Recreational Horizons is a nonprofit organization that provides trips for individuals with intellectual disabilities. They are currently celebrating 45 years of trips. Recreational Horizons offers trips to ambulatory intellectually disabled individuals who can function behaviorally in a three participants-to-chaperone ratio. The trips aim to increase the participants’ independence and enhance their communication, self-help, and social skills. They also work to break down social barriers between the participants and the general public.
Recreational Horizons trips consist of five-day trips where participants travel by bus to destinations like SeaWorld, Universal Studios Hollywood, Disneyland, Carnival Cruises, and Las Vegas, to name a few. Participants are supervised and supported by a chaperone from when they leave Tempe, Arizona, to their return.
I personally have been involved with this organization for five years as a chaperone. These have been some of the most rewarding experiences I have had. The feeling of joy the participants express during the trips is genuinely magical. One experience that comes to mind is a participant who showed no emotions. He very seldom talked and only gave one or two-word answers. We got him to agree to try a roller coaster, and as the coaster was returning to the station, he was waving his hands in the air, screaming that this was the best day of his life. He got off the coaster and was back to showing no emotion. We put him on a roller coaster after coaster to similar responses. We recorded his reaction and sent the video to his long-time caregiver, who was in tears upon arrival back in Tempe. She said that he had never shown that kind of emotional outburst in the years that she was his caregiver. This is just one of the most rewarding experiences I have had with Recreational Horizons.
Recreational Horizons is an all-volunteer organization that relies on donations and a single fundraiser at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Volunteers and a couple of participants operate a hot dog and pretzel stand at the fundraiser. All proceeds raised for Recreational Horizons are used to subsidize the trips for participants. With the cost of hotels, food, transportation, and entertainment venue tickets increasing, keeping these trips affordable for the participants is getting more complex. Contact Jon Cox, Recreational Horizons, founder and president, at joncox@recreationalhorizons.org to see how you can attend or assist this outstanding origination.
