This past camping season was quite an “ordinary” Camp HASC summer, similar to summers in the past…But an “ordinary” summer in Camp HASC is absolutely extraordinary!
As usual, over 300 campers with a wide variety of intellectual and physical disabilities had the greatest summer of their lives. They enjoyed making new friends and reconnecting with old ones. They enjoyed the recreation program which includes adaptive swimming in HASC’s wheelchair accessible, indoor heated pools, art, music, sports, Torah learning, cooking, gardening, adaptive bike riding, game room, calisthenics, indoor playground, and scores of creatively-themed night activity events. They worked hard with their teachers in the acclaimed HASC Summer Academics Program to improve their academic skills and meet their personal goals. And they worked steadily with their therapists towards their physical, occupational, and speech therapy goals in the unique HASC Summer Program Therapy department.
As usual, quite a number of campers achieved major milestones this summer, including: learning to feed themselves, taking their first unassisted steps, learning to swim, writing their names, and making a siyum on a masechta of mishnayos.
As usual, over 400 yeshiva and college aged staff members’ lives were transformed as they lovingly cared for others in a way that they never experienced. These young men and women returned to their yeshivot programs and communities with new perspectives on life. They learned to focus on another person’s strengths, to reject labels which limit others, to appreciate all that we are fortunate to have, and to realize that we are most fortunate to have the ability to give and care for others.
As usual, hundreds of parents and caretakers got well deserved respite and the time to relax and reinvigorate. Family members had the opportunity to give attention to others, to go on trips or vacations or just recharge in a way that may not have been possible during the year.
And, as usual, Klal Yisrael united in Camp HASC this summer! The events of this past summer touched the hearts of so many and showed that there is so much Ahavas Yisrael and “good will” inside us all just waiting for the opportunities to shine. Some examples of the “barrier breaking” Ahavas Chinam which was experienced in Camp HASC this summer included: our connection to our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael and our support to our brave chayalim “From Camp HASC with love to the IDF” was a beautiful video produced by our talented technology team sending our love and tefillos across the ocean to our family and friends in Eretz Yisrael; our HASC Experience Day and Visiting Days, when over a thousand families from all walks of life and from communities around the country gathered to visit their family members and friends, to celebrate their children’s accomplishments together, and to support one another. What special displays of Ahavas Yisrael! Affiliations with a particular movement, community or label will not get in the way of Jews uniting to support their loved ones and to support the efforts to care for people with special needs!
Among the many other activities shared by HASC participants were visits by many rabbanim and community leaders. We were honored to host the Mashgiach of the Lakewood Yeshiva, Rav Matisyahu Solomon, as well as Rebbetzin Solomon. It was special to see the Mashgiach and the Rebbetzin share brachos with the campers and staff members and to hear them express their appreciation for the holy work which takes place in HASC. We also had the special opportunity to hear from Rav Moshe Weinberger, Mara D’asra of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere and Mashgiach Ruchani at Yeshiva University, as well as many other notable speakers and personalities.
In addition, we celebrated the bar and bat mitzvahs of five our campers–five special and emotional bar and bat mitzvahs shared with their families. For so many campers and families Camp HASC is the place where they feel completely comfortable to be themselves and express themselves, and it is the perfect place to celebrate this special occasion.
Every “ordinary” day in Camp HASC is a truly special achdus experience as campers, staff, and families from so many communities and backgrounds work together in harmony and grow to appreciate one another. Our counselors knew that they had signed up to work with individuals with special needs, and our camper families knew that they had signed their children up to have an enjoyable summer, but they emerged with so much more.
As usual, even before the Summer of 2014 had come to an end, planning for the Summer of 2015 had already begun. Plans to improve our care and programming are well underway!
All in all, this was a pretty “ordinary” summer in Camp HASC. But an “ordinary” summer in Camp HASC is absolutely extraordinary!
