APIL Tball and Awards

Saturday was APIL (Ascension Parish Inclusive League)'s last tball game of the fall season. After the game all the participants received a gold medal.

Looking forward to basketball season in a few weeks.

My daughter won the 2009 Blue Cross Angel Award

I'm very proud and excited to announce that my daughter, Betsey, just recently found out she won the Blue Cross Angel Award for her work with the APIL Program. She started the Ascension Parish Inclusive League through Ascension Parish Recreation and the program is being used as a pilot program for other parishes in Louisiana.

Here is some information on the award:

For outstanding volunteer service on behalf of Louisiana’s children, Betsey Baldwin was named one of 2009 winners of the Angel Award®. The Angel Award is a program sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation that honors people who positively impact the lives of Louisiana's children. She was one of eight people chosen as a statewide honoree of the Angel Award® out of more than 60 nominations.

A committee of past recipients of the Angel Award, now in its 15th year, considered 62 nominations from throughout the state before selecting our eight honorees: Betsey Baldwin of Gonzales, Vicki Ellis of Baton Rouge, Jill Rigby Garner of Baton Rouge, Lynn Hobbs-Green of New Orleans, Janet Leslie of Maurepas, Jean McManus of Eunice, Minh Nguyen of New Orleans, and Phillip Thomas of Monroe.

Blue Cross will recognize each of this year's honorees at a gala this fall at the Lod Cook Alumni Center on LSU’s Campus, 3838 West Lakeshore Drive, BR, 70808.

· In an effort to promote diversity and inclusion, Betsey Baldwin of Gonzales founded the Ascension Parish Inclusion League, an outlet for children with and without disabilities to enjoy recreational activities together. The Inclusion League enhances self-esteem and promotes acceptance, understanding and friendship by creating an atmosphere that values diversity.
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Betsey has such compassion for these children and works well with them. This program has been a blessing to all who have been a part of it.

APIL TBall - Last Game for the Year

Saturday was the last APIL (Ascension Parish Inclusive League) tball game. It was a little hot but we had a great turnout. The children had a great time.

After the game, trophies were given out.

The Cardinals, a 13 year old local team that was also at the park, came to our field to show their support to the APIL children. It was great to see these young men and their coach take the time to come by and support APIL. That's what it's all about, people helping people no matter what age.

Being a part of this program has been such a blessing to me. The smiles on the children's faces are so geniune and heart warming. Seeing the parents and extended family support is awesome. Grandmas, grandpas, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends come out to support these very special children. I am so proud of my daughter Betsey for seeing this need and getting this program started.

APIL Water Day

Ascension Parish Inclusive League had a water day today. A water slide, slip n slide, a swimming pool and lots of water balloons were the activities for the event. Everyone had a great time.

Dr. Kelly Ray, Community Psychologist, attended the event to observe and help our team with suggestions to help us work with the children. At the board meeting after the event, Dr. Ray answered questions and gave us helpful suggestions.

A swimming pool and a water hose. What could be better?

Everyone joined the activities when the water balloons were brought out.

My daughter and APIL Director, Betsey Baldwin, was a likely target for the water balloons.

The co director, Courtney, and board member, Sunny, also joined in the water balloon fun.

A plastic tarp, some no tear shampoo and a water hose was all we needed for a slip and slide.

Add a few plastic balls to the pool added to the fun.

Even though it was very warm outside, the water helped cool things down and created a fun day. The grant APIL obtained has allowed the program to expand to other areas of the state. A program in Hammond and Mandeville are in the works thanks to the grant and guidance of Rebecca Mandal, Karen Sheridan and Jennifer Whisenhunt of the Resource Center on Psychiatric & Behavioral Supports.

Ascension Parish Inclusive league is a recreation league in which children with and without disabilities participate together in activities and sports just for fun! This is a non-competitive league for ages 4-13. If you have questions, would like more information or would like to volunteer for the events call (225) 621-9661.

APIL Event - Scavenger Hunt/Crafts/Spacewalk

Today at APIL (Ascension Parish Inclusive League) we had a scavenger hunt that consisted of things to stimulate all the senses. They collected leaves; looked at bugs and rocks, listened to wind and birds; felt the tree bark, grass, rocks; smelled the pine tree, air, grass and watched clouds and leaves falling to the ground.

After the scavenger hunt, we went inside to make crafts with the leaves we collected. We placed leaves under white paper and colored over the leaf forming the outline.

They glued the leaves they found on construction paper to form "leaf booklets".

There was a fundraising event setting up for the afternoon at the park and they allowed our group to use the space walk.

My daughter and director of the APIL program decided to join the fun.

The fundraising group were kind enough to allow us to purchase sno cones even though their event wasn't scheduled to start for a couple of hours. The temperature was very warm so the sno cones were a welcome treat.

The next APIL event will be a water day and is scheduled for the end of the month. Even though it was hot, we all had a fun time.

APIL - Body Sox

Because of a grant obtained by The Resource Center on Psychiatric and Behavorial Supprts Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities, Ascension Parish Inclusive League, part of PARC in Ascension Parish has been able to purchase equipment for both those with and without disabilities. Along with the traditional sports (tball, basketball, soccer and bowling) many with adaptive capabilities, many other items have been purchased for upcoming events.

Some of the items purchased have been those that are designed for sensory therapy - balls of all shapes, sizes and textures; character building tools and body sox.

Body sox are therapeutic sacks made from see-thru lycra. They can be very beneficial to those with sensory processing disorders helping to increase body awareness and balance as well as recommended for children with ADHD. They are also fun for anyone, adults or children and can be used for such activities as relay races.

Here are some pictures of my daughter trying out one of the adult sizes. They come in childrens sizes also. You can choose to leave your head out or not and it zips in the back.

Doesn't this look like fun?

APIL Event With Special Guest

Today we had our second tball game for Ascension Parish Inclusive League. It rained during the night so the fields were too wet to play on. But that didn't stop the game. We found a semi dry spot behind the building, drew a field and got ready to play.

Our special guest was Glen Dorsey, defensive tackle for LSU and 2007 Defensive Player of the year . Glen's hometown is Gonzales and he says he enjoys helping out the kids in the community. He was given the task to start the plays by saying "Play Ball".

He was great with the kids, congratulating and offering "hi 5's" for a great job.

He was also gracious and patient while everyone took pictures. After the game was over he signed balls, tshirts, posters, jerseys, APIL bags and anything else we could come up with. He stayed till everyone got their items signed and pictures taken.

A couple of other special guests were Donaldsonville High School football players recently signed to local colleges. This one is Quniton Foster who will be playing at Southeastern. They ran along the bases with the kids and helped cheer them on.

Champlain Babin from Donaldsonville High pictured below will be playing for McNeese.

Being a celebrity and a role model for children brings along with it responsibility. To see these young men offer their time and service to the community was awesome. We wish them all the best in their future and hope others will follow their example.

OK, I admit it. We got a little caught up in the picture taking. Here is one of me and two of my children with Glen Dorsey.

My son was impressed with Glen Dorsey's 30" rims and he allowed us to take a picture with his hummer and my son.