Hi Everyone,
I, Michael Lettman, would like to share something with you, something that became a part of my life known as "Sprout"!
From my Perspective
I'm truly grateful for a private, non-profit organization that's been a big help for people with I/DD (intellectual & developmental disabilities) to experience going out into the community to enjoy themselves. Whether it's the Day/Evening trips, the expensive Sprout Vacations, or the Weekend Vacation Program, Sprout has done very well with providing excellent vacation opportunities for people with special needs (even the autistic community). I believe any trip from Sprout can lead to adventure, travel, discovery, or leisure for many people with disabilities across the world so I'd say it's good that those kind of people could be appreciated for what they've been doing for the autistic community.
I'm also grateful for Sprout's film festivals showing magnificent films to the communities across the world by Sprout's filming distribution service, Sproutflix. I believe Sproutflix can lead to entertainment & learning more about the lives of individuals with disabilities which can be helpful for those communities. I'd say that everyone should watch Sproutflix or attend film festivals like Sprout's if they ever wanna understand the life of a person with a disability. It would be nice if my project could develop the kind of videos or films for Sprout so it could be part of a film festival which would be amazing. I hope my work could do something for the disability community to enjoy at film festivals.
AHRC TV News
I was very impressed that the News Crew that I work with had planned an interview with Sprout's Founder & Executive Director himself known as Anthony Di Salvo, I'm grateful to have been chosen to interview him. We've had a nice chat & he kindly described his experience with the organization, Please Enjoy!
Michael Lettman's Life with Sprout
It was thanks to my 3 final school years of working at the Northside Center for Child Development that I've learned about Sprout & it became a part of my life. It was also thanks to Sprout's School Holiday Vacation Program that I've experienced being away from home for the first time in my life & it felt very independent. From Sprout's School Holiday Vacation Program, I was away in Washington D.C in 2014, Philadelphia (PA) in 2015, & the Amish Country (Penn Dutch) in 2016, I've truly enjoyed the experience of being away with others for a while, which lead to me feeling independent. I've stayed at inns with one individual as my roommate except for my trip in Philadelphia (PA) when I was the only boy in the group. This led to me staying in a reserved room by myself, which definitely felt independent.
It was thanks to my trip to Washington D.C. in 2014, that I've tried out Subway (Sandwich Store) for the first time & now it's one of the restaurants that I like to eat at (they make good sandwiches like delis). I think I got to see some historic sites & I even got to see the White House, which was magnificent.
It was thanks to my trip to Philadelphia (PA) in 2015 that I've experienced being myself when I've stayed in a reserved room at an inn all by myself due to being the only boy in the group. I did get to see the Liberty Bell, rode on a subway train in Philadelphia, & even rode in a Trolley for the first time plus I find the Trolley Lines in Philadelphia to be very amusing.
During my time in Amish Country (Penn Dutch) in 2016, I went to a few places like Kitchen Kettle Village & the Sky Zone plus it was a lot of fun bouncing around at that zone so I still had a good time. Remembering the hot weather & limited technology in that country (besides cars), I think it was an experience seeing what the Amish Country was like.
I've eventually started to attend Sprout's Day & Evening Program, which led to me going out with others on trips into the community & enjoying myself. First I received the directions of my chosen trips then I figured out the train routes that I will take to get to my destinations & meet up with Sprout. Some of those trips involved attending events & enjoying good dinners at restaurants (& diners). It truly felt very good of Sprout becoming a part of my life.
It was thanks to Sprout's Day & Evening Program that I got to go to Rye, NY (twice) on a trip to Rye Playland Amusement Park where I had some fun plus I got to ride on Metro-North Railroad for the first time ever (back in 2018). I'm very grateful to Sprout for both that trip & my first Metro-North train ride.
I've never get to attend any of the Sprout Vacations since they're too expensive for me. I think those kind of wonderful vacations are mostly somewhere less or more than $1,000 & unfortunately I'm unable to pay for any of those vacations, which lead to me becoming envious of anyone who got to attend those vacations but had to get used to it.
It was thanks to Sprout's Weekend Program that I've been away from home on weekends sometimes. From said program, I was away in Mystic, CT, Poconos, PA (twice), & Hershey, PA. I'm truly grateful to Sprout for giving me some good weekends.
I think I've went to Hershey Park one time with my family & I've got to go there again thanks to Sprout. I've gone on a few rides & enjoyed some good tours especially the tour from Hershey's Chocolate Factory. Which have shown the good chocolate that we all have been enjoying for a long time & maybe even some people of the autistic community have enjoyed Hershey's. I would like to show some of the good time that I've had with Sprout during our Hershey Trip, Please Enjoy!
The End of Michael Lettman's Life with Sprout
Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, the non-profit organization that provided wonderful trips for the disability community (which I've enjoyed so much), has dishearteningly confirmed there were no chances to continue going out into communities.
As of Summer 2021, the Sprout organization cannot provide their wonderful trips anymore but they may still continue with their magnificent films about lives of the disability community which people can still watch from Sprout's film distribution service known as Sproutflix.
Kyle Wu (one of the former attendants that I've known from my past Sprout trips) had done a interview video for a former Sprout leader's birthday (Andy Lee) on his YouTube Channel (World Wide Campus News & Entertainment) & Sprout's Founder (Anthony Di Salvo) was also part of their conversation which led to me discovering the confirmation from the founder of Sprout himself that his organization has completely ended its travel & recreation programs which resulted to an official end of my life with Sprout!
This is a past resolution of mine, believing in those with intellectual & developmental disabilities to find other possible ways to enjoy their travel experiences + my official goodbye to the Sprout organization.
I'll surely miss my trips with the groups that I've known from Sprout whom I haven't seen in-person since the year of 2019, I can appreciate good efforts by many others who tried to save the Sprout organization, & I probably don't think there can be any other organizations out there that's as good as the 1 organization that I shall miss for a long time known as Sprout!
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