ABLE Youth, Inc.

Rosie Dunn Wins Award

Our very own Rosie Dunn was awarded the Mack West Children's award from Mayor Karl Dean. The award is given to a child in Davidson county who has overcome difficult "life obstacles" to rise up and become the best he or she can be. Rosie is very deserving of this award and all of us in ABLE Youth are very proud of her. Congratulations Rosie!

 

Rosie Dunn receives her award from emcee Sharon Puckett.

MUSIC CITY THUNDER Takes St. Louis Tournament

Members of Music City Thunder Varsity basketball team travelled to St. Louis over the weekend for the first tournament of the year. The coaches were very impressed when Thunder won 3 games straight to be named tournament champions. GREAT JOB THUNDER!  

The next scheduled tournament is November 13 - 15 in North Carolina. Please keep the team, coaches, and parents in your thoughts and prayers.

Golf Tournament

Today we held our 4th Annual Golf Tournament. It was a huge success! Although it rained steadily for 5 days prior to "our day"--we were blessed with no rain during the tournament. We had a 27 teams, and lots of volunteers. Thanks to Starbucks, Tri Delta from Vanderbilt, the ABLE Youth board members, and FleetOne for making it a great day! Please browse through the photo album in the left hand column to see the good time had by all!

INDEPENDENCE Camp 2009---Awesome!

We held our annual Independence Camp over the weekend at YMCA Camp Widjiwagan. 11 participants from ABLE Youth learned all kinds of activities of daily living such as dressing, self care issues, wheelchair mobility, transfers, making beds, sweeping, doing dishes, assembling wheelchairs, filling out job applications actual job interviews, etc....The kids also played tennis, swam, rode hand cylces, and played games geared towards problem solving. Each child did a great job, learned new skills, and had fun.

MANY THANKS to all the volunteers who made the weekend so successful, especially Miss Carrie--God bless you all.....

Rick Slaughter

Swim Lessons Started Today!

Eight ABLE Youth kids started swim lessons today at the Gordon Jewish Community Center. Christopher Coode, Ensworth High School graduate and upcoming Clemson Freshman, was the driving force behind this event. He and 5 other lifeguards and swim coaches came out to help. All the parents commented on what an awesome day it was and how well the kids participated. Once again, a great day! 

FLEET ONE Appreciation Lunch

This past Wednesday ABLE Youth participants, parents, and board members thanked FLEET ONE with an "Appreciation Lunch." Thanks to Deanne Smith for her hard work in planning the event and making it happen. Fleet One has been our largest corporate sponsor and supporter for the last 4 years. The employees at Fleet One are some of the nicest, most down to earth, helpful people you could ever want to meet. ABLE Youth has been blessed by their kind spirits. Fleet One, thank you and God Bless you!

Challenge Air Allows Kids To Fly!!!

Kids from ABLE Youth and other organizations were treated to a day of food, fun, and flying. All kids attended "flight school" to learn about the various parts of a plane and how they work, then taken up in the sky with qualified volunteer pilots. The children could take over control of the plane to see what it felt like to be a pilot and learn a huge life lesson: "If you believe, anything is possible."

Walk & Roll a HUGE Success!

What a beautiful day we were blessed with to hold the 4th Annual Walk & Roll 5K and walk/roll in Centennial Park. The event benefitted League for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Progress Inc, Technology Access Center, and our very own ABLE Youth. Regina Raccuglia from WSMV Channel 4 spent the day with us and did a fabulous job as emcee. Thanks Regina!

Each organization had lots of folks run or walk in support of the event. Thanks to all 80+ volunteers who helped make this such a successful day. We could not have done this without you! See you next year!!!

MUSIC CITY THUNDER RANKED 6th IN THE NATION!

Music City Thunder wheelchair basketball team competed this weekend in the Junior National Tournament in Denver. Thunder won two games and lost two games. They played well and should be very proud of themselves. OUR VERY OWN NATHANIEL WOODARD WAS NAMED TO THE SECOND TEAM ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM... Thanks to Dan Onkst for a terrific year as coach, and to all those parents who helped make this such a successful season. WAY TO GO THUNDER!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdbd55   click this to view tournament photos!!!

Thunder Basketball Teams & Cheerleaders Travel to Birmingham, AL

The ball teams and cheerleaders made the trek to participate in the Lakeshore Foundation Invitational. Both the Prep team and JV played awesome, and the cheerleaders supported them with their usual flare. 

Sunday found Thunder in a fight for first place, but missed short shots kept them from winning the Championship. Morgan made 2nd Team All Tournament and Nathaniel and Jordan were named to the First Team All Tournament.

As for Prep, Doug and Chris made All Tournament, and the loudest applause was for the Sportsmanship award, given to our very own JayRod. 

I am extremely proud of all players, cheerleaders, and parents for a great weekend. It's all about the kids, and their ability to make new life experiences.

Next up is the National Tournament held in Denver next month....Stay tuned!