Irvine egg hunt for disabled kids is a real community effort
This was an Easter event like few others.
Take kids who have disabilities and can’t hunt for eggs in the traditional way because of their limitations.
Throw in a pastor who is trying to do right by his new Irvine community.
And top it all off with the combined efforts of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the International Assn. of Bomb Technicians and Investigators. They came up with the beeping plastic eggs made specifically for children with no or limited eyesight who rely on their hearing.
On Saturday morning, more than 70 people gathered at Stonegate Elementary School in Irvine, where the campus field was dotted with more than 1,000 colorful plastic eggs.
For children who have a tough time handling stimuli, like those with autism, there was the quiet search toward the end of the field. At another hunt were the beeping eggs. And at the other side of the field, children in wheelchairs or walking with the assistance of a walker could hold a pole with a magnet attached, and in this way be able to pick up their eggs, which also contained magnets — and rice to weight them.
Kim Doyle’s daughter was born with a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome and autism. Finding ways for the girl to participate in fun events with other children can be challenging.
But just before Easter, she found a flier posted at the Irvine-based Kids Institute for Development and Advancement about the egg hunt event.
“When I learned of it, I couldn’t wait,” said Doyle, who lives in Huntington Beach with her 11-year-old daughter, Trinity. “We can’t do a traditional egg hunt, but now, this will be the only one she will do. It’s been amazing for us.”
The event was organized by the Irvine-based Grace City Church, led by Pastor Stephen Kimbrell.
Kimbrell, a married father of three and native of North Carolina, moved his family across the country in October to start a church in Irvine. The grand opening for the church is set for September, but even before then, he and the staff have been trying to build relationships within the community.
“This Easter, I wanted to do an outreach event that could somehow serve the community,” Kimbrell said, as he surveyed the scene of adults helping children identify pastel-colored eggs.
So he went online and stumbled upon a church in Iowa that had hosted an egg hunt for children with disabilities. He reached out to the pastor and asked how to form a similar event.
To let the community know of the hunt, Kimbrell and Grace City Church staff members and volunteers posted fliers in public places, advertised on their Facebook page and spread the invitation to the Special Olympics Orange County and Blind Children’s Learning Center in Santa Ana.
He also had to find beeping eggs, so he turned to the ATF in Los Angeles, which in the past has wired Easter eggs to create a beeping sound.
An ATF special agent who works with explosives developed the idea because he didn’t want his daughter, who had lost her eyesight, to be left out of an annual tradition because of her disability.
The $12 model involves a simple circuit composed of a toggle switch, 9-volt battery, piezo beeper and battery clip. When activated, the egg will make a beeping sound.
ATF partnered with the International Assn. of Bomb Technicians and Investigators, which donated $10,000 and the contents of the beeping eggs to the ATF office in Los Angeles. Agents then assembled the eggs.
“I love the look on the parents’ faces when the child gets to participate in something they couldn’t do before,” said ATF special agent Meredith Davis, as she watched children stop in their steps and listen for a peeping egg. “It’s a special moment.”
Davis said she hopes more organizations like Rotary Clubs and churches, and even parents who want to put on a private hunt, remember to include the beeping eggs.
Kimbrell is already thinking of next year’s egg hunt.
“My favorite part is having kids who were never able to be involved in an egg hunt pick up an egg on their own with this physical and tangible way to do so,” Kimbrell said. “It served and showed the grace of Jesus Christ.”
For more information, visit gracecityirvine.com.
