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Lauderdale Lakes BREEZE SUMMER 2023 • Third Edition
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Making waves on Lauderdale Lakes
Adaptive Adventures, a program that provides outdoor sports opportunities to children, adults and veterans with disabilities, can be found making waves on Lauderdale Lakes several times each summer. PHOTOS COURTESY BILL SCHULTE Lauderdale Lakes Breeze
Program helps people with disabilities hit the water By Heather Ruenz STAFF WRITER
Several years ago, Julie Davis of Lauderdale Lakes and a volunteer with Adaptive Adventures, offered her lake house to start an adaptive waterski program in the area. Adaptive Adventures aims to “provide progressive outdoor sports opportunities to improve quality of life for children, adults and veterans with disabilities and their families,” according to its website.
It features programs, clinics and camps throughout the country in cycling, climbing, dragon boat racing and a variety of watersports. Not long after the program started being offered locally, Davis and Greg Zbrzezny, the Chicago program director for Adaptive Adventures who had teamed up with Davis when it began, spent time brainstorming about how they could expand it. As a result, a group now gathers on Lauderdale Lakes several times each summer,
initially at Lutherdale Conference Center and currently, at Lauderdale Landing. The next opportunity with the program is July 26, running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The program relies heavily on volunteers. “Our volunteers are a big part of what we do,” Zbrzezny said in a previous interview. Zbrzezny said in addition to Lauderdale Lakes area residents, the program also boasts volunteers who travel up to two hours from Illinois to be part of the program.
Each program features participants from various groups, hospitals and organizations. “We work with individuals with physical disabilities and primarily disabled veterans,” Zbrzezny said. In addition to veterans – usually from Chicago and Milwaukee – other groups that have taken part in Adaptive Adventures on Lauderdale Lakes include Shriner’s Children’s Hospital, Synergy Adaptive • CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Lauderdale Lakes
A beautiful sunset A pink haze in the sky ends a summer day out on Lauderdale Lakes in Elkhorn. DEBORAH CRUGER Lauderdale Lakes Breeze
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