Auburn impresses visiting V.I.P.

I am a 1993 graduate of Auburn University of Montgomery and so proud to be an alumni of the Auburn family. Especially after watching Auburn students and staff in action. Y'all are awesome!

On behalf of the V.I.P. Organization Inc. of Selma, Alabama, I want to thank Auburn University for giving us the V.I.P. treatment while on a field trip for special needs kids from Selma High and Selma Middle Schools to Auburn on May 3, 2012.

I want to thank Lauren Swindle, a Selma native and President of Best Buddies at Auburn, and John Sasser, President of the Plainsman hosts and hostesses. They worked very hard to make this field trip special.

While in Auburn, the special needs kids and I learned about what it was like to be loved, appreciated and accepted for what we are. This was a spiritual revolution for us all. They showed us it is OK to be different.

You could feel God's blessing upon this activity when we stepped off the bus at the Auburn Athletic Department.

We saw true hospitality from the Auburn family.

From the time we got off the bus in Auburn to the time we boarded the bus to leave we had a student guiding us all the way.

Former AU Head Coach Pat Dye gave us a welcome to Auburn and an inspirational message on having a good attitude and how it will take us along way to being accepted and will help us overcome our disabilities and lead us to success.

We were treated to a pep rally with a Tiger walk complete with Auburn Cheerleaders.

We then visited the Disability Center, headed up by Mr. Scott Renner. He gave the kids a presentation on assistive technology and how he uses it to do his job at Auburn and how it makes him productive. He also told the kids not to be afraid to talk to others with disabilities and to ask questions.

Thanks Auburn University for showing us a good time and what it is like to be accepted into a family of folks you do not know. The field trip was sponsored by the V.I.P. Organization Inc, The Black Belt Community Foundation and Auburn University and Capital Trailways.

To see pictures of trip visit V.I.P.'s website at www.visuallyimpairedpeople.org or Selma.wsfa.com and on facebook at facebook.com/visuallyimpairedpeopleorganization.

To make donations to V.I.P. future activities call me at 334-354-4015.

William H. Bowman

President and C.E.O.

V.I.P. Organization Inc.