On May 30, the boys and Family Teachers of James J. Davis Home at Mooseheart were welcomed to the campus of the Moosehaven retirement community by Executive Director John Capes and his wife Tina.

Making the trip for an eight-day visit were Family Teachers Mark and Colleen Morgan and Amanda Ahrens, and students Isaiah Brigman, Kenny Castillo, Phillip Chandler, Brandon Gadson, Cody Henderson, Chon Montano, Jacob Montano, Jeremiah Nelson, William Nicholas and Cameron Steele. In addition to several fun trips -- including to several area Moose Centers -- and plenty of relaxation time, the boys were scheduled to work on service projects that were to include maintenance work at the Moosehaven cemetery.

The Boys From Mooseheart's James J. Davis Home Are Now Back in Illinois; Here Are Some Of Their Thank-You Letters To Residents and Staff At Moosehaven

Dear Friends at Moosehaven,
I really enjoyed coming to Florida and meeting you all.  It will be a trip that I’ll never forget.  Florida is such a wonderful place compared to Illinois!  I hope that Ed and Mary had a great wedding.  The alligator Farm, Zoo and boat rides were really fun.  It was the first time I had ever seen an Albino Alligator.  Even just eating breakfast, lunch and dinner with you guys was very fun.  I also hope that you all had fun, too.  One of the things I’ll remember most is how kind you all were.  I hope that I can be that nice when I’m sixty!  Pops – try to stay out of trouble! If anyone wants to write back we would love to hear from you.        
Sincerely,            
Brandon Gadson  (IL)

Dear Moosehaven,
Thank you for all the great times we had at Moosehaven.  I enjoyed going to Jacksonville Beach and Joe’s Crab Shack with John and Tina.  That was my first time swimming in the ocean!  Swimming at the beach was more fun that I thought it would be.  The zoo was great.  My favorite thing at the zoo was the bird walk.  The Bear was the most entertaining thing I saw at the zoo.  The alligator farm was cool.  That was the only time I have ever been at an alligator farm.  That was also my first time seeing an albino alligator.  The most fun thing at Lodge 20/20 was learning how to square dance.  That was also my first time square dancing.  Once again, thank you for all the fun.  I hope I am also fun to be around when I am 90 years old!  Terry – it was very nice to eat breakfast with you every morning.  Thank you so much for the pillow.  Have a very, very great summer.  Make it like “another day in paradise!”  I hope I will see you all again next year.                                          
Sincerely,     
Chon Montano     (IL)

Dear Al,
My visit to Moosehaven was very special to me because I got to meet you – a real Philadelphia Eagles player!  It was really cool!  I also thought it was awesome to have my own room with a TV and a recliner.  I especially liked when we went to the Jacksonville Beach.  We all had a great time there.  It was cool when we went to the zoo and saw a lot of new animals.  I was awesome to see armadillos up close.  We all liked the alligator farm because the albino alligator was really cool.  I had never seen one in my whole life!  Also, it was fun to eat at Barnacle Bill’s.  We have started our summer jobs in Maintenance here at Mooseheart.  We have had a lot to do because we have had a lot of storms.  My stay at Moosehaven was really cool.   
Sincerely,    
Jacob Montano (IL)

P.S.  You’re now my favorite Philadelphia Eagles player!

Dear Moosehaven Residents,
Thank you all for the great experience.  I had a very good enjoyable time meeting all of you and getting to know you.  I remember eating breakfast every morning with the same group of guys every morning.  Chancellor 1 rocks! I look forward to next year. Going to the zoo with all of you and the alligator farm was also great.  I will not forget any of you and I have nothing but good memories from you all.  I really enjoyed all of the parties and when we went to the driving range and hit the golf balls.  I didn’t know that elderly people could be so cool and interesting till I went to Moosehaven.
Sincerely, 
Isaiah Brigman    (FL)

