The team from 3rd Avenue met in early spring to brainstorm the future and one main goal emerged: friendship. We were looking specifically for a BRO, a man with shared interests to hang out with and lean on as a friend. Coincidentally, the Badlands Big Sticks were seeking host families for their players. The men who live at 3rd opened their doors for a team member to move into the basement apartment for the summer. Dayquam Bridges came from Massachusetts to spend the summer. Every day, Daquam ate with the guys, and on a few occasions, additional team members joined him as well. There were also two meals before a home game where the entire Big Sticks team came over, filled the garage and ate with them. At summer's end, Daquam shared his thoughts on the experience:
“When I first found out where I would be housing for my summer internship, to be honest, I was a
little nervous, because I didn’t know much about people with disabilities and I wasn’t sure how I, a
person without a disability, would fit in. As the summer went by, I realize that people with disabilities are just regular people and I became comfortable with being around the six guys as I learned more about them. Now, I would say that I look at each of them as my six new brothers. ABLE, Inc. means a lot to me and if I had to sum up my summer experience in one word, I would say FAMILY. I had a great time hanging out with each of the six guys. My favorite part of the summer would be just sitting down to eat lunch and dinner with them every day. I also loved going to the 4th of July Parade. As my summer came to an end with six guys, I will miss being around them and now have six reasons to return to North Dakota someday.” -Daquam Bridges
