Page 7 - Success Story Newsletter_Winter 2018

Summer Camp, Special Needs, and a Reason to Return

If you’ve ever attended a summer camp, Easterseals Camp Merry Heart will be a familiar sight. You’ll find it has
all the same amenities: cabins, a dining hall, forest trails, a lake… but if you take a closer look, you’ll spot some
differences. There’s a ramp that leads into almost every building, unique lifts line the pool for taking campers
in and out of the water, and the campers receive a bit of extra assistance from staff to participate in activities.
That’s because Camp Merry Heart is designed to be fully accessible for campers with disabilities and special
needs.

I spent my first summer at Camp Merry Heart in 2016 as a camp counselor. Out of all things I could do with my
free time (vacation, party, etc.), I’m going back to camp this year. Why? I’ll tell you.

Exploring Camp, Finding Myself

I’m going back to camp for my third year because camp is where I “found myself.” As cliché as it sounds, I didn’t
know what it was like to truly care about or have such a strong desire to continue with something as much as I
do camp. Working with such incredible people is where I belong, and where I aim to be in the future.

I will never forget Camp Merry Heart’s campers. I return year after year for the lessons they teach me, the
uncontrollable laughter, and the endless amounts of love shared from those I now call friends. When the campers
go home, the emotion builds, and tears are shed as you wave them off down the driveway. The tears are worth
the memories that make the goodbyes so hard.

The people I worked alongside became my backbone. You start at the beginning of summer not knowing anybody,
but by the end; you’re a family. Veteran counselors will tell you, “Once you’ve done your first year at camp, you get
’hooked’” and from my experience, I can 100% agree.

Friends and family would ask, “You’ve done camp, why go back? Why not somewhere new?” It’s near impossible
to put into one blog the reasons that I’m going into my third summer at the same camp, but if you round everything
into one, it all comes down to love. I love camp, and I love the people I work with. Camp is now a part of me and I
honestly don’t remember who I was before summer 2016, but all I can say is I love who camp made me.

I wish people could experience the summers I have and then maybe they’d understand why I love it so much. But
for now, I’ll just keep telling my stories.

- Beth Sargeson, Counselor | Camp Merry Heart

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