Tolerance, amid a spirit of can-do
Cody Waldrop left summer camp with a lot last year: a handcrafted flowerpot, a bellyful of hot dogs, a slight suntan and an education in tolerance.
He was schooled at Camp Forrest, where he was one of 230 able-bodied and disabled children ages 6 to 17 who gazed at the stars and climbed in a low-ropes course.
“They’re no different from me,” Cody, 12, said of the campers with disabilities. “They’re challenged, but most of them are pretty cool.”
Located on 17 acres of high desert in Joshua Tree, Camp Forrest is offered by the Angel View Crippled Children’s Foundation. A nonprofit organization, Angel View is open to physically and developmentally challenged children and young adults who need special care.
There are nearly equal numbers of disabled and able-bodied children who attend Camp Forrest, which aims to instill at a young age an awareness of and open-mindedness toward the impaired by bringing the groups together.
And this is how Cody was able to interact with kids like Anna Hanley, a 13-year-old girl whom Angel View executives recently named their Child of the Year.
“That means she’s like our Miss America,” said Cathy Gracianl, assistant house manager at the Dolores & Bob Hope House in Palm Springs, an intermediate-care facility for the developmentally disabled where Anna lives.
The Hope House has been home to Anna, who has cerebral palsy and moderate mental retardation, since she was abandoned by her biological parents at a young age.
“At camp, I go swimming over there and I play catch too,” said Anna, who is looking forward to wearing her tie-dyed Child of the Year T-shirt at camp this summer.
Though nondisabled campers can be “afraid or stand offish” when first meeting kids like Anna, Angel View program director Steve Melroy says trepidation subsides as the week progresses.
“Kids without disabilities are learning that those with disabilities are just like them -- at camp, they’re all just kids,” he said.
“The first couple of days the nondisabled kids have wide eyes,” agreed hydrotherapy coordinator Michelle Nance, whose 16- and 17-year-old children have been campers.
“But by the end of the week they’re helping to push wheelchairs and you’re seeing bonds form,” she added.”
Angel View Crippled Children’s Foundation is one of 60 organizations receiving financial support this year through the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Campaign. More than 8,000 underprivileged children will go to camp this summer, thanks to $1.5 million raised last year. The annual fundraising campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match the first $1.1 million in contributions at 50 cents on the dollar.
Donations are tax-deductible. For more information, call (213) 237-5771. To make donations by credit card, go to latimes.com/summercamp. To send checks, use the attached coupon. Do not send cash. Unless requested otherwise, gifts of $50 or more will be acknowledged in The Times.
