By: Colleen Mazor, Support Worker III

Group in the stands at Jimmy John’s Park in Detroit

Isabella, Donald, John, Remo, Jeff, and Colleen would like to thank Etobicoke Supported Work and Community Activities (SWACA), Dale Makino and Brian Wittich for inviting them on the trip to Detroit this year. The group would also like to thank our hosts Michael Ward (absent but there in heart and spirit this year) and Deb Ward. They began hosting the Detroit Trips 17 years ago! We would also like to thank Wilma Nad for making the trip possible with such short notice.

The group set off on June 7th with passports in hand for a very fast paced two days. North York SWACA’s first trip to Detroit was a success. Two of the six attending had been on the trip before so they knew what to expect. The other four were in for a treat. New friends to be made and old ones to be renewed is part of what took place on this trip. Our first stop was to meet and have lunch with the Etobicoke group and join the “caravan” of vans. Introductions made, directions given with no one left behind we were off to the second stop, gas.

Once we crossed the border with no problems we were off to the hotel. At the hotel we met our host for the weekend, got our rooms assigned and quickly unpacked our bags before heading to Uno Chicago Grill for a pizza dinner. While we were at dinner, the local cable television station interviewed the group about the trip. Donald and Colleen were interviewed. The questions asked were: how long have we been coming over for trips like this; what do we hope to get out of the trip; what makes this trip different than being at home or work; how does this trip benefit the people attending? Check out the interview on Shelby Cable TV.

After a great pizza dinner we headed off to the Baseball Game. Our seats were fantastic. Jimmy Johns Park is a very nice park and the staff was very friendly and helpful. The teams playing were the Birmingham Beavers vs the Westside Woolly Mammoths. The Woolly Mammoths beat the Beavers 7 – 4. We were cheering for the Beavers; however I think at times it didn’t matter because we were really cheering for both. We didn’t want to play favourites as we were from out of town. A couple of times we tried to teach the Americans how to do the “Canadian” wave, but it didn’t work as it didn’t catch on but there was no harm in trying.

With the game over it was back to the hotel for much needed sleep. One busy day down, one more to go! The morning consisted of breakfast for everyone at the hotel, bags packed, vans loaded, and one more stop at Target for some shopping before crossing the border. Once everyone did a bit of shopping, we said all of our “Thank you” and “Good Byes” to our host and headed for home with passports in hand.

All back safe, all back tired, all back with stories to tell, all back with old friends and new ones made, all back with memories and wishes to go again next year.

A big THANK YOU goes out to Michael and Deb Ward for organizing this amazing event year after year!

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