Disabled adults enjoy farm fun with help of Sugar Grove teen
A Sugar Grove teen, inspired by her brother and a love of farming, is making sure developmentally disabled and autistic adults to have some fun on a farm this spring and summer.
Julia Hoyda, 15, designed a six-week program for clients of the Fox Valley Special Recreation Association to visit Farm Friends NFP in Big Rock.
Once a week, a group from the Keeler Center developmental training program in Aurora comes out. They've planted a vegetable garden and pumpkin seeds, fished in a pond and done arts and crafts.
Julia said she was inspired by the experiences of her brother, who has autism and is nonverbal. He participates in association programs, but many of them are held inside, she said.
“I'd like them to have the outdoor sense ... they can have fun,” she said. Julia's grandparents have a dairy farm in upstate New York, where she has spent summers helping out.
Farm Friends is located on the McCannon Farm on Raymond Road in Big Rock, off Dugan Road. It was founded by Sue and Ted McCannon in 2008 to help families who have relatives with challenges and disabilities. They plan to offer animal encounters, animal therapy and respite care.
Julia designed the project for her Gold Award, the highest award possible for Girl Scouts. One of the requirements is that her project be sustainable — that is, somebody else can carry it on when she is done. That's why she decided to work with Farm Friends. She said it is the “kick-start” to Farm Friends' programming.
“A lot of people do not pay attention to people with developmental disabilities,” Julia said.
A recent session featured several activities. Participants took turns fishing, while others painted terra-cotta pots and planted them with impatiens to take home.
They also visited a sensory table — a “table that is going to have some good smells and some good touches,” said Farm Friends worker Ellen Beaulieu — loaded with flowers to smell and leaves to touch, such as the soft lambs-ear and the smooth hosta.
Julia has budgeted about $400 for supplies for the program. She was grateful Friday for the donation of pots and flowers from an Ace Hardware store in Aurora.
Julia's responsibilities will end when the session ends in June. She said the FVSRA and Farm Friends will offer a session in the fall, and she likely will help with that, balanced against her studies in her junior year at Rosary High School in Aurora.
For more information about Farm Friends NFP, visit farmfriendsnfp.org or call (630) 556-3100.