Camp SPARKS fun for disabled kids

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A special camp in Tippecanoe County for children with disabilities is finishing up a couple of weeks early this summer, for some building maintenance. But that doesn't make the campers' experience any less memorable.

"This is the one place during the summer that she can come and she can be with kids that understand her, and are very much like her, in a variety of different ways, and she's with a staff that knows her and loves her," said Bruce Hall.

Hall's daughter Frances has been coming to camp for more than a decade.

Camp SPARKS is run by the Arc of Tippecanoe County, a United Way program. The camp is for kids aged five to 17. Which means, 17-year-old Frances will not be returning next summer.

"I think she'll wonder where her friends are," her father said. "That's typically the way that she puts it, 'Where are my friends?' And we know she's talking about Camp SPARKS.

But it doesn't take a decade for kids to warm up to Camp. Terri Berden says her daughter Makayla is already enjoying her first summer at Camp SPARKS.

"Oh, she loves it," Berden said. "Cause when ever I go to pick her up, she's bouncing up and down, happy and smiling, and so you know she's having a good time."

Arc board member Kathy Trinkle says the camp accepts kids with a wide variety of disabilities, from autism to cerebral palsy, to just global developmental disabilities.

"Because every child is different, everyone has different needs, it's almost like you've got, instead of a class of 12 it's 12 classes of one," Trinkle said. "And it's hard to plan things for that many children."

For more information on Camp SPARKS and the other programs available from the Arc of Tippecanoe County, click here .