Camp for all: a special place for special people

Camping Magazine, Jan-Feb, 2004 by Rush Jessica

"Dear Mom and Dad, I'm having a great time at camp," writes twelve-year-old Michael. "Today, I rode a horse for the first time. I thought it would be scary, but it was loads of fun. Tonight I'm going to the camp dance and in the morning we'll be fishing at the lake. The food is good here, too...."

During the summer camp season, parents across the nation receive many wonderful reports like this one from their happy campers. Yet, there is one thing that makes this account particularly special--it comes from a child with a disability who normally spends the majority of his day in a wheelchair.

Unfortunately, far too many children--and adults--have special challenges that hinder their ability to experience the joys of nature and camp. But, thanks to Camp For All in Burton, Texas, thousands of individuals from Southeast Texas with special needs do attend camp each year--one that is designed especially for them.

A Dream Come True

Camp For All began in 1993, as the dream of Houston physicians, Paul Gerson, M.D., Robert Zeller, M.D., and Larry Neuhaus, a Houston business leader who lost his young son to cancer. Their vision was to create a special place that would embrace those, who because of their illness or disability, had limited opportunity to experience the thrill of camp. Over the next two years, the trio worked diligently on their idea, enlisting support for the project and recruiting a team that would help turn their dream into reality.

As word spread about the possibility of an accessible camp being built near Houston, excitement and enthusiasm for the concept grew among the area's health-care community. Although many health organizations already were providing camp programs for their special needs groups, all were in agreement that the traditional camps they attended, could not--or would not--adequately accommodate their members.

In 1993, with the help of many dedicated and talented people from nearly twenty health organizations--and with overwhelming support from Houston's medical community, business leaders, and citizens--the Camp For All Foundation was established. The Board of Directors, planning board, and a small staff began laying the groundwork necessary to build the camp. Together, they tackled hundreds of issues, all the while making campers' needs their top priority. Through countless hours of research, consultation, and discussion, the team made decisions on everything from safety, medical supervision, programming, and staffing--to the height and width of furniture, doorways, sidewalks, cabins, and restrooms.

In 1995, after months of searching for the perfect location for the camp, the team selected a beautiful 206-acre site, eighty-five miles northwest of Houston, in Washington County, Texas. With its gently rolling hills, the site has a perfect mix of wooded areas--perfect for taking long nature walks--as well as open spaces to accommodate the camp's buildings, cabins, and activity areas.

Anne Swisher of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and a member of the camp's original planning team, remembers, "We partnered in building something that would be good for all. A lot of time was spent looking at other camp models, discussing concepts, and determining what was important. We had many spirited discussions because we knew that this had to be a place that everybody could use."

Serving the Special Needs Community

Camp For All welcomed its first groups in the summer of 1998 and has since earned a reputation for being a premier camp and retreat facility serving the special needs community. An accredited member of the American Camping Association, Camp For All hosts more than 5,000 campers and volunteers annually from some forty special needs organizations--providing fun, challenging, and therapeutic programs in a barrier-free and fully-accessible environment.

With week-long camp sessions during the summer, and day and weekend camp programs and retreats in the spring and fall, Camp For All serves groups challenged by conditions ranging from epilepsy, muscular dystrophy and cancer to asthma, burns, and spinal cord injuries. The camp thrives on the unique partnership it maintains with its user organizations. While Camp For All provides the facilities, leadership, and specially-trained staff to administer its programs, the user groups who attend bring their own knowledgeable leaders, medical team, and volunteers who also play major roles in the success of their group's visit. Each year, a host of physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals, college students, family members, and people from all walks of life volunteer their services by assisting special needs groups at camp.

Houston physicians, Carlos Rivera, M.D., a pediatric neurologist, and his wife, Jayne Finkowski-Rivera, M.D., a neonatologist, attend camp as volunteers each year with a group of young cancer patients and their siblings from Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. The couple has seen first-hand the positive difference the experience can have on patients and their families.