Music, luncheon mark start of holiday season

The Fort Mill Adult Enrichment Center kicked off the holiday season with a musical performance at its annual Family and Friends luncheon and a book signing by one of the center’s most well-known and talented clients.

The luncheon is put on by AEC employees, with the help of local sponsors. It is a time of celebration and appreciation for friends of the AEC, which serves both adults and seniors with and without disabilities, and the clients’ families, said AEC Director Samantha Kriegshauser.

During this year’s event, held recently, clients sang and danced to “Shake it Off,” “Celebration,” and “The Circle of Life,” from Disney’s “The Lion King.” The clients invested a great deal of time and effort into practicing for the performances, organizers say.

“It’s my favorite day of the year,” Kriegshauser said. “They really blew it out of the water.”

York County Adult Daycare Services Inc., a not-for-profit, operates Adult Enrichment Centers in Fort Mill, Rock Hill and York. The Fort Mill program won a national award for excellence last year.

In addition to the performance, those in attendance had the opportunity to meet author and playwright Sydney LoPour, who has Down syndrome, and purchase her book. In addition to being in the AEC’s High Five Club, the center’s program for special needs clients, LoPour is a public speaker, Special Olympics athlete, and involved in her church and community.

LoPour, 26, wrote, directed and published a play, “Making a Difference for God,” which was performed last Christmas at Grace Community United Methodist Church in Fort Mill. The book is published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan.

She selected the songs, chose a date and time for the performance, made arrangements for practices and set up auditions.

“I watched in amazement as she took total control, never asked me for help and led the entire group through weeks of practice,” LyRae Davis, LoPour’s mother, wrote in the books’ introduction.

“As her mother, I have always known she can accomplish anything if she puts her mind to it, but this was even out of my scope of abilities,” Davis continued. “I believe her Down syndrome enhances her ability for success.”

The play tells the story of Jesus’ birth, while also telling a story about inclusion of people with special needs. The play was performed by the church’s Special Friends club that Sydney founded, made up of people with and without special needs. It was birthed out of negative experiences Sydney had being in classes with non-special needs students in school, Davis said.

“It didn’t really work for her in high school,” Davis said. “She wanted the students to see who she was from the heart, not from the outside.”

“A lot of kids in school were making fun, because they’re not nice to me,” Sydney said, explaining why she wrote the play.

“She’s not happy because she got her feelings hurt,” Sydney said about Kristin, one of the play’s main special needs characters.

Kristin’s friends help her understand that people were unkind to Jesus and called him names, too, LoPour said. To counter act some of her negative experiences, LoPour wanted a story of acceptance and love told through her play.

“(Kristin) realized that (Jesus) saved her,” LoPour said. “She realized that he was the Messiah.”

LoPour didn’t set out to write plays, but the idea came to her when she participated in an event with her special needs friends where they put on their own version of “American Idol.”

LoPour’s second play, “What is the True Meaning of Christmas?” will be performed this month by Special Friends at Grace Community UMC. Davis said she is not sure yet if LoPour’s second venture into play writing will be published.

Davis said she is proud of both her daughter’s accomplishments and those of all of the center’s clients.

“It makes me want to tear up and I always do because I’m so proud of them, every one of them,” she said.

AEC High Five Club Coordinator James Chambers echoed that sentiment.

“If you’re having a bad day, you just come watch them and you can’t help but be in a good mood,” Chambers said. “It’s by far the best performance they’ve had.”

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 3:33 PM with the headline "Music, luncheon mark start of holiday season."