Keep On Moving

On March 28 th, what many believed to be the last big snowstorm of the season turned out to be a great sunny day at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo. More than 110 staff and people served by Systems Unlimited attended the day trip to the zoo sponsored by the Steve Smith “Keep On Moving” Memorial Fund. This was by far the biggest trip this agency has seen in recent memory. Initially expected to be a small turnout due to the limited response on the last trip to a dinner theater in the quad cities; within a week of posting the announcement I had enough to justify getting another 55 passenger bus. Also due to such great number for the trip, we were also able to have one of the buses start in Washington to pick up a large response there.

Though it was an early day for many trip-goers, the time spent on the road watching movies and napping geared everyone up for an energetic day at the largest rain forest, indoor desert and nocturnal exhibits in the world. Despite the fact that it is such a large park many of the exhibits are located close to each other so, though it was a bit cold, most of our time was spent indoors. Having spent half of my childhood on that side of the state I had spent many weekend afternoons at the zoo and have never been let down by the experience. A running joke my family and I have is in regards to the rain forest where several small Tamarin monkeys roam the area unhindered by barriers. Having seen the monkeys, I had convinced my younger sister that if you were able to catch one you could take it home with you. I shared this same story with participants of this recent zoo trip and they all agreed that if a monkey was captured it would be going back to Iowa City. Thinking there was no way anyone could get within 10 feet let alone catch one of them, I didn’t have any reservations in sharing this story. That is until while in the rainforest I turned the corner to find one of the trip-goers with their hand inches away from one of the Tamarins looking back at me excitedly ready to grab onto the monkey. Meanwhile a large group of children where screaming excitedly, encouraging him to touch the monkey. I had to shake my head “No” but every ounce of me screamed “Go ahead, Do it!” just to see this childhood fantasy come to fruition.

In retrospect, that is what these trips for the agency have quickly evolved into. A chance for people that normally do not get to travel outside of the area to see and experience environments and situations that is out of the norm. As many can attest to a lot of the people we serve have lives structured on routine. Many see any variations in the routine resulting in stress. For many these trips are a fantastic way to get out of the routine and experience randomness in a positive way. With more frequent chances for adventure like these, we greatly improve the quality of life for the people we serve. In the near future I plan to launch a website devoted to these trips to raise money for the continuation of reduced and free trip fees. Please consider a donation to the Steve Smith “Keep On Moving” Memorial Fund to continue outstanding experiences like these in the agency.