Friday, July 24, 2009

Without Words...


I am truly without many words today after spending the majority of my afternoon at the Brookwood Community in Brookshire, Tx. I was invited along with Patti and Jean to join a friend of ours and her rotary club to lunch in the Community's cafe. In addition to lunch, we were invited to tour the campus and had the chance to see first-hand the amazing grace that God has bestowed upon this group of people..
The Brookwood Community is a God-centered educational, residential, and entrepreneurial community for adults with functional disabilities The community is staffed with mission-spirited teachers who work with the Brookwood citizens to provide an environment of supervised independence. Brookwood demonstrates that with God's help, all people have a contribution to make to society if given the opportunity.
This is a 475 acre campus that today has approximately 110 residents. It truly is an amazing place complete with pretty much every entity of a tiny city including a small hospital, dentist office, and beautiful chapel.
Amongst many amazing features was of course the gift shop. Here, displayed in a "rustic" type feel, were the many talents displayed and up for sale. The first thing that I thought when I walked inside and saw the rich colors, wrought iron and handmade candles, pottery and crosses was Christmas in Fredricksburg, Tx. You know when you walk into a place and just feel like it is Christmas Eve? The atmosphere was delightful. I wish I had some photographs to share more of the detail but I didn't have my camera on me. :( Shame on me, I know better now that I am a blogger..
There are so many things that we take for granted every day and there are less opportunities for people who have disabilities, but not at Brookwood..how do they say it? "We already know what it is you cannot do..so we teach and encourage the things that you can do" It truly was an amazing experience for me and I would love to set a time, even if it's just once a year to volunteer and give back, because what the citizens of this community have to give to us is priceless....
If you check out their website, look at the poinsettia project. Their horticulture team is going to plant over 40,000 poinsettias to sell in wholesale to people at Christmas time. They are always welcoming volunteers whether you as a business want to contribute, or you as an individual..
xoxooxoox


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