A trip to the 'Special Needs School'...with quilts

This is where the pile is gone - the 20 quilts came from off this section of the table.

Many years ago I had seen this school as I had gotten lost in the woods while looking for a family that I was delivering some Christmas presents to.

At the time, it was for deaf and blind children. From what I understood today, they now have children and young people with a variety of problems.

So I had seen it - but never been inside.

When Agnieszka, a lady from here in Otwock, proposed that I give the school 20 quilts I was actually surprised. I didn’t know that they actually would NEED that many quilts. I knew that our area seems to have several of these types of boarding schools for special needs children. Agnieszka works in the kitchen and I’ve known her for quite some time now.

Anyway…here’s what happened.

I had an appointment to meet Agnieszka at a certain place not too far from her home and I would pick her up and she would then go with me to the school.

A few people were there - the secretary and the director of the school were there when I first got there with Agnieszka. I was introduced - we nodded -- and I asked to be shown around.

The secretary took me around to see a few parts of the whole place!

Because they are trying to teach children with many different issues, the classes are small - about 5. The secretary told me that they might two deaf children and a couple of hearing kids in the same classroom.

Here is a typical classroom. Five desks.

They teach a cooking class for the older kids!!! Yeah!! They want them to have practical skills!

Here is their dining room.

The school is for kids who don’t see well, or hear well. They also deal with autistic kids and kids with Asperger’s Syndrome. They have about 70 students - 22 are boarding students and the rest come in daily. They range in age from 3 to about 19.

This room is the physical therapy room.

The quilts I took are for the boarding students. None are “in” right now, of course!

Here is the preschool area - looks about like a normal preschool! Preschool for them is as young as 3 and as old as 9.

The building was built in 1996 - so it was finished after we came to Poland.

Here is where some of the boys sleep. This is one of the rooms where they board.

Here’s one of the rooms where the girls sleep.

After the tour, Agnieszka and I carried the quilts into the secretary’s office.

I only took 20 quilts, but they need 22, so we’ll get another 2 to them before school re-opens. Of course we aren’t sure when that is.

In the secretary’s office!

They gave me a couple of thank you items!

First of all, the children made this pine cone decorative plaque. These schools have their children make these in bulk, more or less, and they use them as gifts. IOW, the children didn’t make this for me, exactly. The school has been out since before the Quilt Give-Away (which is when I heard about this need).

Isn’t that sweet?

The teachers gave me this package of tea! Once again - I believe the secretary packaged this up for me! That was sweet!

This is what the package with the tea looks like!

Plus, the secreatary made me a nice diploma/thank you which she laminated.

That was also very sweet!

I am blessed! I really love this pine cone plaque! The secretary told me the children made it with the help of the teacher. The pine cones came from their grounds - so it’s “all local”!

By adding these 20 quilts to the 78 we had given away already on March 14, that makes this Quilt Give away total 98. I will add 2 more so the school can have one for each boarding child, so that will make 100 even. I do still have 57 more quilts I can give away - so there’s that…

Anyway…I trust this has been an enjoyable little trip to a local boarding school for special needs kids right here in Otwock, Poland.

I feel pretty selfish in accepting all this thanks by myself. So many other people have helped in this outreach—and that’s why I’m writing this blog post - so those of you who have helped either with tops or financially, can enjoy this “action” vicariously through the pictures!

We all know how “reinforcing” it is to get a heart felt “thank you”. Well, I got one today, and I want to try to deflect at least some of it off to you who also deserve it! Consider this a feeble attempt to share!

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Have a great day wherever you are reading this!

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store!

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