LIFE Center seeks sponsors for special needs Easter egg hunt
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Kids of all ages had fun at LIFE Center’s 2023 special needs egg hunt. Submitted photo
From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 23, at St. Paul Lutheran gym
The LIFE Center for Independent Living in Farmington has announced that the annual Easter egg hunt for children with disabilities and adults with disabilities will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 23, at the St. Paul Lutheran School Gymnasium, 608 E. Columbia St. in Farmington.
“Nab it from the Rabbit” is this year’s egg hunt theme. Children up to the age of 16 will hunt from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and adults will hunt from 1 to 3 p.m. If there is rain, the hunting activities will be moved inside.
There is no admission fee, but prior registration must be made so event planners can ensure they have the appropriate amount of food, prizes, eggs, and other materials needed to have a successful day. According to LIFE Marketing Director Randy Windsor, the registration process collects the contact person’s name and phone number, the name of the disabled person, and the person’s primary disability so LIFE is ready to provide any special accommodations that might be required. No documentation is required, however, to prove a disability exists.
The event is open not only to special needs individuals but also to family members in their homes. Those names must be collected to ensure a proper headcount. Register by calling LIFE’s office at 573-756-4314 or visiting its website at www.lifecilmo.org.
Windsor said that the non-profit organization has been sponsoring the special needs egg hunts for several years. It had previously been held at New Heights Church on Flat River Road, but more physical space was needed to host the event. The venue at St. Paul offers the additional space required.
This year’s hunt will be the third one for Windsor. He explained that LIFE holds the egg hunt to ensure that no person with disabilities is barred from fun activities because of a physical or developmental challenge.
“At most community egg hunts, areas are sectioned off by strings or ropes–those get dropped, and everyone takes off as fast as they can to scoop up as many eggs as they can carry,” he said. “Oftentimes, children and adults with disabilities don’t have the ability to really jump in there and compete with the crowd, and they get left out of the fun. LIFE is all about serving people with disabilities and senior citizens, and we wanted to provide an opportunity for that community to be able to participate with their families in a traditional event that many of us take for granted.
“Every registered person who comes to our egg hunt gets an Easter basket to take home. It’s piled and stacked full of toys, candy, treats, and all kinds of fun things. We have local heroes from the ambulance district or the fire department there, and people can see the ambulance or fire truck up close. People arrive and partake in the games and activities that are set up inside — and the Easter egg hunt itself is set up outside. Whenever the participants are ready, at their leisure, they go hunt for their eggs. Instead of a ‘ready, set, go!’ charge with everyone rushing into the hunt area, we just say,’ Go take your time.’ There’s no racing, no chasing, no losing, no being left out, and that’s what it’s all about.”
LIFE’s Easter celebration event is different in many ways when compared to other egg hunts in the Parkland community.
Windsor said that egg hunters of all physical ability levels have equal opportunities to share in the fun. Mobility, sight, sensory or other challenges present no barriers to participating because the LIFE Center is all about adaptivity.
“We have several wheelchair users, and it’s difficult for them to do an egg hunt,” he explained. “We tried using the claw grippers, and that didn’t work well, so last year, we introduced tabletop Easter egg hunting for them. We take tables and put a pool noodle around the outside of it and pile Easter grass on there and hide eggs. Then, they have the ability to do an egg hunt from their wheelchair. We have children and adults who are autistic; they tend to be very tactile, so we spend time texturing eggs for them, and they enjoy that. For individuals with visual issues, we have beeping Easter eggs. It’s just very neat that for the first time ever, some of them have the opportunity to actually be part of an Easter egg hunt.
“We have so many adults in our community who are developmentally disabled, and they might be 50 or 60 years old, but they have the mind of a five-year-old or a six-year-old, and they love these kinds of events. We opened registration to include disabled adults, and average attendance went from around 45 to 100. We took it inside and had kinds of games, activities, crafts, and snacks. We had a bunny there that they could pet, as well as the Easter Bunny. Mr. Hamby, who does caricature art, was there and did caricatures for all of the people who participated.”
Windsor’s first year with the event will be one he’ll always remember because the center marketed and publicized it heavily, stressing the all-inclusive aspect.
The egg hunt is put together through the combined effort of volunteers and LIFE staff, but they need sponsors and donors to fund it. Windson said the names of sponsors and donors will be featured on LIFE’s Facebook page.
“We welcome donations of any amount,” he said. “It all goes to help to make the hunt possible. Any business or individual can become a sponsor. Elite sponsorship levels include Golden Egg Sponsor at the $250 donation level, Chocolate Bunny Sponsor at the $150 level, Marshmallow Peep at the $100 level, and Jelly Bean Sponsor at the $50 level. Sometimes, our Golden Egg sponsors will come and host a table, and they bring games and prizes of their own to the hunt. They have just so much joy in that, above and beyond what it does for us to make this happen. It spreads joy in the community, too, so we’re really happy about it. Anyone can go to our website and get sponsorship information from the link there. The sooner we can get donors and sponsors, the better.”
Windsor noted that a very special guest is scheduled to attend this year’s hunt.
The Easter Bunny is always a welcome guest at LIFE Center’s special needs egg hunt. Submitted photo
“Carson Daly will be with us this year,” he said with a smile. “Well, not the Carson Daly you might be thinking of, who is a television host. This Carson Daly is a horse from an organization outside Farmington called ‘The Stables.’ They provide horsemanship skills for individuals with disabilities. This will be a great introduction to the incredible therapy options that some families may never have realized are available locally. So, Carson will be here. People can meet him, pet him, and talk to him and people from ‘The Stables.’”
Windsor said he’s only just now put the registration form on the LIFE website and begun to print flyers for distribution, and there are already 45 people registered for the event. In previous years, registrants have come from as far as Union, Pacific, and Eureka.
To become a sponsor, register a participant, or get more information about the event, call LIFE’s office at 573-756-4314 and ask for Randy Windsor, or visit the website at www.lifecilmo.org.
Lisa Brotherton-Barnes is a staff writer for the Daily Journal and can be reached at lbarnes@dailyjournalonline.com.
