For my community hours I volunteered where I have been doing my internship. I chose this volunteer service because I love working at the Turn Center. Every year at the Turn Center, there is Summer Camp for the kids attending therapy to go to. It is for three weeks and it has a different theme each week. The first week was Cowboy Week, then Garden Week, and the last was Splash week. My responsibility was to help two boys whose primary communication is American Sign Language. My favorite part of the entire camp was Cowboy Week because we got to ride horses, paint a horse, and jump on the horse bounce house. I was only able to take pictures of one of the boys I was signing with.
His name is Michael and he has CHARGE syndrome. According to the CHARGE syndrome foundation, they describe what the letters mean. “The letters in CHARGE stand for: Coloboma of the eye, Heart defects, Atresia of the choanae, Retardation of growth and/or development, Genital and/or urinary abnormalities, and Ear abnormalities and deafness.” The most challenging part of my volunteer service was finding out that this child does not have a long life expectancy. He has already used his Make-A-Wish and all of us who know him wish his family the best. I gained a lot of confidence in my ability to sign to others, but most importantly…I learned that experiences like these will always be remembered so fondly in my life. I will always remember those who I was so honored to work with like this child Michael. He is very honorary and loved by many. To learn more about volunteering at the Turn Center or more information about CHARGE syndrome, I have submitted two links below.
http://turncenter.net/
http://www.chargesyndrome.org/about-charge.asp
