Here I am, tagging along with Shelby, as she participates in my 2010 Accessible Easter Egg Hunt. Her mom, Debbie, serves as one of this year’s volunteers in charge of handing out Easter eggs.
On April 3, I was blessed to host this outreach of my Chaplaincy for Blind Youth in partnership with Dixie Land Guide Dog Users, Inc., at the Charleston, SC Headquarters of Music By Laurel Jean.
When I first started working with the young folks here in Charleston, I asked them if they liked Easter egg hunts. They answered with a resounding “no”. They told me that all of the sighted kids got the candy and prizes first. One youth spoke of an Easter egg hunt in which blind kids participated and audible eggs were used: “It was pretty much a disaster. We were all falling all over each other.”
When we host an Easter Egg hunt, we try to make sure that everything is accessible to the blind kids who participate. The scavenger hunt takes place in a familiar area, with clues presented in Braille, large print or audio formats. Often, kids work as a team, taking turns reading clues and sharing knowledge of cane travel and landmarks with one another.
At the beginning of the Easter Egg hunt, each kid is given a clue in a format accessible to him/her, then it’s off to find the first egg! At each clue destination, a nice volunteer stands waiting and usually acting silly, ready to hand out eggs. With each egg comes another clue, and so on,. When all of the eggs have been found, they are traded in for bags of candy, and a special prize, usually a $5 gift card to a favorite fast food restaurant. Everyone is a winner!
A big thanks to Nancy, Max, Audrey, Debbie (Shelby’s Mom), Carla Beck (my former vision teacher) and Sara Thomas (who took this picture), for making this year’s event special for all of us.
Stay tuned for more posts like this one.
Until next time, God bless you and keep His Song in your heart!
© 2010 by Laurel Jean Walden
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