Dear Hay Springs Community (and beyond),

I want to take this moment to thank you for the support you provided through the purchasing of peaches, concession stands sales, and bake sales as well as general donations. We left with 14 Hay Springs students and 6 adults on Wednesday, May 28th and returned on Sunday, June 1st. Along the way we went to Universal Studios, California Adventure, Disneyland, spent some time on the beach (we have stories from the beach!), the SanDiego Zoo and so much more! We also spent a morning doing a Disney Leadership Worksop. It was a cool experience where we got to learn more about who we are and what we can bring to where we are.

I also wanted to let you know how amazing these students are. They were respectful to all they met, made friends easily and of course were always up for a good time. Hay Springs was very well represented and I’m so glad I got to be apart of the story!

I also need to send a huge shout out to our “family leaders”-Jessie Anderson, Jessica Mintken, Sarah Russell, Jim Varvel, and Eric Wellnitz. They worked so well as a team and were so much fun to be around. They cared for your kids very well! If you know them, please make sure to give them a big thank you because we quite literally ran them ragged!

Ricky Wohl needs a shout-out all his own! Did I mention we left at 2:30AM on Wednesday morning? None of us had to drive, because Ricky drove us in our Hay Springs bus! He also took his Sunday and picked us up and drove us home. It was such a gift to not have to drive!

We made many new friends along the way from our Travel With Barb (if anyone is taking a trip with students-let me connect you with the best!!) tour guide; Kyle, numerous bus drivers who were fun to get to know and just random people we came across through all our adventuring!

Long story short (too late!)-your generosity opened up a great big world to our students. They saw and did things that built them up as human beings and were just plain fun to be around. Please ask them questions about the trip and have them share our adventures with you! Make sure they show you their pictures!

I am so thankful to be a part of such a wonderful community. Thank you for your generosity!

Raime Varvel