Warm Beach camp provides activity for disabled adults

WARM BEACH — Leah Merklinghaus didn’t hesitate to ask the question seven years ago: Could Warm Beach Camp offer a place for adults with disabilities to socialize and be active?

Merklinghaus’ son, Max, is autistic. People with special needs have all kinds of opportunities to interact in public school, but after they graduate, there were few places for them to go, she said.

So Merklinghaus worked with Ed McDowell, Warm Beach executive director, and Laurie Fertello, disabilities ministry director, to create a summer camp.

“I was just so impressed with Warm Beach’s desire to make it happen,” Merklinghaus said. “When you have a special needs child, you hear ‘no’ so often. With Warm Beach it was, ‘Hey, let’s make this happen.’”

The non-denominational Christian camp known for its winter Christmas lights displays began offering the Special Friends Day Camp that summer for 22 participants.

This summer, it’s offering four week-long camps to serve adults with mental and physical disabilities in Snohomish County.

“We’ve just seen a real strong growth in the program,” Fertello said. “It has been such a blessing for people with disabilities and their families. It gives them a bit of respite.

“We hear so often that a lot of time there’s no break from the challenges of caring for someone with special needs. This gives them a chance to relax and step away.”

The program, for people age 15 and older, encourages campers to participate in swimming, crafts, mini-golf, field games, music, horse rides and more. The camps also offer chapel time, singing of hymns and Bible study.

“It’s not a Bible program but that is a component of our program,” Fertello said.

Camps are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. July 9-12, July 16-19, July 23-26, and Aug. 6-9. Lunch and snacks are provided. The camps cost $198 a week, but scholarships are available for low-income families.

To host these camps, Warm Beach works with Village Community Services, Eagle Wings Ministries, Smokey Point Community Church, staff members from Children’s Hospital, and educators from the Stanwood School District.

One-on-one “buddies” are provided for each camper on the nearly 300 acres at Warm Beach’s facility. Many of these assistants are volunteers who come for the week. More volunteers are needed. Overnight accommodations are offered.

Merklinghaus, who lived in Stanwood but has since moved to Sun Valley, Idaho, will miss the camp for the first time this year. But Max, now 26, still attends and also volunteers on the mini-golf course.

She praised the staff at Warm Beach.

“They’ve just embraced him and loved on him,” Merklinghaus said.

Day camp

To register for the Special Friends Day Camp, apply to be a volunteer, or for more information, call Warm Beach Camp at 800-228-6724; or got to www.specialfriends.warmbeach.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order halting work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.