Hemophilia of Georgia’s Teen Retreat
Horizons in Hemophilia, February 2012
By Kim Wilson, Camp and Activities Coordinator
A group of 71 HoG staff, volunteers, and teenagers descended on Tybee Island, Georgia for a holiday weekend spent learning about the environment, serving the local community, and developing their four-square skills.
Upon arrival at the Burton 4H Center on January 14th we participated in a scavenger hunt to learn our way around the center and to learn about the choices for the educational Teen Choice sessions that would be offered the next day. Burton 4H Center offered several different sessions: Beach Walk, Crabs & Critters, and a guided educational tour of Fort Pulaski. Teens decided which activity sounded interesting to them and signed up to participate the next day.
After dinner, our group boarded buses to go to the beach in front of the Tybee Island lighthouse. We enjoyed a night walk on the beach, practicing our stargazing skills and playing some games with the Burton staff. When we returned to camp we had a campfire with songs, skits and s’mores!
The next morning, teens participated in the Teen Choice sessions. Those who went on the Beach Walk learned about the ecology of the beach on Tybee Island. They enjoyed taking pictures with a jellyfish, collecting seashells and being on the beach on a beautiful day. Those who picked “Crabs & Critters” met the local wildlife housed in a special habitat at the Burton 4H Center. There were snakes, crabs, and turtles, just to name a few. Those who went to Fort Pulaski learned all about the Fort and its history and participated in a scavenger hunt at the fort.
After lunch everyone took part in a service project organized by the Leaders in Training. We made more than 100 care packages for homebound senior citizens served by Senior Citizens, Inc. in Savannah. The teens and HoG volunteers decorated more than 100 brown grocery bags with special messages and filled them with small personal care items, snacks, cards, and magazines that the teens had collected in advance. Our efforts were noted in the local newspaper! Scroll down to the second-to-last article: https://savannahnow.com/news/2012-02-01/local-briefs.
That evening, we took a bus ride to Savannah. We had dinner at Fiddler’s Crab House on River Street, had a few minutes to do a little shopping on River Street, and then took a trolley tour through the city of Savannah.
Everyone had a wonderful time on the Teen Retreat. If you are an HoG client age 13-17, watch your mailbox for an invitation to next year’s Teen Retreat to…well, you’ll just have to wait and see!