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The Summer that "Changed our Insides"
Penny Wilson of Berea, Kentucky, spent the summer at Camp Friendship as a registered nurse on the healthcare staff.
She is pictured here in the middle, with healthcare staff Alisa Dunn on the left and Chayna Schuver on the right. Penny lived at camp along with her children David age 12, Laura age 9 and Jacob age 8. She tells of an experience they had there:
“My kids and I were looking for a fun place to spend the summer. I decided to look online and apply for summer camp jobs. I received many offers, so I decided to let my kids pick the camp. I rattled off all of the neat stuff they could do at some of the really ‘ritzy’ camps. When I told them about Camp Friendship, providing a summer camp experience to people with disabilities, my kids were sold on spending the summer there.
I would have to say my favorite camp memory was of the Team Quest Challenge Course. I was there with my cabin and one of the boys named Brian was climbing the ladder to get on the rope cargo net. He was very weak in his right arm and leg and was having difficulty just climbing the ladder.
All the kids were yelling and cheering for him, ‘Come on, keep going; you can do it!’ I was cheering for him, ‘Come on, I know you can do it. Just take one more step!’ He was so scared to step from the ladder to the cargo net, but he would not back down.
After 20 minutes of putting his foot on the rope then taking it off, he finally stepped up onto the rope. Then he took another step, then another. The other kids were going nuts. I was crying. It was great. I thought, ‘If I died right now I would die happy.’
Brian, who had difficulty just walking, who was terrified to step off that ladder, climbed the cargo net! He was so brave.
My youngest son, Jacob, told me that day that watching Brian climb the net had ‘changed his insides.’ I knew what he meant, because it changed my insides too.”
Friendship Ventures is a non-profit agency that creates unique educational, recreational and social opportunities for people of all ages with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. We also offer conference and retreat services and professional team-building programs to the communities we serve. Friendship Ventures operates Camp Friendship near Annandale, MN, Eden Wood Center in Eden Prairie, MN and Camp New Hope near McGregor, MN.
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