Woodbine, IA

This past Monday night, June 23rd, Woodbine hosted a celebration of accomplishments night at our central park. We served over 200 sundaes to the residents of our town who came to be a part of this incredibly exciting moment for Woodbine. We created display boards that were all over our shelter house. A scavenger hunt of information from the displays was created and people spent a GREAT deal of time studying the pictures and explanations of things we had accomplished during our program through Horizons. Another element that was wonderful to see was the utilization of SIGN UP BOARDS for the work that continues as a result of our work with the Horizon’s program. We have plans and ideas to move forward with, committees that are yet forming, and new ideas to explore. People ate sundaes and brownies, socialized, signed up to help with projects, and played yard games. ONE STUDENT who was near as we were setting up was particularly interesting to watch. He did not know we were going to be at the park that night with free ice cream. He was just there playing. His eyes got bigger and bigger as the games started going up and the food came out. We shared that he should start playing the games if he wanted and when he learned that this was all FREE and totally open to him and his friends and his family he just stated so emphatically, “THIS PLACE IS AMAZING.” Our open house celebration meant more than ice cream to this young man. He was a part of the community that day. He was a welcome participant in a giant party that represented far more than he could probably appreciate at his age, but he had a great evening because we were there to share our successes with the community at large. We showed Woodbine what Woodbine has done.