New Horizons Village News
www.newhorizonsvillage.us
Volume 2, Issue 25
May 2013
Sports reporting helps NHV resident
expand skills
Special Olympics Area Cycling Competition and practice reported by Dean
On March 21st we set up for some events at Special
Olympics. Tim, Tony, Wayne C., Linda, Paul, JoAnn and I did
the 2K meter bike ride. Wayne borrowed my bike. His chain
broke. We had lunch. Paul, Linda and Megan rode the bike
again. We had the award ceremony. Rhonda from school
drove with Duane to get us there. Tim got a first-place blue
ribbon. I got fourth and second. Paul got second. We had a
great time and we should have our pictures from ESPN News
Channel.
At bicycling practice on Saturday, April 13,, MaryLouise,
Duane and Butch did their voting on those who would go to the
State games. Monique, Paul, Tony and Tim from NHV were
picked along with quite a few others.
Citrus County Fair
Reported by Dean
On March 26, we went to the fair to have a good time. We
left here from NHV; residents and staff and had a really good
time at the fair. We had our supper at the fair. Then the
guys split up and partnered with Duane. The girls went with
MaryLouise, Kim and Karen. The guys (me, Dean, Paul and
Tony) went on the bumper cars and Tim played the games
with us. Long after that we met up with MaryLouise, Kim
and Karen and we had our snack. We sang songs on the way
back with Duane and Karen.
Rep. Rich Nugent visits New Horizons Village
U.S. Rep. Richard Nugent’s recent visit to New Horizons
Village included a tour of our Learning Center – led by one of
our residents.
“It was wonderful to watch Tony show the congressman
through our classrooms and facilities,” said Scott Greiner. “No
one could have done a better job of demonstrating to Rep.
Nugent our mission of giving loving care and protection to the
lives entrusted to us while guiding them to become creative,
self-sufficient and independent.”
“The congressman was interested, engaged, asked important
questions and was great with our residents,” said Craig
Greiner, NHV’s administrator. “We’re appreciative of the time
he spent to learn who we are and what we do.”
Tony ran into an old friend at the fair and
introduced him to his housemate Ray
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1
2-3
4
5
Special Olympics, Congressman visit, Citrus County Fair
News from home/REC highlights/Learning-Growing at the ATF
Learning-Growing at the ATF (cont’d)
Upcoming Events
Monique enjoyed her ride on the Merry-Go-Round
New Vue's News 1
Having fun on House One
Our home is very proud of JoAnn being involved with Special Olympics. JoAnn and her mother are very competitive and
dedicated to Special Olympics meets and activities. Hooray, Mrs. Huntington! Our home had a wonderful Easter egg hunt.
Thank you MaryLouise; we love to hunt for eggs. Several residents went home for Easter to spend time with family and friends.
Scott’s birthday was another exciting April event. Happy Birthday, Scott! Scott really looks forward to home visits. Scott spent
the day before his birthday with his mom and dad at home. As always, he was all smiles when he came back to New Horizons.
We always look forward to Celebration Week at the ATF! This is the week before our fabulous MayFest.
Enjoying life on House Two
In March Linda, Dean and friends enjoyed an evening out at the Citrus County Fair. March’s dinner outing took us to Taco Bell,
where we all wolfed down tacos and beans. March’s dessert trips were not too far away; we satisfied our sweet tooth’s call with a
Frosty at Wendy’s. Before we knew it, the Easter bunny hopped in with April, leaving goody baskets for all. We went on a
challenging Easter egg hunt. As April ended we enjoyed burgers and french fries at Hardee’s, followed shortly thereafter by milk
shakes and root beer floats at Sonic’s. The month would not have been complete without a fishing trip. Dean and Wayne C.
reeled in the big fish during a sun-filled day on the water with Scott Greiner and Gary Power.
Hello from House Three
Hello to all our friends. March was an exciting month as we prepared for St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. The Easter bunny came to
our house with wonderful presents for everyone. We enjoyed a picnic at the beach (watching the sunset with our New Horizons
friends was beautiful) and our monthly dinner at KFC and dessert at McDonalds. In April we picnicked at Whispering Pines Park,
had dinner at Joe’s Family Restaurant and dessert at Sonic’s. The anticipation of the annual MayFest event was exciting as well.
