While walking in bare feet is routine for many, people with physical disabilities, rarely, if ever, have the experience. Many wear leg braces to stand or walk. The thought of standing without them, in their overly sensitive, bare feet, is frightening to them.

Due to Spasticity, my feet always had difficulty relaxing. After recently learning the benefits of walking barefoot, I decided to take a shoeless stroll in the grass with my walker, FOR THE FIRST TIME! My experience was amazing! Each step in the soft grass was like receiving a foot massage, causing the tension to leave. I never dreamed walking, without my restrictive brace, would feel so good!

People with disabilities are often confronted with limitations when trying something new, like walking barefoot in the grass. Special Touch Ministry facilitates many experiences for people with disabilities, giving them a sense of freedom from their limitations. Over the years, the Special Touch Summer Get Away is just one of the programs that have provided some of these opportunities.

Sergio experienced freedom from his walker and wheelchair, at a Special Touch Summer Get Away, by climbing a 50 foot wall. He loved every second of it. Leah, who also uses a wheelchair, forgets about her limitations while playing miniature golf. We were surprised to hear it was her first time, even though she is in her mid twenties.

Sergio, Leah, and many others with disabilities get to participate in fun activities at Special Touch Summer Get Away. Tubing down the Crystal River in Wisconsin, horseback riding in Arizona, painting, playing in a bell choir and singing in public just to name a few. Our guests say they rarely, if ever, have the opportunity to do these activities, apart from Special Touch programs.

The theme of the 2010 Special Touch Summer Get Away season was FREE and that’s exactly how our guests felt. Much of their world is focused on disability. They seldom have the opportunity to be just people. The week was all about giving them freedom to be people who aren’t defined by limitation. At the end of the Arizona Summer Get Away, one guest said, “I don’t want to go back to my group home. However, with the encouragement and teaching, I received this week; I will overcome my challenges with God’s help.” We heard many stories how God touched lives as they were free to focus on Him.

Here are just a few ways that Special Touch Chapters are reaching out, touching the lives of people in local communities across the United States.

We had an awesome chapter meeting. A YMCA staff member kept stopping by our meeting room. She stood just inside the utility room, looking at what was happening during our meeting. After a while, she came out weeping and asked if she could sing Amazing Grace. It was AWESOME! Through our meeting, God is reaching out to the YMCA staff. – Martha, Special Touch Red River Valley Chapter

After eight years of requesting, the local state prison donated enough New Testaments’ on cassette to provide each of our Chapter friends a copy at this year’s Chapter Christmas Party. April, one of our volunteers, told us that after the party was over, the staff in charge played the gospel of John over the intercom for the whole 3rd floor at ST Mary’s Living Center. This facility houses 225 adult residents with disabilities. – Jerry, Galesburg Locomotives Chapter

Marc, a Chapter attendee who resides at one local group home, had listened to the entire gospel of John and is looking forward to listening to the gospel of Matthew. Marc seems really excited about the Word of God and asked several questions about the Scriptures. – Dale, Galesburg Locomotives Chapter

We had a new guest at our last Chapter meeting. His name is David. David has a light like no other. He has severe Cerebral Palsy. He is nonverbal, but his eyes light up at the name of Jesus. David has no mental disability. He is trapped inside a body that will not do what he tells it to do. I had brought along bells to our Chapter meeting. They had been Christmas decorations, which I adapted to slide over the wrist like a bracelet. Our people, who were not able to open their hands, could now use them. It was great! Even David got to play music and his mom had tears in her eyes. I received a phone call from David’s mom encouraging me to continue this local ministry. She hasn’t seen David this happy in months. He loves to be around people and friends and he really needed Special Touch at this time. Plus, he just filled out his Summer Get Away application, for the very first time! – Martha, Special Touch Red River Valley Chapter

It is my goal, at all chapter meetings, to do something in or for our community. I had noticed the Salvation Army Soup kitchen, where I volunteer, is very dull where the guests eat. It’s hard to explain, but the atmosphere feels dead. While praying for the Chapter, I felt the Lord leading me to have them adopt the soup kitchen tables and provide them with centerpieces. After talking with the Chapter leadership, and finding some materials, we had the guests and their caregivers each to be responsible for a table. We also asked them to pray for their table. One of our guests eats at the soup kitchen. She took pieces of paper and started writing different needs that she could remember from people she sat with. She prayed for each need and placed the pieces of paper in a vase. She covered grandchildren, depression, and illnesses. It was amazing! “I know all this stuff and I didn’t think to pray about them till now,” she said. When I took the centerpieces in, Sue, the cook wept. She had been praying for a change in atmosphere in the place. This was the beginning. God is opening up many doors and connections between our Chapter and the local Salvation Army. – Martha, Special Touch Red River Valley Chapter

http://www.specialtouch.org/newsletter

The purpose of the Special Touch National 2010 Bowl-a-thon is to help underwrite the cost of the Special Touch Summer Get Away and Chapter Programs. Since Get Away tuitions and Chapter offerings don’t cover the actual expenses of these programs, this fundraiser will allow us to continue to provide a wonderful Get Away and/or Chapter experience to our many friends with disabilities.

