MARY'S A-CORNER

Hello AACORN Friends,

This season always brings a sense of momentum. Participants are building on what they’ve learned, stepping into responsibilities with greater confidence, and finding connection in both familiar routines and new experiences. It’s a reminder that growth doesn’t happen all at once—but it is always happening.

What’s Inside This Newsletter

In this issue, you’ll see examples of a busy March in various venues and activities. You'll read how participants brought our value of environmentalism to life by creating puzzle contest awards entirely from recycled materials, along with highlights from the contest itself. As always, the creativity, teamwork, and pride on display say more than words ever could.

Support Our Mission

There are so many ways to be part of AACORN—and one of the best is simply showing up. On April 18, we invite you to join us for our Spring Open House from 2–5. We’re especially excited to welcome everyone onto the farm—there’s a good chance some very cute baby goats will be making their debut—and we’ll also have live music and a cornhole tournament starting at 3:00. You can find more details below or on our website or Facebook page.

If you’d like to make a day of it, our neighbors at Tillers International will be hosting their Plow Day from 11–3, just a short drive away. It’s shaping up to be a time of community, connection, and springtime energy—we hope you’ll join us.

Everything we do at AACORN—from daily programming to special events like these—is made possible by the generosity and support of this community. Your support creates opportunities for growth, belonging, and purpose, and we are deeply grateful. Thank you for being part of AACORN.

With Gratitude,

Mary Pickett

Cornhole - Register Your Team (pay day of event)

A BUSY MARCH, INDOORS & OUT!

A great GREEN TEAM!

Celebrating St Patrick's Day, shown above left to right: Larry (KRESA staff), Program Manager Sam, MaryLee, and Staff Sanny.

Who should win for "best green dressed?"

Program Manager Sam, Clarise, Staff Beth, Mary Lee, Kaylyn, Emily, Staff Sanny and Brooke are pictured above. They took advantage of a warmer day to make bird feeders from pinecones and peanut butter.

Above: Kaylyn and Staff Beth making green slime as a fun holiday activity.

Participants also colored holiday themed designs and made pretzels in addition to the usual animal care and daily activities.

Above: Ben is shown communing with a horse friend at the Cheff Therapeutic Riding Center. In exchange for doing some volunteer work there, our participants get this horse bonding time.

Above: Jessie, Nick, and Michael are shown recycling cardboard boxes in back of Salvation Army.

They had completed a session of packing food into bags for people with food insecurity.

It’s hard to see new Farm Assistant Brian Cooley, but he’s hard at work finishing the “catio” that was started a few months ago for our pampered indoor cat, Marquise. As our former assistant Josh moved up north to begin a new chapter, we are so fortunate to have found Brian!

PUZZLE CONTEST ~ Making Prizes

What's better than a hand-crafted prize lovingly created by our participants?

This year, instead of building a trophy, they made puzzle-shaped prizes. Puzzle shapes were made from handmade paper using recycled egg cartons, another skill they learned. They were painted gold for 1st place winners and silver for 2nd place winners. Each team winner of the two-person and four-person teams received a prize, so that is quite a few to make! In addition, participants put goody bags together with a few AACORN products.for the winners. Pictured below:

Top left: Tom is painting a background puzzle piece. Top right: Tom and Alex painting and gluing small puzzle pieces onto the puzzle background. Bottom left: Emmet is carefully adding lettering. Bottom right: Finished prizes.

PUZZLE CONTEST A SUCCESS!

The Pairs competition started first. The team names were read, then everyone opened the same 300 piece puzzle

at the same time and

got right to work.

The pairs First Place winners: "Scattered Pieces". Time: 47 minutes, 17 seconds.

The Pairs Second Place winners: "Falling to Pieces". Time: 56 minutes, 30 seconds.

The Four-Person teams played next. Here a team is sorting out their 500 piece puzzle.

The four-person First Place winners: "Scattered Pieces". Time: 46 minutes, 10 seconds. This is not a misprint! The same team won first place in both contests, and that is impressive!