This summer marked the 32^nd year of Special Camp, a day program for youth with disabilities and their one-to-one high school-aged volunteer counselors. With service, opportunity, and love, Special Camp works toward inspiring future generations to eliminate the stigma commonly associated with the disabled community. 

 

This year’s theme was “Camp’s Got Talent”, highlighting the many abilities of Special Camp’s incredible community and the program’s newly established tradition of hosting a talent show on the last day of each session. Some 150 campers (ages 6-21 with disabilities) and 150 volunteer counselors (more than 50 of them St. Margaret’s students) participated across the three sessions of camp. Each camp session was led by Executive Director Lindsay Eres ’00 and a staff of 10, half of whom are St. Margaret’s alumni. Special Camp’s two certified nurses are also both Tartan alumni who started volunteering with Special Camp as students. 

 

This summer, Special Camp created friendship and fun through activities both on St. Margaret’s campus and elsewhere. Off-campus ventures included the Santa Ana Zoo, Adventure City, Doheny State Beach, Knott’s Berry Farm, and Chuck E. Cheese’s, while on-campus offerings included time spent in the camp’s activity centers (entertainment, arts & crafts, games & reading, sports, and sensory integration). 

“Our sensory integration room was upgraded with new equipment this summer thanks to a generous PTF grant,” Mrs. Eres said. “We are so thankful for both the PTF and the greater Tartan community for their love and support of Special Camp.”

Each camp session concluded with The Geraldine Parent Family Reception and Awards Ceremony, at which the families of campers and counselors joined the participants and Staff to celebrate a successful week together. At the Session Three gathering, Special Camp received a Certificate of Recognition from the County of Orange for the program’s tremendous contributions to the community! 

While Special Camp’s signature program is the summer camp sessions, Special Camp has year-round programming to provide social and recreational opportunities for its participants.