This quarter the girls in the Community Adventure Program class are working at Atlantis Community Incorporated. Atlantis serves, and advocates for, people with disabilities in Denver and nationwide. In front of the organization’s headquarters in the Baker District is a community garden. The garden, which is part of the Denver Urban Gardens network, provides food for folks with disabilities that Atlantis works with.

We have been working in the garden for about three weeks now and we have turned over their beds, planted corn and we are working on clearing and turning the pumpkin patch next week. We are also donating tiles we painted to the garden and we made non-smoking signs to be posted throughout. Next week we want to make some wind chimes for the grape trellis as well!

We have taken our first overnight camping trip to Gates Camp outside Ward, Colorado as well. At Gates Camp we had the excellent and patient guidance of Richard and Clark, two Cottonwood Institute Instructors. We stayed in a beautiful tee pee with a cozy fire in it, played really fun outdoor games and worked on survival skills. For some of the girls this was their very first outdoor overnight and they were really proud of themselves after the next day was through. Thanks to Gates Camp for hosting us and to the folks at Cottonwood Institute who were so patient and organized throughout our trip!

Our next overnight is scheduled for May 28 and 29 and this time we all want to stay in tents!