by BS, Sacramento
Five years ago, I was twelve and I lived in a group home in San Rafael. The group home was called St. Vincent School for Boys. It was a level fourteen at the time, and there were five different houses next to each other. They had a basketball court outside, down the hill. It had four different hoops. I used to play basketball all day, even if it was raining.
They also had a track field with an oval shape grass area in the middle. They also had a horse program, and I had a job, and I got paid fourteen dollars an hour for teaching other kids how to ride and clean the stalls. They also had a church that I used to go to that had doughnuts after. They had a gym that I played in when I went to the school they also had there.
They had a pumpkin patch that I would help with, and I loved it there. I was there for six years. I loved when it was Christmas because we used to get one hundred dollars and we had to make a wish list. And one year I asked for an ice machine, and I got one. Even though the holidays were hard, they made them fun.
One year, it was my birthday and I got to go to Red Lobster. I had a crab meal with all type of crab. I also had crab cakes and biscuits. We spent like fifty dollars on the meal. I had a great time. I miss a lot of stuff that I got to do when I was there. I miss working with the animals.
I remember I didn’t eat chicken because I used to help raise them and I used to cry when one of them died because the coyotes would eat them. I loved working with the horses. I used to run them in the arena and give them baths and clean their stalls. And when I gave them treat, I was supposed to only give them two horse cookies, but I would give them four.
I used to bake them cookies with apples and oatmeal. We also got to ride them in the arena and on the horse trails. We also had cats that used to stay in the saddle room, and when it was raining, we used to watch TV and eat popcorn in the saddle room. I lived in that group home for six years and I would offer others to go there. The staff are great.