B2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 21,1984
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
MILLERSVILLE For some it
is a chance to live on a farm. For
others it is a chance for a small
vacation. For everyone it is the
opportunity to share, to care and to
leam.
The Shared Holiday program is
operated under the auspices of the
Lancaster County Council of
Churches, and this year offered 108
youngsters the opportunity to
move to a new environment for one
to two weeks. Ninety-eight hosts
opened their homes and shared
their family lives to offer this
“vacation” to the children.
In the best Lancaster County
tradition, the Shared Holiday
program is one in which local
children are paired with local
hosts, in a relationship which can
be ongoing throughout the year if
the hosts desire it. Linda Deal,
director of the program, says she
has been told that is the only
program of its kind in the nation
because of the local nature of the
exchange.
She points out that there are
always more requests for farm
families as hosts than farms for
placement. But several local farm
families and rural families are
involved this year.
Ed and Judy Sykes just moved to
Wynhaven Farms, on the outskirts
of Millersville. Though they do not
, N *
* A *>
4r -
* '** **t*
" ***.
Acrobatics play a part in the girls' activities as they get to
know each other better through Shared Holiday. Medina does
the hard work, while host Ruthie looks out from under her
back.
Judy Sykes offers all the children a cool, ice popsicle as they relax on the lawn behind
their Victorian farmhouse near Millersville. Children from left, are Ruthie Sykes, Peter
Diaz, Medina Long and Bobby Sykes.
Caring, sharing and learning all part of Shared Holiday program
farm the acreage that came with
the house and barn, their location
offers all the fun of a farm, in
cluding animals and nearby
cornfields. The more important
aspect are a large farm house, and
lots of space for riding bicycle and
pitching a tent for outdoor
sleeping.
This is the Sykes’ first year in the
program. Judy says, “For us the
value was to offer country versus
city living. We’ve had a good
time.”
The children fit in almost im
mediately, according to Judy.
Indeed, as the two Sykes children
and their two visitors moved
around having their pictures taken
and talking about their experience,
it was like they were a large
family. Ruthie Sykes is 9 and
brother Bobby is 11. They are
hosting Medina Long, 10, and Peter
Diaz, 9, both of Lancaster city.
Apparently the children have
thrived on the visit. Medina, who
will attend James Buchanan
Elementary School in the fall, says
quickly that what she liked most
about the week was “Everything! ”
Peter, who will attend Washington
Elementary, says he liked
swimming, playing and picking
raspberries, a first for him.
Tlie four children took turns
sleeping in the tent at night. A
fascination for the visitors was the
Sykes’ Apple II Plus computer,
.r.+w+Jam
m Bicycling seems to be a favorite activity of most Shared Holiday visitors. At Wynhaven
1 Farm near Millersville, hosts and guests take laps around the driveway. From left are
■3 Bobby Sykes, Peter Diaz, Medina Long and Ruthie Sykes.
and a game called Decathalon,
which features many of the aspects
of the Olympic decathalon, and
allowed four players to play.
Judy says her family noticed a
few sentences about the program
in their church bulletin at Zion
United Church of Christ in
Millersville. They quickly
discussed the idea, and since that
was just three weeks age decided
to see if it was too late to be in
volved. There were two children
remaining who had not yet been
placed, and it was they who came
to stay with the Sykes family.
Families are encouraged to
simply have the children be part of
the normal family routine, and
Judy says that’s what they did. The
activities included riding bike,
swimming, picking raspberries
and cherries and attending two
swimming meets and a softball
game. There was even a family
reunion during their one week
stay.
Jim and Alta Landis, Manheim
Rl, also hosted for the first time
this year. They live on a “modified
farm” with no cattle, but grow
soybeans and corn.
There are two daughters in the
Landis family, Abigail, 7, and
Rebecca, 3 V 2, and they hosted
Becky Woods, also 7. Alta said,
“I‘ve known about the program
through friends, but it was a
newspaper article that made me
Reading and relaxing offer a change of pace from the busy
schedule of family activities. Here the tent gives Medina, left,
and Ruthie some privacy as they enjoy their favorite
paperback books.
write to participate. Our children
enjoy playmates, and I thought it
would be a good opportunity to
meet someone who lives different
from the way we do.”
To their surprise, their visitor
was not from the city, but from a
small trailer near Nottingham.
Alta explained that Becky’s
mother wanted her to be in the
program so she wouldn’t be cooped
up in the trailer all summer.
She said the most intriguing part
of the farm for Becky seemed to be
the large farmhouse, which
features both front and back
stairway, an invitation to fun. They
kept activities simple, but had a
child’s pool for swimming and
made a fire at night for mar
shmallows. Alta comments,
“Becky was a very easy child to
have. I’m glad we participated.”
There are benefits on both sides.
For the Landis children, Alta says,
“I think we basically learned that
people don’t all live in large houses
and have dogs and cats. I think the
benefit of the program for our
children is to leam that there are
people who live differently. .The
exchange has been a real benefit.”
Alfred and Pat Grez, Not
tingham, have five children of
their own-two boys, 22 and 21, and
two girls, 18, and 16, plus another
son, 6. Although they do not farm
the land, they live on a farm, and
Pat explains why she chose to sign
up for Shared Holiday when she
read about it in a Quarryville
paper. “Living on a farm, there
are no other children nearby. We
felt it was one more method of
making contact with other children
for our youngest son.”
They hosted six-year-old Jeff
Wilson of Lancaster City and Pat
says, “It was a very nice ex
perience. It was a nice quiet
summer week, and we spent most
of the week doing what we usually
do. My mother has a pool and we
went there, and we went to Her
sheypark one day.” The one ac
tivity they couldn’t enjoy was
walking near the Octorara because
of the mud left from the heavy
rains earlier this month.
Jeff, Pat says, is “an ex
traordinarily good child. Our older
children were pleased and amazed
that it went so well. It was a very
(Turn to Page B 4)