Amonte wanders around large multi-colored tubes filled with bubbles until, tuckered out, he clambers over some mats and nestles in the lap of Jennifer Farmer, a member of our recreational therapy department. Janae, meanwhile, is mesmerized by long strands of lights that hang from a round mirror on the ceiling and slowly change colors.

Children like Amonte and Janae are growing and flourishing because of amazing donors like Lucy Oldfield, a longtime member of the Auxiliary Board of St. Mary’s Home. Mrs. Oldfield gave St. Mary’s a generous gift to create a sensory room, as well as for the purchase of a wheelchair-accessible van to take children and young adults on trips into the community.

The sensory room is a calm, relaxing place that has special lighting, music and objects – all designed to develop and delight kids’ senses. It’s also just plain old fun.