Friends and family,
Ellie, Jordyn and I are volunteering this summer as compassionate companions for a week at Camp Hope Heals. Hope Heals is the only camp in the world offering rest, resources, and relationships to entire families affected by disabilities—regardless of diagnosis, age, or location—completely free of charge (that's where your donation comes in:)
Ellie and I were volunteers at Hope Heals this past summer and I will tell you that without question it was the most transformative and impactful week of both our lives. I was paired with a young man experiencing some significant disablities, and for one week was not only able to give him an incredible, carefree camp experience, but as importantly, his parents received the gift of time, peace and connection. To this day we remain in touch and his father stays with us when he comes to Atlanta for work.
What I'd never considered before last summer is that disabilities impact the entire family, often making the simple difficult, and the mundane stressful. In many cases, parenting, or being a sibling to a person with disabilities is an exhausting 1,440 minutes a day (that's all of them btw), 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year job. And for those affected with disabilities, often they are not able to participate in more "mainstream" social overnight situations and camp adventures. Camp Hope Heals gives adventure, joy, rest, healing and relationship to the entire family, delivering what most describe as the greatest week of their year. The camp experience is truly transformative for the campers and volunteers alike.
As volunteers, Ellie, Jordyn and I will be paired with a child with disability or one of their minor siblings to be full time friends to them for the week, giving the parents time to unwind, reconnect and connect with other adults without the need to worry about their children, and the kids the opportunity to simply have an amazing week at a camp specifically designed for them and their abilities.
In order for every Hope Heals family to attend at no cost, volunteers like us pay a tuition that covers our expenses and partially contributes to a camper's expenses. By donating to my page, you're allowing us to serve even more families affected by disabilities AND making it possible for those families to attend Hope Heals Camp for FREE.
If you don't feel led to donate, no worries at all, and any donation is greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
Jon