STARKVILLE, Miss. -- An underserved community spent a day enjoying the outdoors at the Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge in early May as Mississippi State University Extension Service personnel hosted 20 adult residents of care homes. 

Jim McAdory, MSU Extension agent in Winston County, coordinated the May 1 event with help from several other Extension agents and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff. The goal was to allow this population to experience the outdoors, complete with a hot dog lunch at the end of the event. 

“This is a pilot project that could be replicated across the state, partnering with state and federal agencies when we can as our missions are similar,” McAdory said. 

Residents of care homes in Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Choctaw and Winston counties came to the Refuge to learn about nature and spend a day outdoors. The goal was to create an enrichment day for the special needs adults. 

“In Extension, everybody is our client, but these are underserved clientele we haven’t tapped into,” McAdory said. “We’ve got to be a part of all parts of the community.” 

At the outdoors event, participants started indoors with a video about the history of the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, then they went outdoors for sensory activities. They used binoculars to look at birds and alligators on Bluff Lake. They handled pelts of a variety of fur-bearing animals, including squirrel, skunk, deer, beaver and coyote. 

At other stations, they smelled flowers, looked at leaves, snake eggs and exotic insects and tasted muscadine juice and jam. They also heard a demonstrator make turkey calls with a variety of items found in nature. 

Lasharia Porter, program manager for Community Counseling Services in Ackerman, brought five adults to the enrichment activity. 

“They are more engaged when it is a physical activity, and they learn better when it is hands-on,” Porter said. “I have observed my residents asking questions. We will be able to talk about this in the days to come as we share photos from today with our residents.” 

McAdory said this first event was made for adults and can be replicated across the state using local state parks or other recreational facilities combined with hands-on, learning activities provided by local stakeholders. Future events could allow participants to walk on accessible nature trails and some can be geared for children with special needs. 

“I would like to make this an annual or biannual event,” McAdory said. “We don’t want to have this group underserved.” 

Although McAdory headed up the day’s activities, he was assisted by many others, including Crayton Coleman, Darrell Banks and Thad Moody, Extension agents in Noxubee, Choctaw and Oktibbeha counties, respectively and Reid Nevins, Extension specialist at the Center for 4-H Youth Development.

Travis Carpenter, project leader of the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, said the haven has a shared facility with the Starkville Oktibbeha School District. 

“We do quite a bit of outreach with students, but we had never hosted this particular group before,” Carpenter said. “We don’t want to turn down any outreach opportunity, and we try to accommodate all who want to come out here.” 

Contact a local county Extension office to learn if plans are underway for similar enrichment days in other parts of the state.