At our very first camping weekend, we were able to serve 10 kids and 5 parents total! We provided each family with an 8-person easy-pitch tent, an airbed cot, meals for everyone (dinner, breakfast, lunch, s’mores, snacks), camping activities, and sports experiences. Camp UMAISE was hosted at 242 Community Center & Church on Friday September 7th until September 8th. 242 Community generously provided us with the camp location free of charge and we were able to: pitch tents on indoor turf grass, make s’mores outside over a fire pit, sing camp songs around a faux fire, watch the starry night & listen to crickets all night long on a giant screen, play wheelchair basketball & wheelchair tennis in the auditorium, take silly photos to fill handmade photo frames, ride the kayak down a virtual reality grand canyon, and eat LOTS of great food! Parents repeatedly thanked us for an opportunity to see that camping CAN be an option for their family and for facilitating an experience that their kids have been asking for but they weren’t sure was possible for them. The kids loved being able to simply be kids with their siblings getting to do all the same activities regardless of their functional level – and the “unlimited s’mores” were quite popular to say the least.
Special thanks to: 242 Community Church for providing us with the perfect camp site, Child Life for providing us with the virtual reality equipment and staff to run the kayaking experience, US Tennis Association for providing us with equipment and staff to run a wheelchair tennis station, all the UMAISE volunteers who always go above and beyond to make the Michigan Difference, and our department that believes in the vision of accessibility & inclusion in sports and beyond!
Please visit our new website that will include all of our upcoming activities….PS. It’s almost basketball season!
