afternoon away to songs like the Chicken Dance,
Hokey Pokey, Gangnam Style, Cha Cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle and Wobble.
Healthy Kids with Special Needs has upcoming events planned
with all four organizations over the next several months! Stay tuned for an
update and see what else this year has in store!
Check out our awesome JLC members volunteering at the Family Connection Holiday Social:
