Recently I had some time to read one of the books Rollene gave me,  An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff.  My grandmother always recommends or lets me borrow interesting books, so I knew it would be a great story and a good break from the Game of Thrones world I had been in.

 An Invisible Thread is the true story of the bond between a harried sales executive and an eleven-year-old boy who seemed destined for a life of poverty. It is the heartwarming story of a friendship that has spanned three decades and brought meaning to an over-scheduled professional and hope to a hungry and desperate boy living on the streets.

When Laura Schroff brushed by a young panhandler on a New York City corner one rainy afternoon, something made her stop and turn back. She took the boy to lunch at the McDonald’s across the street that day. And she continued to go back, again and again for the next four years until both their lives had changed dramatically. Nearly thirty years later, that young boy, Maurice, is married and has his own family. Now he works to change the lives of disadvantaged kids, just like the boy he used to be.   – Amazon

I’m part of our SPARC Gives committee which is SPARC’s philanthropic program that supports different charities every month or quarter.  We’ve been involved with great organizations in the past (ACS Relay For Life, Red Cross, Teacher’s Supply Closet, Pet Helpers, etc) so when they announced that we would be teaming with Windwood Farm for October – December, I couldn’t help but think of the book I had just read.

Windwood Farm provides residential and therapeutic services to South Carolina boys who have been abused or neglected.  The founder realized that there wasn’t a place for abused boys to go (they wrongfully end up in juvenile detention centers) and wanted to give them somewhere to heal and break the cycle of abuse with the power of therapy and nature.

Every Friday in October, team members from SPARC are going to Windwood to volunteer their time for an assortment of tasks.  This past Friday, I drove out to Awendaw, SC with 6 friends and lend our “skills.”  Our goal for the day was to repaint the living room, kitchen and hallway of the PRTF house where 12 of the most abused boys lived.  They repaint the houses every 6 months which may sound crazy, but let’s be serious… that many boys can do a lot of damage to the walls and ceilings.  Our group was able to get 2 coats of paint on the walls much quicker than anticipated, so painted a little more and mopped the floors.

When we finished we got a tour of the 110 acres, which borders the Wando Creek, and saw some alligators and cranes.  Then we headed back to the big field near the school house to play kickball with some of the boys.  Interacting with the boys was AWESOME.  These kids are hilarious, and just typical boys on the outside which makes you hurt for whatever they went through. I’ll definitely be back at Windwood Farm and am looking forward to the next 2 months with them!

UPDATE: You can check out some photos of us at Windwood here.