The goal of our 2010 Bowl-a-thon is $40,000

The Special Touch National 2010 Bowl-a-thon will be held on Saturday May 1, 2010 from 2 to 7 PM at My House Bowling in Kaukauna, WI.

Please consider sponsoring one or more of the following:

Team Captains

Bowlers

Click here to make a pledge in support of a bowler using our secure online donation form. Thank you in advance for your support!!

A Disability Awareness Sunday can be a milestone in the life and vitality of the local church. Unfortunately, this event too often becomes a token offering to fulfill an obligatory date on the annual church calendar and appease a few vocal constituents with disability ministry concerns. This would include Disability Ministry coordinators, special needs Sunday school teachers, and those individuals and families directly impacted by physical or mental disability on a daily basis. These two groups of people, one with a lonely ministry call and the other with a daily cross to bear, are often disenfranchised from the body. They feel unnoticed and unwanted because they ride an unpopular “hobby horse” that makes others uncomfortable. They are rarely included or considered in the overall planning of the church.

For some reason, reaching people with disabilities is the unwanted stepchild of church ministries. Here are some facts for consideration:

• When building renovations are made, the building committee or architectural team rarely consults with Disability Ministry leaders or gets the input of those affected by disability. They don’t realize that blindly following state specifications can lead to costly do-overs. (A Christian camp in Illinois had to re-do all the “accessible” bathrooms in their new lodge because no one thought to test the specs with real people in real wheelchairs. The state specs did not take into account needed “turn around” room.)
• Major churches sometimes isolate and lose contact with their ministry to people with disabilities. The disability ministry becomes a church within the church that is never visited by the church leadership or the congregation at-large. Workers within the ministry are seldom encouraged.
• Members of the disability community within the church are generally overlooked as active participants in church life and ministry. Even though these connections are absolutely vital for people with disabilities, they are virtually ignored when people are recruited for activities such as teaching a Sunday school class, working in the nursery, participating in church dramas and musicals, Sunday school picnics, fellowship, and even work days. Since many people with disabilities have the desire and the skills to perform these functions, this lack of consideration sends silent signals that they are perceived as useless.
• When people feel disenfranchised, two things occur. Individuals and families affected by disability react by becoming very private and retreating even further into their own world. Some may appear self-involved, strange, indifferent, unfriendly, and unwilling to fit into the church family. Others will become manipulative, abrupt, and ungrateful, marking themselves as undesirable to be around.

At the same time, disability ministry workers in the church tend to become vocal advocates on behalf of those they serve. They become warriors for their people who are sometimes more than willing to risk being perceived as offensive or belligerent in pursuit of their righteous cause. There is nothing wrong with being an advocate or a warrior, but constant extreme behavior accompanied by continual “harping” can cause one to appear angry, single-minded, deaf, indifferent to the needs and concerns of others, and insubordinate. Such attitudes and tactics will never win the heart of church leadership. They only alienate good people, pushing them away instead of drawing them into supporting the ministry.

If disability ministry workers become lobbyists, using political muscle within the church to manipulate the pastor into supporting their agenda, then disability ministry ceases to be a worthy outreach and is reduced to a token gesture of political expedience. That kind of pressure leaves a bad taste in the pastor’s mouth and triggers a negative emotional response towards ministry to people with disabilities.

It is important to understand that ministry to people with low-functioning intellectual disabilities must be geared to their level. When they can understand and participate in it, everyone profits from the service.

People with low-functioning intellectual disabilities are real people with the same basic needs all of us have. They need love, acceptance, and understanding to experience accomplishment. Because of sin, they need the message of the gospel. They can learn spiritual truths when taught on a concrete level and within their mental functioning range. Learning takes place very, very slowly for people with low-functioning intellectual disabilities.

• They cannot keep pace with their peers without disabilities because their response time is so much slower. Some pastors and worship leaders may not understand this because they see people with low-functioning intellectual disabilities dancing, clapping, and loving the fast, syncopated rhythms, beats, and the speed of modern worship songs. They love the energy, but their minds cannot process the information fast enough to participate in the worship.
• They have short attention spans, and they cannot grasp abstract ideas well. Leaders must use concrete words, examples, and various types of audio-visual materials such as overhead projectors, slides, costumes, puppets, and drama to help them understand the message.
• Repeat simple truths over, and over, and over again, in many different ways.
• People with low-functioning intellectual disabilities do not have a normal curiosity to learn. Therefore, they are not motivated by normal internal and external motivators. However, they quickly form strong attachments to people, so significant individuals in their immediate environment may become the chief motivational forces in their lives and in the learning process.

