Coast Life: C.A.M.P. Awesome creates one-of-a-kind opportunities for special needs campers

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - Summer wouldn’t be the same without children going to summer camp.

Over the last decade, Camp Wilkes in Biloxi has turned into C.A.M.P. Awesome for a couple of weeks every summer. The camp creates plenty of smiles for the participants.

“Seeing these people getting along with each other makes me happy,” camp participant Symphonie Johnson said.

The campers with intellectual disabilities experience all kinds of fun activities, and McCoy Schlautman from Vancleave has his favorite.

“Fishing, I can catch a lot of fish,” Schlautman said.

A big group of student volunteers, like Gunnar Borden and Milli Richards from Long Beach, make the camp happen.

“You see these campers, they don’t get to do what we do, so to come out, have fun with friends and campers and make new friends is a lot of fun out here,” Borden said.

“For them, this is the most fun that they’ll ever get to do,” Richards said. “I’ve seen a lot of special needs kids around school, but never knew how. So, when I found out about this camp, I wanted to join.”

Many of the student volunteers come back year after year, along with the adult staff.

“This is simply the greatest thing I do every year,” Honey LeBlanc said. “It gives me the most joy, and it’s my life’s work.”

LeBlanc, a teacher at Long Beach High School, worked at a similar camp when she was a teenager. She always had a dream to recreate the experiences she saw others enjoy.

“17-year-old me said, ‘When I grow up, I’m going to start a camp like this,’” LeBlanc said. “A little over 10 years ago, I woke up and said, ‘I’m over 40 years old, so if I’m going to do it, I’ve got to do it.’”

With the help of friends, LeBlanc got C.A.M.P. Awesome up and running. A decade later, it keeps getting bigger, and more friendships are built every year.

“Every time I hear one of the kids talking about a camper and they say, ‘I have a friend,’ I realize we’ve changed the way we think about people with disabilities,” LeBlanc said. “They’re not somebody just to be cared for, or just to hang out with occasionally, they’re our friends.”

“For campers, we make their day and week,” Borden said. “Hopefully, when they see us when they come out here, they know it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

LeBlanc is passing on the lessons she learned as a student, and now she’s hoping the camp’s student volunteers will do the same.

“They’re going to grow up, become adults, and they’re going to change the way we treat people with disabilities as a community, the way we think about them, the way we care for them, and the way we interact with them,” LeBlanc said.

“You get to make a positive impact, it makes you feel awesome, they think it’s awesome, so it is awesome,” Richards said.

The first week of C.A.M.P. Awesome is for children, and the second week is for adult campers.

To learn more about participating, volunteering or donating, visit the camp’s page on Facebook.

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