Dear Moosehaven Residents, Staff and Employees,
I am Phillip Chandler and I want to thank all of you residents and everyone else for have fun activities to do while we were there.  It kept me very occupied and getting to visit all of you gentlemen and ladies was fun.  I have to say a big “hi” to John, Tina, Helen and Marina!  It was so fun to see you guys for a week and I hope to see you next year and It will probably be enjoyable again.        
Sincerely,    
Phillip Chandler,  (MA)

Dear Moosehaven Family,
I can’t thank you enough for the wonderful time I had at Moosehaven.  In my opinion, it was the best trip I’ve ever gone on.  I really enjoyed the Silver Springs trip and riding on the glass bottom boat.  I also like golfing even though I wasn’t able to fish afterwards because of the storm.  Also, I enjoyed the trip to the Alligator Farm and seeing alligators being fed.  And when we went to the Atlantic Ocean, even though the water tasted salty and it stung my eyes, it was my first time ever being in an ocean and it was fun!  I also loved eating at Barnacle Bills and Joes Crabshack.  Speaking of food, by the end of the trip, we had eaten at least six cakes.  It was a dream come true!  But most of all I loved visiting with everyone at Moosehaven.      
Sincerely,   
Willie Nicholas   (OR)

Dear Moosehaven,
Thank you all for being so nice to us and making our trip worth the long hours we spent in the van.  It was so much fun being able to have great conversations with Clancy and Al every morning before we went out to work.  All the activities we went on were even more fun because we all got to get together with you and laugh and joke around.  The things we went to see were the best – like the glass bottomed boats and the zoo.  My personal favorite was the glass bottomed boats because of how cool the underwater scenes were.  But, then after that my next favorite was being able to see all the great Moosehaven family, and the place where every day is “just another day in paradise!”
Sincerely,   
Kenny Castillo  (IL)

Dear Terry,
Thank you for being so kind to me at Moosehaven.  I had a very fun time there.  The funnest thing there was sitting by you at breakfast because you always found a way to make me and Chon laugh.  Thank you for joking around with Chon and me when we were pretending like we were about to take all of your candy and eat it.  I think it was very cool that your husband invented all those cool things that we know about now.  My favorite thing that he invented was the electric or solar powered car.  One of the things I thought was really funny was your thank you notes – especially the dog one.  Thank you again and I can’t wait to come back next year.
Sincerely,    
Jeremiah Nelson  (IA)

Dear Moosehaven family,
As you all can see, your Mooseheart boys had a wonderful week visiting you all.  We all have so many memories that we will talk about and hold dear for a very long time.  The week was beautifully planned and each activity was very special in its own way.  Thanks for having such great weather while we were there, too!  We loved the warm Florida temps compared to our chilly Chicago winds.  We all feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to meet each of you and feel extremely honored that you want us to return.  This will be something the boys will look forward to the whole year long.  We know that the preparations for our stay had to be “fit” into many staff’s already full workload and we are so grateful for every detail that you so wonderfully provided.  This truly was an outstanding experience, and as Mooseheart staff and people who live with these boys, we know that all of you have touched these boys lived in deeper ways than you will ever imagine.  Thank you again for every little thing!
Sincerely,              
Mark & Colleen Morgan and Mandi Ahrens

P.S.  There are no notes from Cameron and Cody because they are visiting their families in PA and FL. 

Isaiah Brigman       from Beverly Hills, FL        age 16        on June 1st   2009

Chon Montano       from Pinckneyville, IL         age 15        on August 14th, 2009

Kenny Castillo        from Chicago, IL                 age 14        on June 5th 2009

Cameron Steele       from Brooksville, FL           age 14       on June 15th 2009

Cody Henderson     from Oil City, PA                age 14       on September 1st   2009

Jacob Montano        from Pinckneyville, IL        age 14        on September 6th 2009

Phillip Chandler      from Greenfield, MA          age 14         on November 30th 2009

Brandon Gadson     from East Chicago, IN         age 14        on January 4th 2010

Jeremiah Nelson     from Waterloo, IA                age 14        on May 14th 2010

Willie Nicholas      from Eugene, OR                 age 14         on May 24th 2010