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Sojourns - A Break from the Everyday...
Not everyone who comes to enjoy Friendship Ventures programs waits to see who will be in their cabin or who their counselor will be. Sometimes whole groups attend together, staff and all - or the entire family.
Sojourns allows groups to come to our
sites for fun – any time.
Sojourns customers can schedule year round,
during the day or evening, for a few hours or a few days. Sojourns is
another way for Friendship Ventures to improve the quality of life for
individuals with disabilities.
A classroom from a school, residents of a group home, a community education class, a family or other groups of children and adults with mental retardation and other disabilities can use this service. They choose to have fun at camp together. In addition, Friendship Ventures helps to guarantee a well-planned and safe outing.
The group’s leaders, their clients and Friendship Ventures staff determine what activities they will do based on the time of year and their interests. REM South Central has been meeting at Camp Friendship once a month for several years.
They are comprised of group home residents and individual clients from Wright County, gathering together at Camp Friendship for parties and activities. “Since we serve people scattered throughout the county and don’t have our own recreation facility, this gives us a chance to get together,” explained Debbie Varner, Program Director for REM. “We look for places that work for the diverse group and this is great because it offers different options to choose from.”
They especially enjoy using the gym, doing arts and crafts and having a hayride. Debbie likes the fact that Friendship Ventures plans activities that work for the entire group of up to 25 of her clients. “We have a large age span, from young children through adults,” she notes, “and some who have autism or other disabilities have difficulty in crowds. There are a variety of places (at Camp Friendship) that work for our diverse group; it’s a safe place for everyone.”
Sojourns can plan any type of activity throughout the year. Groups can have their own private pontoon ride, try archery, take a hike, swim together or take part in dozens of other activities at Camp Friendship and Eden Wood with as much or as little staff assistance as necessary.
Click here to go to Sojourns webpage>>
Contact Faye Reber at 952-852-0110 or freber@friendshipventures.org to explore the possibilities!
Friendship Ventures is a non-profit agency that creates unique educational, recreational and social opportunities for people of all ages with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. We also offer conference and retreat services and professional team-building programs to the communities we serve. Friendship Ventures operates Camp Friendship near Annandale, MN and Eden Wood Center in Eden Prairie, MN.