LONG BEACH, Miss. (WLOX) – Sand, games and volleyball were on the agenda for C.A.M.P. Awesome’s beach volleyball day.
The event served as a chance for the camp’s special needs campers to mingle with each other.
“A lot of times our kids that come to camp and our adults with intellectual disabilities don’t get a lot of opportunities to get some social events and don’t see each other for a whole year,” said Honey Leblanc, founder of C.A.M.P. Awesome. “So, this year we’re trying to have a get-together every month or two of some kind to get back together.”
Leblanc says she started the camp after spending much of her teenage years volunteering at summer camps, like the Abbie Rogers Civitan Camp, hoping to provide a space for special needs individuals.
“My teenage self said, ‘I want to start a camp like that one day,’ and then woke up one day when I was 40 and thought, ‘If I’m going to do it, better get to it,’” said Leblanc. “I roped all my friends in and said, ‘Y’all we can do this,’ and step by step, we did…We don’t think about it. We just call our friends and go out and do something and a lot of times children and adults with special needs don’t have that big of a circle, so we have become that circle. We refer to everyone as camp family.”
She says along with creating a space for campers to enjoy, she is also helping to ease the stress of parents and caregivers.
“A lot of times, the week of camp is when they have a break three days in a row of a break to do what they want to do and to not care for someone else and having that community of people that understand what you’re going through and love your child or loved one that you do,” said Leblanc.
Leblanc says it’s important for people to come together and be educated on how they can help those with special needs as well as the organizations that are doing their part in spreading the awareness.
“All of these months are a great time to recognize what we do and come together to support each other with all the organizations across the coast supporting each other and give us all a chance to be involved,” said Leblanc.
Camp organizers say they are in need of adult volunteers. If you would like to volunteer, you can follow the camp on their Facebook page.
Source : Wlox
