Caroleeena, a wonderful idea for World Hoop Day.

Count me in for several hoops. I'll bring them with me to the hoop jam.

Thanks, Lois

We crafted 43 hoops this past week and today we gifted almost every single one to a child with AIDS. There were a few adults with AIDS there also as well as their caregivers and case managers. Most folks got a hoop though some caregivers did not. To their credit they made sure the kids and patients all had one first so there weren't many left over after that. I wish we'd had a few more for them, especially for four women who work in various areas of patient care, which is hard work. I'm going to try to make them each a hoop and get it to them.

We gifted them at a picnic for pediatric and adult AIDS patients through Duke Hospital's AIDS program. It was our World Hoop Day service even though the picnic was not until today. We began raising money on WHD and we've been crafting ever since.

The social worker for the Pediatric AIDS unit was so grateful. She was thrilled to see the kids hooping and playing and moving. It turns out a lot of these kids are very sedentary because their parents (or oftentimes grandmothers -- several of them had lost both parents to AIDS) are overly protective of them. They're afraid they'll get hurt or sick so they don't get to play sports or even play outside very much. Instead, they play a lot of video games and watch a lot of tv. So, while you wouldn't think it would be so, obesity is a problem in this population, especially as they get older. And, to be honest, it was the first time I really had to work at getting kids to play. I had to draw them out and it took much longer than I ever would have expected or than I've ever experienced before. That tells you right there how unfamiliar this territory was for them. We really expanded their boundaries today. And I'm grateful for the few kids and the social workers who started hooping and got the other kids interested in trying it too. Once we got them started, they didn't want to stop.

There were two 12 year old boys, both over-weight and quite shy, who never came and played with the group at all but they chose two large hoops and played with them constantly off to the side. They were hooping on their waists and arms, making up games, doing tosses. It was a blast to watch. And I wish you could have seen their faces when I told them that the hoops were theirs to keep! There were several young girls who had to be really, really encouraged to try to hoop but, by the end, were hooping up a storm. One of their grandmother's hugged me for drawing her granddaughter out and said she never plays like that normally. I wish you could have seen this little girl too. She was adorable with the biggest brown eyes you've ever seen. When I think of her, it's her eyes I picture and her big shy smile. There was one young boy who never put his hoop down after he picked it out. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was one of my two twins. He was so happy with it ... and I can always make another one. (Like I'm looking forward to making another hoop!?!)

Four members of the Raleigh Drum Circle (and regular drummers at our weekly hoop jam) also came all the way to Durham and drummed for this event. The guests loved it and I'm so grateful to them for giving up a beautiful Sunday afternoon to make the day of a bunch of kids who have never gotten to have a drum circle experience. They shared drums and several kids drummed, some of them quite well. It was beautiful.

This was a belated World Hoop Day service project and I feel really good about it. (We raised the money on World Hoop Day so I think that still counts.) The social worker is talking about hosting a regular hoop jam for the kids to keep them at it. The place where we had the picnic would be perfect for that -- central, free, covered and with electricity. I offered to help them organize one or, even better, organize a larger community jam so the kids could have other kids and adults to hoop with instead of only getting to play with each other. We all need community. It really does take a village to raise a child.

My shoulders are still aching from all this hoop crafting. It was an enormous amount of work (I've done little else for a week!) but I didn't do it alone. I am grateful to all the individuals who donated money for materials or their time for crafting. This beautiful event was the result of a lot of caring people and I am more grateful than I can say for every single contribution and kindness. There are a lot of things about AIDS that we can heal -- lonliness, depression, lack of exercise, the stigma of "being sick" or "frail". Hooping can address all those things while also bringing joy in a way that is free and creates community. How powerful is that?

Today we made a difference in some people's lives. What a great day.