"In the Groove"

On February 14th, 2011 we gathered roughly 500 of our nearest and dearest to celebrate a feast of joy and love at Seacoast Church. Our 2nd annual Luke 14 Banquet was a spectacular night of great food, music and new friends. No one described the evening better than my friend Bart Saylor. Bart leads Anna's Bananas and has been a part of the HFM family for many years. Here was his take from the night:
"I believe I can speak for the members of my band and for Conway as well. For me as a performing musician, there are times when you are so absorbed in the music and the moment that you feel that you are almost having an out of body, out of time experience, and Feb. 14 was one of those times for me. It was so beautiful in the Worship Hall, with all the decorations and anticipation, and from the time the guests began arriving until we packed the last drums away, I felt like we were all one happy family, celebrating together, a feast of love and joy. The bands, the volunteers, the guests, were all swimming in the pool together, and I thought of Psalm 133:  " Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity." When I made eye contact with those beautiful girls playing fiddle with me, and steady, reliable Joey on the percussion, I could see they were feeling the same spark--we were "in the groove", and I hated to see it come to an end. The Spirit's presence was strong and exhilarating. Conway and I started dancing while New Visions was playing  

Photos by: Saved in His Image Photography

and she suggested I partner up with Lady, with whom she is well acquainted from the Citadel Buddy Dances. Lady is a heavy set short African American woman, and I am a tall skinny white dude, but we started boogeying like there was no tomorrow, and it dawned on me that I wasn't "volunteering" to assist a woman with a disability; I was just getting down with a sister!! I still get a thrill from recalling and reliving the many magic moments of that enchanted evening."

Can You Tell The Difference?

This past weekend I had the pleasure of spending an awesome evening with 6 new friends...4 of which had "special needs". We embarked on our journey in Mt. Pleasant, loaded down with sleeping bags, tents, s'more ingredients and whatever else we could stuff into the big white truck.
The nerves and excitement built as we headed up Hwy 17. We made a quick stop for crickets at Seewee Outpost and got to our campsite as the sun was setting.
Mike and John started setting up the tents with Laura providing "helpful advice"! Robert and Andrew checked out the lake, while Amythest and I started dinner. Donnie arrived a short while later with our 2 boys, Kendrick and Jake. He helped Amythest bait her hook with the sacrificial cricket...within 5 minutes she reeled in a fiesty little Bream! Her very first fish!
Andrew and I took a trip around the lake in a canoe, he was so strong as he paddled that we kept drifting into the bank of the lake...the fact that I was laughing so hard that I couldn't paddle on the other side didn't help the situation!
Amythest helped me get dinner on the table as we all sat down to eat. Donnie said the blessing and everyone said "Amen" as they shoveled the spaghetti into their hungry mouths. We got lots of compliments on the food but eating outside always makes food taste better.
We cleaned up and made our way over to the fire that we had built earlier. We went through an entire bag of marshmallows in 30min. The crowd was awed by Andrew's roasting skills as he put the entire s'more assembly (graham cracker, chocolate, marshmallow and all) on a stick and roasted it. We laughed, told scary stories and fell into our tents as the remaining crickets chirped their thanks at having not become fish food.
We were a family, enjoying a night outdoors, each with our own special gifts and special needs, each helping one another when we needed it.

So, who had "special needs" and who was "normal", can you tell? We couldn't either.

Save the Date for a Groundbreaking Conference

Family Connections of SC and Healing Farm Ministries are partnering to present a "Family Conference" for all families touched by disability on Saturday, January 15th at East Cooper Baptist Church. We ask that you come with your entire family and we hope that you will leave the conference renewed and energized. The conference will have 3 "tracks"


Track 1: Caregivers and parents
Track 2: Siblings of people with special needs
Track 3: People with special needs

Each track will have it's own unique set of activities and workshops. For tracks 2 and 3, participants will grouped according to age and interests and will benefit from having a buddy assist them throughout the day's activities.
Track 2 (siblings) ages 8-12, can attend "Kid Connection": a workshop that helps siblings explore their emotions through interactive games and activities.
We want to structure and plan the event to meet your family's needs and wishes. Please click on the link to voice your opinion on a quick survey. CLICK HERE FOR SURVEY
We thank you for your time and participation.

Summer Camp 2010...Total Success!

For the last 4 days I've been immersed in our first-ever Summer Camp. I can't think of any other place that I would have rather been than spending time with our campers, volunteers and staff.
Eighteen volunteers came from the Catholic Heart Work Camp, a mission camp for teens from across the U.S.. These teens had no idea what their project was until they arrived in Charleston on Sunday and I came to meet them. On Monday, Will Klauber, the Youth Pastor from Christ Church arrived to assist with the crash-course in "Serving like Jesus", the volunteers helped to set-up the camp and got ready to meet the person with whom they would be buddied-up with for the next 3 days.
The campers nervously arrived on Tuesday morning (well at least their parents were nervous!) and met their new buddy. From the start everyone enjoyed a variety of activities such as line dancing, jewelry-making, arts and crafts, visits from therapy dogs, make-overs and much, much more. The smiles and laughing didn't stop until it was time to say goodbye on Thursday afternoon.

There were so many beautiful moments that I'm finding it hard to pick my favorite, instead, click on the slideshow below for a glimpse into the amazing experience we all were blessed to have.
We'd especially like to thank: Will Klauber, David Miller, Eva Ravenel, Peggy Benson, Julie Mulhern, Lynn Lavender, Marilyn Hair, Dianne Mallett, Stephanie from Ulta, Rene Painter, Lighthouse Church, Catholic Heart Work Camp, Delicious Delights Bakery, Home Depot Summerville, HFM Board of Directors and all those who prayed for, participated in and supported this endeavor.

A Volunteer's Story

Read about Kim's experience with Henry, one of our guests at last week's 
Community Night:

"The moment Henry walked into the room, it was filled with the love of Christ!  I couldn't help but to seek out who was singing those beautiful hymns in such an inspiring way.  His face lit up as he told me God had blessed me and was here in the room with us!  Then, all of a sudden others started singing too.  Wow, was that awesome! 
What I took away was the simplicity of God's love for every person whom he so wonderfully made.  It's not fancy or dramatic or even time consuming.  It's purity is instantaneous through eye contact and a welcoming hug.  God is so amazing!  I'm so thankful to be able to contribute in any way no matter how small."


Want an experience like hers???? Join us at the next Community Night! Go to: HFM's Website for more info.