Also available for purchase through the Special Touch Ministry office is Principles For Life, a one-year Christian Education Curriculum published by Special Touch Ministry, Inc. in cooperation with Life Publishers.

Principles for Life is a series of simple Bible lessons designed to assist Christian education leaders and churches in reaching people with intellectual disabilities with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Twenty weekly lessons cover basic biblical principles and characters from the Old and twenty from the New Testament. Also included are eight extra lessons for special occasions.

Principles for Life Excerpt

Available for only $99.95 plus S & H

Call 715-258-2713 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              715-258-2713      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              715-258-2713      end_of_the_skype_highlighting today to order!

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine being born into permanent darkness. Continue the journey. Your eyes see but your ears don’t hear. You are born into a sub-culture that largely rejects both the label of disability and the remedies for your condition.

In this next vignette you are traveling to meet your fiancée when in the space of ninety seconds while adjusting for an oncoming truck you roll your car over three times down an embankment. After regaining consciousness you find that you are paralyzed from the chest down. In the instant it took for your vertebrae to puncture the spinal cord you have been suddenly and violently transformed into a stranger you do not know.

These are just a few of the ways that millions of people are impacted by disabilities. This book will take you into the isolated and painful world of physical and intellectual disability and show you and your church how to touch lives for Christ in this vastly neglected community.

Available for only $29.95 plus S & H

Call 715-258-2713 today to order!

Read more

New for 2010! Find your entire Special touch Summer Get Away Church Packet in one convenient location, now online at specialtouch.org/getaways/churchpacket.

Applications are now available for the 2010 Special Touch Ministry Summer Get Aways. For more details and to download an application and other promotional materials, visit specialtouch.org/getaways

Don’t think you can "camp out" with a disability?

Special Touch Ministry partners with Sonshine Music Festival to provide Disability Camping & Support Services July 14-17, 2010 in Willmar, Minnesota.

Free tickets for people with permanent disabilities

• If you have a Physical Disability: A free ticket to the entire 3 days of the festival is available to you and one attendant ONLY if necessary for your care.
• If you have a mild cognitive disability, and require no supportive care: You may be eligible to receive a free ticket.
• To receive this free offer, you MUST register through Special Touch Ministry.
• Person with disability and attendant receiving free ticket MUST check in together.
• Tickets are non-transferrable

Disability Camping Includes:

• A reserved prime location and parking for one vehicle
• Adjacent accessible toilet
• Reservable on-site accessible shower
• Equipment support (ie: wheelchairs, hoyer lifts, bedside commodes, shower chairs)
• Limited wheelchair recharging
• On-site 24 hour Special Touch staff

Disability Camping Details

• Bring your own tent, van, or motor home for sleeping.
• Maximum 6 people per site, must include one person with a permanent disability.
• Each site will fit one camping unit (tent, camper, and motor home) and a vehicle. Limit 1 vehicle per site.
• Your reservation for camping will only be held for 24 hours past your requested date of arrival.
• No campfires permitted. Temporary campsites do not have electricity, running water, or picnic tables. Bring what you need.
• No tobacco, no drugs, no alcohol, no torches or fireworks, no glass bottles, no pets (service animals only).

Alternative Accommodations
If this doesn’t work for you, there are permanent campgrounds and hotels nearby. Communicate with them directly to reserve a room. They are filling up fast! See the Sonshine website at www.sonshinefestival.com.

Reservation Deadline
To reserve your place in the disability camping area or to obtain free tickets, reservations must be placed online no later than July 2. No reservations will be taken at the Special Touch Ministry office after this date.

• Click here for DISABILITY CAMPING REGISTRATION with FREE TICKET
• Click here for FREE TICKETS ONLY

Call the Special Touch Ministry, Inc. Sonshine Festival Representative at 218-839-3330 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              218-839-3330      end_of_the_skype_highlighting if you have to cancel your reservation.

Cancellation Policy
As space is limited, if you need to cancel your reservation, please do so before July 2, so we don’t turn others away.

Disability Parking
Disability parking will be available. Disability sticker/tag must be visible from outside vehicle. There is a limit of one vehicle per site. NO EXCEPTIONS. Other vehicles are to be parked in the adjoining non-reserved public parking area.

Directions & Map

• From Hwy 12 east or west: county road 9 north about four miles. Run right into it!
• From Hwy 71 north or south: Hwy 71/23 bypass to civic center exit. Right there!
• Best option for directions: stop at any gas station in the area, you are only five minutes away!
• The address is 2707 Arena Dr. in Willmar, MN 56201. Click here for an enlarged map.

View Larger Map

Additional Information
For more information on festival events, nearby hotels, food, bands, or to purchase tickets for other people, check out the Sonshine Festival website at www.sonshinefestival.com or call 1-800-965-9324.