The physicians at Windsong are proud to sponsor the Summer Camp at the Buffalo City Mission and specifically Cornerstone Manor with personal financial contributions. This was the third year that the physicians have made this commitment to the children that reside at the Buffalo City Mission. The following describes what their generous support means for these children in the words of Aubrey Calhoun, Director of Cornerstone Manor, and from those that dedicate their lives to making the Summer Camp a reality at the Buffalo City Mission.
"The funding from Windsong is vital to the efforts with our homeless children. Without the support of Windsong, we could not afford the extensive program that we currently offer. In truth the outing would be regulated to very basic outing and significantly reduced. This summer the focus was on the interaction with nature and animals in order to address the emotional needs of the children. Part of our program included weekly interactions with therapeutic horses at the Lothlorian Therapuetic Riding Center, Fantasy Island trip, crafts for donation to the Erie County SPCA (homeless animals), swimming lessons at the Jewish Community Center, Buffalo Urban Outdoor Education aboard the floating science lab, the Spirit of Buffalo, African American Cultural Center, the Kelkenberg Farm where they milked a goat and learned about gardening as well as an afternoon at a Bison Baseball Game. During the summer we also had financial literacy for the children provided by the CCCS and a class called Kids Café through the Cooperative Extension of Erie County. This as well as urban gardening rounded out their programing.
Many of the parents of these children are so involved in their own recovery and the chaos of their lives that the normal childhood experiences we would hope for all children, are pushed to the side. In our programming we have two points of target: we wish to enrich the academic learning and the experiences of these children as a form of healing, learning and joy and secondly we want to expose both parent and child to experiences that create a sense of normalcy in their lives—sometimes for the first time. This sense of normalcy follows them into the lives after they leave us- enriching the parent-child relationship forever. It’s like a ripple on the surface of a lake. What we do through your generous support breaks the cycle of dysfunction and despair that manifests in their lives as hopelessness. Their eyes are brighter; their smiles are bigger; we see withdrawn children blossom and thrive!"
~Aubrey Calhoun, Director of Cornerstone Manor