Thinking spring on House Four
Our residents and staff enjoyed a great St. Patrick’s Day dinner served up by our wonderful Dietary staff. Our men and women
had an exciting shopping trip to Big Lots and a scrumptious dessert at Sweet Bay! Beautiful weather enabled us to have a great
dinner on the picnic tables at Sonic. Everyone had a blast searching for yummy candy-filled eggs at the Easter egg hunt, but they
enjoyed eating the candy even more! We had an amazing time at our picnic at Whispering Pines Park with our great friends from
House 1. Shopping fun at Dollar General was followed by cooling off with a tasty Frosty at Wendy’s. Yum! We also went to the
Breakfast Buffet to fill our tummies with their always delicious start-of-the-day foods. We wish MaryLouise good luck on her trip
to State for Special Olympics track and field and to all New Horizons participants!
The adventures of House Five
In March we started our adventure at the shores of Fort Island Beach, where we encountered insects trying to ruin our picnic.
Thank goodness for bug spray! When we ventured on our dinner outing later in the month our Unit Five family invited a special
guest, Adrian Fagin, our dear and good friend from the ATF. Adrian made the evening at Wendy’s especially exciting and fun.
We then ended our winter chill at home with some good, old-fashion ice cream sundaes. The guys had a blast when the Easter
bunny came to town. Thank you to MaryLouise and her pack of bunnies for making the day special. In April our showers came
early; we decided to have a wonderful picnic in our own New Horizons center circle, where our guys were the center of attention.
McDonald’s icy treats cooled us down from the bright sunny day. We visited Checkers where the food filled our stomachs and
put smiles on our faces. It was a joy to have our special friend Elaine Krum – a blast from the past - join us.
Hello from House Six
We have a lot to celebrate other than the warm weather. We had three birthdays: Denise, Tim and Wendy. They all chose the
Golden Corral for their birthday dinner outings. We had great celebrations at our house for each of them. They invited guests
from other houses to share in their celebrations. As a home we have gone on two picnics, had dinner at Angelitto’s and the
Huddle House and had dessert at the Ice Cream Doctor and Dunkin Donuts. We always look forward to May and the celebrations
during the week leading up to Mayfest.
New Vue's News 2
Recreation highlights
The Citrus County Fair was a fun trip. We ate our favorite fair foods, including foot-long hot dogs, chicken fingers and elephant
ears! Linda threw two softballs into a bucket and won a bear as big as herself while the rest of us won small stuffed animals. We
celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with corned beef and cabbage for lunch on Friday, a dance Friday night, rueben sandwiches on
Saturday and corned beef hash on Sunday. Easter was early this year but we heated the pool and swam on Easter Sunday. We
dyed eggs at the ATF and had an Easter egg hunt. Special Olympics track and field is in full swing. Tony, Tim, Paul and Monique
have been selected to compete at the State games in Orlando in May. April 23rd was the Torch Run fundraiser for Special
Olympics. This year Bruce, Kim, Deanna and Donnie all helped with the Citrus County Sheriff’s Department Torch Run. We
followed the runners and cyclist for the 12-mile course in our New Horizons van, and then ate lunch at the sheriff’s station in
Inverness. The torch was passed to Marion County (Dunnellon) that afternoon; Tony, Paul, Denise, Tim, JoAnn, Linda and Dean
all walked the two miles with the Marion County Sheriff’s Department. After the walk we ate hot dogs, hamburgers and ice
cream. Many of our residents volunteer at the Annie Johnson Thrift Store in Dunnellon and the employees acknowledge their
hard work. It was a very special moment to see how the community and New Horizons are so closely linked. Our first Breakfast
Buffet of 2013 was great; Belgium waffles with fruit topping and homemade cinnamon rolls were the featured food items. With
warmer weather we are looking forward to Special Olympics swim and golf practice.
Special Olympics Torch run reported by Dean
On April 23 from NHV Bruce, Deanne and Donald went first for the run in the morning in Citrus County and then it was our turn
in the afternoon. It was me, Tony, Linda and Tim. When we got there we registered first and had the opening ceremony and
prayer that was by a Special Olympic athlete from another county. Then we started doing our walk/march and several other
people were running and quite a bit of athletes were walking in the parade. The reporter from the newspaper came and took
pictures for the Dunnellon newspaper. We also had a person talking a picture of me too. Later we had our meal and danced in the
streets to a live disc jockey. After that we came back home to NHV. We had a grand time and as we sang songs to and from
Dunnellon.
