WARM BEACH — For one week, teens and adults with disabilities get told yes.
Yes, they can ride the horses. Yes, they can play the drums. Yes, they can go zip-lining.
Warm Beach Christian Camps and Conference Center is working to expand its Special Friends Summer Camps, which are four-day programs for people at least 15 years old with a mental or physical disability.
“What we try very hard to do is give them experiences they can’t have in everyday life and give them a place where they’re not told, ‘No, you can’t do that,’?” Warm Beach general manager Patrick Patterson said. “We find that people with special needs get told ‘No’ a lot because people don’t always know how to interact with them in a yes environment, so we try to create that yes environment at camp.”
Special Friends started eight years ago. Last summer was the first overnight camp. There were 15 campers who stayed in A-frame cabins built in the 1960s.
“They’re very simple, almost tents with hard roofs on them,” Patterson said.
To grow the program, the camp needs new cabins.
So far, land has been cleared and more than $300,000 in supplies, services and money have been donated to build two new cabins at Chinook Village, one of the camp areas at Warm Beach, Patterson said. About $13,000 more is needed to cover the remaining costs. Volunteers plan to break ground in January and finish the project by May, before camp season starts.
One of the cabins is for boys, one for girls. The design is sturdy and rectangular, with restrooms attached for easy access. Each cabin fits eight bunk beds plus two beds for cabin leaders.
Campers are paired with volunteers who help with activities during the day. The same camp buddy could take the top bunk at night, while the camper sleeps on the bottom.
This year, five Special Friends Day Camps are planned between July 7 and Aug. 14. Each one is four days long. Two overnight camps are scheduled between July 14 and 31. Day camps take up to 50 campers. Fifteen can stay overnight.
“We’ll continue to add weeks of camp as demand changes,” Patterson said.
Once people with disabilities age out of school, the number of special recreation programs they are eligible for plummets, said Laurie Fertello, Warm Beach disabilities ministries director.
“There really is a void there,” she said. “It’s transformational for our campers, coming to an environment that is a yes environment. We call the camp Special Friends for a reason. The heart of it is to become special friends with our campers and with each other as we serve them.”
Camp activities include swimming, climbing, zip-lining, horseback riding, singing, dancing, train rides, miniature golf and crafts. The camp has equipment and trained volunteers to help adults with special needs ride a horse or fly along a zip line.
About 150 volunteers help with camps in the summer, Fertello said. They have one year-round organizer and seven staff leaders in the summer.
People can learn more about donating, volunteering or attending camp at www.warmbeach.com. Fertello always is looking for more volunteers, who must be at least 15 years old.
Meanwhile, she’s had to turn away overnight campers due to space limits. Adding two cabins is a start to expanding the program. Eventually, Patterson and Fertello hope to replace eight more A-frame cabins with the new design, multiplying the number of people who can participate in Special Friends.
“It’s really multiple layers of ministry, transformation and community development,” Fertello said. “To be able to do everything that everyone else gets to do at camp, that’s just so incredible for them.”
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com
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