CCU’s Camp Smiles addresses special needs in Horry
by Prufer
Kids are running and playing with each other, singing songs, playing drums, doing arts and crafts, laughing and having fun, looking just like any other kids at summer camp. But this camp is the first of its kind in Horry County, a summer day camp for children with severe disabilities. This camp, which earns its name, is called Camp Smiles.
Camp Smiles started out as a dream that turned into a wish and became a reality. Anita Howell, the mother of 10-year-old Ryan, who has cerebral palsy, provided the spark that initiated the establishment of this much-needed camp for an underserved population.
Camp Smiles is summer recreation for kids with other more severe disabilities – cerebral palsy, Downs Syndrome – children who wouldn’t normally get to go to summer camp. The camp had 16 to 19 campers attending this summer. Students participated in four classes that rotated – music therapy, art, literacy and physical education.
The five-week camp opened in late June and made a positive impact on the children, the parents, the Camp Smiles staff and volunteers, CCU education students and the community.
“Christian doesn’t have very many friends,” says Robyn Lynch, whose son attended the camp. “There’s no going to the beach, playdates, sleepovers, anything like normal 8-year-olds. This means a lot because he gets to interact with other children and because nobody is going to invite him over. Life is a little different for us, so this camp has been fabulous for the both of us.”
Ten special education students and graduates participated as camp counselors, and two music therapy students from Charleston Southern University led the music sessions. A group of elementary and middle school students participated as peer counselors who interacted with the campers.
Camp Director John Delport believes this interaction between students and kids is critical. “It helps the special education majors see the kids as humans, seeing more than a disability label,” says Delport, assistant professor ini the Spadoni College of Education. “The students also helped and taught each other with real hands-on experience how to care for kids.
“We, as a society, are afraid of the wheelchair, we’re scared of the drooling, we’re scared of the person talking to themselves, who perhaps has mental health issues, so we very seldom get to the ‘person,’ the actual human being,” says Delport, who has a son with autism.
“I think a lot of times when we do ‘good works,’ we go in with our own agenda,” says Delport. “So what that does is block off our ability to learn from the 'other,' in this case, families with kids with disabilities.”
Sirena Paiva, a junior special education major at CCU, says the experience at the camp has reinforced that working with special needs children is what she wants to do. “I get more out of it than the kids do,” she says. “Every day makes me want to get up and come to work. I always leave with a smile on my face.”
It was not an easy path to create Camp Smiles.
While Howell attempted to take her son to a camp in Charleston last fall, Ryan kept having seizures on the two-hour drive. She decided to try to put together an experience for disabled kids closer to home.
Howell called Jeanne Cobb, a literacy professor at Coastal Carolina University who directs the Chanticleer Literacy Center in the Spadoni College. Cobb and her graduate assistant, Nanci Howard, reached out to Delport, who was “in 100 percent,” said Howard, who was assistant camp director. The group began meeting at the start of the academic year to find funding for the summer camp. First they met once a month, then later once a week as passion for the project grew. But the money, unfortunately, didn’t come so easily.
“Finding funding really was a patchwork,” says Delport, who had asked his wife if they could get a second mortgage on their home to secure funding. “Failure was not an option. We had to do this, and it had to happen.”
A Facebook GoFundMe page raised $2,910, which was far short of the $60,000 budget goal. But then donations came in from the Waccamaw Community Foundation, the Knights of Columbus, South Strand Church, several businesses and various individuals, and CCU donated supplies and volunteers from the Literacy Center. Eggs Up Grill. Fatz Cafe, Sticky Fingers and the Olive Garden provided lunch, and Ripley’s Aquarium came and presented a program. For about $37,000, after Delport cut his own salary, some staff and some outings, the camp was launched, a true community experience.
Camp Smiles had a successful first summer, and all involved are looking forward to next year. Everyone from peer counselor Dylan Champion to the two Charleston Southern music students plans to return for summer 2016.
“I love playing with the campers and seeing them happy,” Champion says.
Delport feels the University, students and faculty have a moral obligation to work with the community, to find meaningful ways to appreciate diversity and each other.
“We can really, as an institution, be a beacon to the community,” says Delport. “If not us, then who?”
There are already plans to continue Camp Smiles next summer, but funding is needed. To help or to donate, visit www.gofundme.com/CampSmilesCCU.