Learning and growing at the ATF
Excitement In Classroom 1
March and April were exciting for Classroom 1. We celebrated many holidays. St. Patrick’s Day was one. We did many crafts
and Dietary cooked some mighty fine corned beef and cabbage. For Easter we made bunnies, colored eggs and had an amazing
catered lunch. The last week of April we learned about Earth Day and talked about ways we can protect our planet. We were
surprised and thrilled with the great lime floats that Dietary made especially for us. We also love soaking in the sun and having
lunch in the shade. Spring is a stimulating time of the year because we can do many spring-related projects. Our theme for April
was "April showers bring May flowers.” We’re looking forward to many events in May and are anxious to share them with you.
Keeping Busy With Classroom 2
In March everyone was busy decorating for Easter and spring. We created a bulletin board about pond life and learned about the
plants and animals that thrive in those bodies of water. Did you know that algae are both good and bad for ponds? We worked
hard on learning new American Sign Language for the days of the week as well as many weather-related words. In April we
learned all about camping and even made our own mini sleeping bags. Our most recent lessons are on the alphabet. Each day we
learn a new letter, the sound it makes and words that start with that letter. We had a blast for celebration week; even the staff took
part. As always, our favorite day was PJ day. The silly string war was fun and exceptionally messy. We think remains of the
silly string will linger outside forever. We are looking forward to summer and pool parties.
Learning In Classroom 3
In the last two months we finished learning about Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. We also began studying the land animals of
Australia. Did you know that the duckbill platypus is the only mammal to lay eggs? After learning about Australia we focused on
the weather and the differences between cumulus and nimbus clouds. The class really enjoyed our experiment with making our
own clouds from shaving cream. They got a dab of shaving cream on their desks and smeared it to shape it in the form of a cloud.
They loved that lesson! Two of our classmates, Wendy and Rufus, received their Boy Scout awards. We are very proud of them
and they are proud of themselves. Last week we started learning about the Amazon rainforest and we enjoyed our Spirit Week
leading up to the New Horizons Village Mayfest celebration.
New Vue's News 3
Greetings From the Workshop
Hello from the workshop. March began with a week full of Ireland and mystical creatures. We learned about Banshees and Irish
Leprechauns. We had an Irish Day with green wigs and leprechaun hats. Exploring the solar system came next, with our class
studying the planets and watching a movie on Apollo 13. A look at earthbound amphibians and lizards followed. Our students
took a deep look into the world of pond insects. Did you know that the adult male fly only lives long enough to reproduce? The
longest recorded lifespan of an adult male fly is 48 hours. On Science Day our class planted green beans in indoor planters.
When the beans sprouted the following week we replanted the sprouts outside. The workshop students had an enchanting time
discovering all the Disney princesses and taking a flight via Peter Pan to Neverland to visit the mermaids and to join Peter Pan in
fighting the pirates.
Favorite Moments at the ATF
Boy Scouts Awards
Matt, Wayne W., A.J. & Chelsea
Matt, Wayne C. & Chelsea
Tacky Tourist Day at the ATF
Deanna & Sharkie
Trinh and Sharkie
New Vue's News 4
Staff joining right in
Upcoming Events:
Special Olympics Track and
Field Practice
Place: Citrus High School
May 11, 2013
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Special Olympics State
Summer Games
Place: Orlando ESPN Sports Center
May 17 – 18 of 2013
Time: 7:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Luau
Place: Bushnell VFW 10137
May 25, 2013
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Memorial Day Cookout and
Pool Party
Place: NHV – Recreation Pavilion
May 27, 2013
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Breakfast Buffet and
Movie
Place: NHV – ATF Dining Room
June 15, 2013
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Employee Appreciation
Cookout and Pool Party
Place: NHV – Recreation Pavilion
June 21, 2013
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
July 4th Cookout and
Pool Party
Place: NHV – Recreation Pavilion
July 4, 2013
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
NOTES FROM THE EDITOR
If you would like to receive the New Horizons Village News by E-mail, or if you would like it sent to someone
else, please send your request via e-mail to [email protected].
We invite you to visit the New Horizons Village ATF Learning Center to see the difference it is making. Please
call Marsha Abreu at 352-746-3262 ext. 204 or e-mail her at [email protected] so we can be
prepared for your visit.
New Vue's News 5