TACO

TACO

About Me

Orange, VA
The Therapeutic Adventure Camp of Orange, also known as TACO, is located in Orange Virginia. It is a 4-H sponsored event run by a committee of volunteers. The program serves special needs youth ages 9-19 that are Orange County residents. The campers participate in activities such as horseback riding, arts and crafts, and horse education. TACO offers a week long summer camp and Spring and Fall camp days.

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

2022 Thank You

Another successful year has drawn to a close. There are so many that had a hand in making our 2022 Summer Camp a success. 

First, we would like to thank Jim McDonough, of Jim McDonough Cutting Horses, his family and staff for hosting our 2022 TACO Camp. This year presented unique challenges as the storms knocked out power to the farm and brought down many limbs, in addition to Jim being out of town! We can't thank everyone here enough for everything they do for TACO and all of their help to get camp back up and running after the storms. We’d also like to extend a huge thank you to Ricardo for helping to teach camp this year in Jim’s absence! 

 We also greatly appreciate Jim and his clients' generosity in allowing us the use of their horses. Jazzware, Bo, Peaches and Lady made wonderful camp ponies this year! As we said numerous times throughout the week, if it weren't for the horses and their amazing temperaments camp would not be possible. 

While on the subject of camp ponies, we can't thank Teresa Critchfield and Grey Ghost enough for making the trek to Orange every day!  

On Thursday, A Little Magic Miniature Horse Therapy Team came to visit TACO. The campers got to groom, decorate, and lead their ponies through an obstacle course. They also provided entertainment for us on Thursday, showing us some of Dakota’s awesome tricks. 

Also, a huge thank you to Orange and Madison County Public Schools Transportation Department for transporting our campers to and from camp each day. 

Orange Maidson Co-Op  also came out to camp one day to meet our campers and brought them treats to share with their horses! The campers loved being able to give their horse a treat at the end of riding! 

We'd also like to thank the Orange County Review for outstanding news coverage. 

Each day campers were provided with an afternoon snack and popsicles. We'd like to thank 

Orange Baptist Church, Christ Anglican Church, and St. Thomas Episcopal for their donations of afternoon snacks for the campers. 

As always, Gibson Rental donated a tent so our campers can enjoy crafts and snack in the shade! We greatly appreciate their support every year.

On Friday we rounded out our week with a pizza and ice cream party! We'd like to thank the Shifflett Family for their generous donation of pizza for our last day of camp!

 This year, Betsy McGinnis donated her artistic talents to draw our 2022 t-shirt. We absolutely loved the design she created!  

This year for the Orange County Fair Auction we decided to have a "Shop Local" Basket. Local businesses donated products and gift certificates to be included in the basket. We'd like to thank the following businesses for their donation: Chateau Merrillanne, Honah Lee Vineyard, Two Pups Pottery, Carrington Farm, Split Ends, Garden of Eden, Med Spa of Virginia, Provisions Market Table, Fresh Wind Consignment, Well Hung Vineyard, JB Cakes, Champion Ice House, The Market at Grelen, Unionville Florist, Maddybugs Gifts at Locust Grove, LACED Revival Vendor Botique, Darnell’s Garden Patch, Barbara’s Soul Food on Wheels, and Southard’s Seafood.

  In addition, a HUGE thank you to all of the individuals and businesses who bid on our auction piece, including the winner, Battlefield Farms. This year's auction piece was a huge success for TACO and we cannot thank all of the donors and bidders enough for making it such a huge success!


We'd also like to thank our donors, Culpeper Home Medical, Curt and Tracy Gill, and Gordonsville Medical Foundations. Your support helped us to provide an amazing camp experience! 


This year we hosted 11 campers! We'd like to thank all of our campers' parents who trust us with their children daily. We love working with every one of our campers and were so excited to see so many new and returning faces this year! 

\Volunteers are invaluable and this year we were so fortunate to have so many volunteers. both returning and new! We had an amazing 39 volunteers for camp, 18 of those volunteers were first time volunteers! Without the dedication of our volunteers, none of this would have been possible. We cannot thank our dedicated volunteers enough for all of the time you have volunteered with us! Camp would not be possible without all of your help.  

Lastly, we'd like to thank our committee who put in countless hours to make our 2022 camp a success. Camp would not be possible without everyone's hard work. 


Be sure to check out our Facebook page for photos! 


Friday, July 29, 2022

Friday Camp

Our week camp to a close all too quickly! On Friday we had our Annual Horse Show and Pizza Party, in addition to our newly added awards ceremony and ice cream party! 

While some campers rode, others worked in Arts and Crafts on Puffy Noodles and Butterfly Suncatchers. 
















Unfortunately, due to canceling camp on Wednesday due to the storms, Ashley Jacobs with the Orange Healthy Community Action Team wasn't able to join us on Wednesday as planned but, she sent some plants, dirt and containers for the campers to plant their plants on Friday! 














We loved having all of our parents out for the horse show and I know the campers loved showing off everything they learned! 














A huge thank you to The Shifflett Family and RL Shifflett Tree Service for providing our pizza and ice cream sundae bar!  






Our Awards Ceremony deserves its own post.... it will be coming soon! 

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Thursday Camp

Unfortunately due to the severe storms that came through our area on Tuesday evening we had to cancel camp on Wednesday due to storm damage and power outages. 

A huge thank you to Jim McDonough's family and staff, Dominion Energy and Gibson's Rental for getting us back up and running for camp on Thursday!  

Everyone showed up on Thursday ready to go! 




In crafts, campers continued to work on their Ocean Diorama and made finger print mats for our 2022 Donors. 











A Little Magic- Miniature Horse Therapy Team, came to visit camp on Thursday. During station 3 campers got to decorate the ponies, throw horseshoes, and learn about grooming and leading. 














In the ring, campers worked hard to brush up on their riding skills! With the horse show only one day away, we had a LOT of work to do! The campers loved learning to trot, have egg and spoon races, and practice putting a stick in the bucket! 

















For entertainment, we got to watch the mini ponies perform tricks... including shooting a basketball! 







Thursday's snack and cool pops were provided by Christ Anglican Church.


We had a great visit from Orange County Public School's Superintendent Dr. Hornick, Director of Special Education, Susan Aylor, and Director of Elementary Education,  Judy Anderson.   





Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Tuesday

It was a HOT one but we had a great time!


In arts and crafts campers started building their ocean animal diorama, wrote thank you notes and painted bird houses. 


In the ring we met our horses (and had a few very happy campers that got to ride their horse from last year!) We spent some time stretching, picking stuffed animals off of the wall and getting to know our horses, sidewalks and leaders. 


In Station 3, we played with an Ocean Sensory Table, bubbles and some recreation games. 
Today for entertainment, we got to paint a horse!! We played with the prize wheel from
Orange Healthy Community Action Team. 


Our horses enjoyed treats from Orange Madison Co-Op, while campers enjoyed treats from Orange Baptist Church. 


Due to some technical difficulties, I am not able to upload today's photos! We will get them uploaded as soon as possible.