(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Many people think of summer camp as something that's just for kids, but two of the three sessions of this year's Special Camps were for adults with special needs.
"Many of those adults have been at camp for 10 years, and they moved up … through getting older, and they just want to come back," said Special Camps Director Reed Callahan.
Callahan founded the weeklong overnight camp in 1995 with his daughter Colleen McDonald, who was a special education teacher.
"It is such a joy to watch them flourish, and enjoy, and be able to act like themselves — and to give them this enormous opportunity that they cannot get at home and cannot get at their group home," McDonald said.
Those opportunities include horseback riding, swimming and archery at a ranch in northern Illinois. McDonald said their counselors, who are often high school or college students, also come back.
"Once they come, they love it," she said. "We have many teenagers who have gone on to become staff members. Again, it's unpaid, but they are now leading the activities."
After making friends and feeling like they fit in, Callahan said many campers can't wait for next summer.
Two of Special Camps' 2023 sessions were for adults, many of whom have been coming back to the Northern Illinois camp since they were kids. "Once they come, they love it," said co-founder Colleen McDonald.Special Camps
"A mother told me one time, she said, 'I have the hardest time with my son. He comes home from camp. He puts his clothes down, and his bag, right by his bed. He won't let me touch them. He won't let me clean them, because he knows he's going back to camp, and he wants to know that bag is right there,'" Callahan said.
The organizers of Special Camps: Difference makers.
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