ACA Youth Camp, A GOOD email

ACA Youth Camp, A GOOD email

Jim DeWees

7/25/2006

Since I stirred up a little bit this morning on the Linkia deal (I have
gotten MANY emails of support over the past hour or so) , I wanted to post
something a little more positive and good out there.

Last week I was one of the counselors to help out with the ACA Youth Camp,
which was held in Warm Springs, GA, about 1 hour south of Atlanta. For
those of you who are not familiar with this, it is a camp that runs from
Wednesday until Sunday, once a year during the summer. There were about 60
kids from all over the US that attended, and there was no cost to the
families or the children, all the funding was from donations from various
sources. Everyone flies into the Atlanta airport, and travel by bus to the
camp. All the travel expenses are covered by the ACA for the children.

There were a dozen or so adults that volunteer their time and energy to work
with the kids all week, and make sure they are safe and taken care of.
There were several staff members from the ACA that were also there to make
sure things ran smoothly. Many of the volunteers are amputees themselves,
which also is kind of a role model for the campers.

The camp offers several activities, and is a great facility. The cabins are
totally accessible, each room with it's own bathroom, decent beds, and most
importantly, air conditioning (Georgia in the summer time, ouch). There is
a small lake with canoes, kayaks, paddle boats (even with hand paddles), row
boats, fishing poles, etc. The kids had a great time (as did the
counselors) on the lake, whatever they were doing.

There is also a nice swimming pool where the groups of kids took turns
swimming and cooling off. There is also a nice gymnasium and rec center
there, where the kids were able to participate in wheelchair rugby and
basketball, taught by members of some of the official teams. They were also
instructed in amputee soccer, taught by another person that has been
involved with that sport.

This was a great event, as always, for the kids and everyone involved. If
you have any patients between the ages of 9-17 that would like to
participate in next years camp, keep that in mind for next summer. Contact
the ACA for information on the program.

I wanted to thank and also compliment the staff at the ACA for such a great
event, especially Denise Kidwell, the director of the youth program. They
all put in their blood (yes, literally, there were some cuts and scrapes on
some of the staff), sweat (yes, you could not help but sweat your butt off
down there) and even tears (that happened too, saying goodbye to the kids at
the end), they did an incredible job of putting this all together. And
also, those that spent the time to volunteer, taking their own vacation time
from work, or just missing work, they did a great job as well.

There should be some information about the camp on the ACA website here in
the future.

I just wanted to pass this along, and anyone that is looking to make any
donations to a good cause, contact the ACA and let them know. I am sure
that they could always use financial help to make this camp possible every
year. I honestly cannot think of any greater event for any child that is
missing a limb. This is one of the few times that a child gets to meet
other children with the same issues, concerns, or whatever. They make a lot
of new friends that they can email and look forward to seeing again the
following summer.

Thanks again to the ACA for this event.

Jim DeWees