Athens, Ga–Some special people need your help in their after school program. ESP–Extra Special People– is a non profit for kids and young adults with special needs. Volunteering with these kids could change you from the inside out.

Costumes, decorations and hayrides marked the main event earlier this month at ESP in Watkinsville.

Katie Rentz, a participant at ESP says she dressed up as…”A Cat.” When asked why she wanted to be a cat she shrugged and replied, “I don’t know.”

And she’s an extra special cat that will make you want to keep coming back.

“Literally once you come the first time, you cannot leave.  You just fall in love with all these amazing kids,” said volunteer Sophie Conboy. “You just become so attached. It’s like a home now.

A home that hosts a variety of after school programs. “We do awesome things like yoga and sports and like Pinterest it’s like a home ec class” said Conboy. Katie’s favorite…”Just goof around”

Whatever you are passionate about is welcome. Volunteer Chandler Hammond says, “I lead an outdoor education progam on Thursdays…anything from building camp fires to pitching tents to campground set up.”

Volunteers come to help the kids, but these kids end up changing the lives of the volunteers instead. “They just change something inside you It’s like your perspectives change, says Conboy. “I’m just so happy when I come here too.”

At ESP kids can be themselves and adults can never grow up. These kids will capture your heart.

“My brother married a girl who had a little sister with special needs–she has down syndrome and I just fell in love with her,” said Hammond. “And I actually worked at a summer camp this past summer and I fell in love with it.”

Katie loves it too. Her closing words were…”I Love ESP.”