Happiness is a camp experience
Developmentally disabled adults, children spend five days at Lake Ontario shoreline
SOMERSET — For decades, Camp Kenan on the Lake Ontario shoreline has been a summer haven for kids from all over Niagara County.
This week, the camp is being temporarily renamed “Camp Happiness,” as about 50 participants from Opportunities Unlimited of Niagara take part in the agency’s first-ever summer camp.
The group of developmentally disabled people visiting daily through Friday ranges in age from 12 to 50. The adults are brought by bus from Opportunities Unlimited’s Lockport facility, while the children are picked up at their homes.
“Change does not come very easily to our participants. They appreciate structure. There’s a comfort in that,” said Roxane Albond- Buchner, manager of communications for Opportunities Unlimited. “But every one of them got on the buses [Monday] and came to something unknown, and they’re all back today.”
“The weather’s nice. Back there, you can see Toronto over there,” said camper Geoff Holly, 46, of Lockport. “Have you ever been to Toronto?”
Sabrina Schuster, 16, of Lockport, conversed enthusiastically as she took part in one of Tuesday morning’s activities, a short walk down a muddy path into the woods to a clearing, where the group found tree branches, built a little fire with the help of counselors, and roasted marshmallows.
Sabrina said she had three marshmallows, but the bright-eyed, diminutive girl said she wasn’t worried about gaining weight. “I run around a lot,” she said.
She said she’s already made a friend at camp: “Her name is Amanda.”
“I like hanging out with the
staff,” Sabrina added. “I’m also a dancer — tap. I have two favorite subjects, speech and counseling.”
Elks Lodge 41 in Lockport is supplying funding for the camp through a $10,000 grant it won from the Elks National Foundation.
Fred Kanehl, former exalted ruler of the Lockport lodge, said 26 members are helping in various ways at the camp.
The Lockport Elks have a long history with Opportunities Unlimited, as they hold a bingo game every year on Super Bowl Sunday and donate the proceeds to the agency — about $2,000 a year.
Kanehl said the national Elks handed out only 20 grants nationwide.
“They’re very much keeping an eye on us, because this is what they wanted this money to be used for,” he said.
Albond-Buchner said many staffers and volunteers are taking photos at the camp to document its success, because the Elks will be applying for another $10,000 grant by Sept. 1.
It’s hoped there will be funding for another year of Camp Happiness, and a third in 2010.
“The fourth year, we’re supposed to be on our own. We’ll go to the community for support,” Kanehl said. “This is something we want to try to keep going.”
Jane Draper, of Lockport, one of the volunteers from Elks Lodge 41, was thrilled at the way the campers were opening up and “the interaction with the different groups.”
“These beneficiaries for the services are so appreciative. You can see it in their faces and in their eyes and in their smiles,” Draper said.
Albond-Buchner said a seminar was held for the volunteers last week in which Opportunities Unlimited staffers taught them the best ways to interact with the developmentally disabled.
“The whole point of Camp Happiness is the camp experience that so many kids take for granted,” she said. “We kept it by invitation only this year. We wanted people from Opportunities Unlimited because we knew their medical and physical and social needs.”
Camp Kenan is run by the YMCA of Lockport.
Ashley Snowden, the assistant camp director for the YMCA, said the group is much smaller than a typical Camp Kenan gathering, where there can be up to 175 campers.
“It gives us staff a lot more chance to interact with the campers,” Snowden said.
The staff can be as large as 40, but this week 13 workers are on hand.
YMCA camp director Matt Strusienski said, “We don’t normally deal with developmentally disabled participants. We may get one or two in a season.”
The Camp Happiness activities were supposed to include swimming in an in-ground pool and canoeing or kayaking on the lake, but the weather was too cool for the pool and too windy to go out onto the lake on Tuesday.
Hiking, kickball, crafts, soccer and other outdoor activities filled the hours from 9 a. m. to 2
p. m.
“My class is like a brother
and a sister and a second home to me,” Sabrina Schuster said. “Camp is fun. I like it. This is the best day ever.”
