A Waggoner Thanksgiving Tradition

A Thanksgiving weekend tradition for our family is to participate is the annual VT Albania Walk Run Roll 5K!

God blessed us with incredible weather (last year it was rained out and we ran laps in the kalceto). 

Nathan and Tiffany each drove vans so many of the students could participate in the event.  This allowed one of the parents to attend with her daughters.  It was her first time to visit the Grand Park of Tirana where we walked the 5K jogging path around the lake and through stands of trees.  She remarked how her stress seemed to leave her in the beautiful environment, enjoying a change of scenery (she is a single mother, caring for two disabled adult daughters).

Mari-Grace pushes Merita (above).  Merita and her sister (also in a chair), joined VT last spring.  They had been stuck in a 1-room apartment and hadn't left their home in TWO YEARS after they got too weak to transfer into a typical car.  VT's handicap accessible van picks them up three times per week and they ride the entire village bus route so they can see as much as they can outside of their four walls.
The trip to the 5K was an incredible treat to see something new and different!

We passed this cotton candy stand on the route and Nathan decided to treat our companions to some cotton candy.  The owner was so touched by what we were doing that he refused to let us pay him.

Ellie was so proud to push Lisjana (see the video above).  And as much as we told her that it wasn't a "race" with a winner, Ellie was committed to pushing Lisjana to the finish line first.  In fact, capturing the video above was quite tricky because she took off and was out of sight from the beginning! Lisjana said she felt like she was flying!  You can see the smile never left her face!

Though not pictured, Reni participated too!

If you'd like to give a gift to support Reni's and Ellie's involvement in the race, you can give a gift here:

https://www.wgm.org/campaign/109/vtwalkrunroll22?fbclid=IwAR1OmvBdP2q1kEnyU4Fg1v1Y0CJ7waL65mQqNgz_bNewElKeFdDOVsEK0YE

VT was substantially short of meeting its goal (approximately 1 month's expenses for VT) so a gift of any size is appreciated and an encouragement to the staff and students. Thanks!