Blissful Bedrooms Annual Beach Day 8/31/11
On August 31, 2011, Blissful Bedrooms hosted it’s annual Beach Trip to Coney Island for a very special group of young individuals with disabilities, many of whom are past bedroom makeover recipients. Our special day was blessed with bright and beautiful beach weather and was a huge success! The day started early in the morning when volunteers drove rented and borrowed vehicles to the Bronx to pick up our friends who didn’t have a means of transportation to the event. After the last wheelchair was strategically loaded and our special friends were snug and safely belted in their seats, we set out on our journey to Brooklyn. For these particular volunteers, the day would not end until approximately 16 hours later at 1:00 A.M. the next morning before they and their precious cargo were safely home, tucked into bed and drifting into a sound and deep sleep after a long, exhausting, fun-filled day.
Special thanks to every person who joined us yesterday and helped us make sure that our special group of friends had an unforgettable day. Today, we are certain that, like ours, your bodies are rampant with sore, aching muscles and you are feeling like you participated in a physical fitness bootcamp. However, I know one muscle in your body that is carefree and bursting with joy and happiness – your heart muscle!
Together we created a fantastic and unforgettable memory for our special friends that they will call on many, many times during the challenging and lonely days they face in the upcoming year, so they can revisit that same feeling of intense happiness and joy again and again. We made sure that every single individual was embraced by the sea and creatively did whatever we had to do to make that safely happen. As is very common for first time attendees who are severely disabled, this occasion represented the first time they ever felt the freedom of floating weightlessly in the ocean and the excitement and “normality” of riding an amusement park ride. We also injected a little culture into the day by sharing a Russian picnic lunch on the beach with our group. Alex, Blissful Bedrooms co-founder, personally selected the menu items which included many tasty offerings that the Bronx natives have never experienced. After a sun-filled and active day on the beach, family members and volunteers helped our friends get cleaned up and changed from their wet, sandy clothing. We then headed to the Coney Island boardwalk to eat Nathan’s hot dogs and go on amusement park rides.
The day after the event, we were personally grateful for the intense and throbbing pain in our biceps muscles (and many other muscle groups!) because it allowed us to stay connected to the magnificence of the glorious, beautiful day we all shared yesterday. Words cannot express the sense of satisfaction and peace that comes along with such a laborious, love-filled day, knowing that we were instrumental in helping to manifest such a priceless gift for our special friends. We are also thrilled that several of our Blissful Bedrooms family members, both young individuals with disabilities and BB volunteers, had the opportunity to experience the Blissful Bedrooms “beach day” for the first time this year.
While all of the events we hold throughout the year to get young individuals with disabilities OUT OF THEIR BEDROOMS, is not as grueling or physically demanding as our annual beach trip, they all require and depend on the help of committed and steadfast volunteers to make them successful and safe for the participants. In addition, they require sponsorship and the donation of funds from supporters.
If you are touched by our efforts and the undeniable humanity and happiness that these photographs convey, please consider being involved in next year’s beach trip or any of our upcoming social events. Also, please consider sponsoring or providing a donation towards a future event – one that makes these happy countenances possible. We desperately need your HELP AND SUPPORT to continue our heart-driven work.
Heartfelt gratitude to the following individuals who contributed ABOVE AND BEYOND to creating such a wonderful day!!! This day could not have been possible without your help and it is was an incredible honor to be part of such a loving team composed of extraordinarily beautiful and selfless people.
VOLUNTEERS
Chiara Escobar
Kimberly Gillern Escobar
Mina Miyoko
Karin Sagona
Adam Seim
Sarah Seim
Maggie Thompson
Thank you to Zipcar for donating the minivan for this event so that we could transport our special friends, their wheelchairs and all the equipment we needed for our day at the beach!
Thank you to the following individuals, who are the owners of the Coney Island Wonder Wheel and the Eldorado Bumper Cars, respectively, for their generosity and benevolence
Steve Vourderis
Sheila Fitlin
Come evening, we dug into our sparse pockets and realized that we were nearly tapped out and didn’t have enough money to buy the 40+ tickets necessary for our wide-eyed group to enjoy these rides. We sincerely explained our dilemma to these kind-hearted entrepreneurs and instantly they offered to LET THE ENTIRE BLISSFUL BEDROOMS FAMILY RIDE FOR FREE!! We had such a blast!! The workers at both attractions were amazingly kind-hearted and helped lift our friends from their wheelchairs and place in them in the rides. We experienced great energy and warm vibes all around throughout our day, with many wonderful people smiling upon us and offering sincere and kind words.
BLISSFUL BEDROOMS IS BLESSED, BLESSED, BLESSED. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO BLESSES US WITH YOUR WORDS AND ACTIONS AND MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO BLESS OTHERS!!!!
