The dog days of summer got a new meaning for eight Living Well Transitions clients who recently returned from a four day adventure to a wolf sanctuary in southern Colorado. The clients and three LWT staff spent two days at Mission:Wolf and contributed 105 hours of volunteer service to the non-profit wolf sanctuary and horse rescue.
The group contributed to the maintenance and operation of Mission:Wolf in several ways - they laid the foundation for and installed a donated greenhouse, deconstructed an old, unsafe bridge on the property, and detailed a truck the organization was preparing to sell. Probably the biggest lesson came when several volunteers enlisted to butcher a donated horse carcass to prepare the meat for the wolves' bi-weekly "big feed". Several clients walked away from that experience with a new respect for the life cycle of the natural world, and an increased awareness of equine anatomy!
After their two days of camping on the sanctuary land, the team packed up and drove around to the other side of the mountains to Great Sand Dunes National Park to explore one of the great natural attractions of Colorado. There they climbed the dunes under a canopy of stars, played Frisbee, and soaked in the natural beauty of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The last stop before home: a soak in the natural hot springs near Crestone, Colorado.
"This trip was a great success for everyone involved," says Zach Weinzetl, Life Skills Counselor and trip organizer at Living Well. "Mission:Wolf was impressed with all the work we got done, and all the clients really got to see how much they each are capable of when put to the test. After four days of travelling together and spending time camping, everyone sees very clearly how their strategies either work towards group cohesion and how they don't. I saw each client take responsibility for their actions and make moves towards really connecting and contributing to the group."