Search for Adventure

In 1997 we partnered with Search Developmental Center to create Planet Access Company (PAC). PAC is a non-profit life-skills training group with a mission to positively change the lives of adults with developmental disabilities by providing them with training and work opportunities. Today each Horny Toad item is picked, packed and shipped with unmatched reliability and enthusiasm by the PAC work crew.

Our next challenge was to answer the famous question: “What’s work without vacation?”

Enter Search for Adventure (SFA), an adventure travel program that uses proceeds from PAC and a grant from Horny Toad to send Search residents and members of the PAC work crew on trips to get a taste of the outdoors. The cherry on top is that Horny Toad employees join the trips as volunteers. This last year we expanded the program so that employees from stores that carry Horny Toad can also participate.

One such employee, Sarah “Cowgirl” McDonald from Trail Creek Outfitters in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, wrote this letter after her trip to the Powderhorn Dude Ranch in Colorado. We think it’s pretty swell and hope you enjoy it as much as we did.


To All Toads,

Thanks to you guys I just spent an incredible week out in Gunnison, Colorado at the Powderhorn Dude Ranch. It was so beautiful     out there – a perfect place to get away from cell phones and computers. The best thing about the week by far, was the group from Search.

Getting to know Ed, Richard, Mark, Jim, Allie and Jen made the week. It’s hard to put into words how much fun we had. I don’t know if I’ve ever laughed so much!

We kept busy all week. We rafted down the Gunnison, rode horses, went 4-wheelin’, hiked, took a pontoon boat down the Black Canyon Gorge, square danced and played a few hands of blackjack. Those guys had the time of their lives, as did I.

I don’t know how to describe it other than to use Ed’s words. He’s an older guy who’s pretty quiet. He has difficulty seeing but he’s willing to try everything! He does a mean Elvis too! I was helping him walk back from horseback riding and he started laughing to himself. I asked, “What’s so funny Ed?” His response was, “I just can’t believe how blessed I am.”

That says it all for me. Thanks for making that happen for Ed, and for me. It’s a week we’ll never forget.

Sarah McDonald

 

Look Good. Feel Good. Do Good.

The choices we make are as important as the clothes we create. We try each day to lighten our environmental footprint, be good partners in all of our relationships, pay attention and stay active in our communities and support organizations that improve our world - the source of our daily adventures.

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