The student news site of Hawthorne High School.

The Clarion

The student news site of Hawthorne High School.

The Clarion

The student news site of Hawthorne High School.

The Clarion

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Volunteering at Camp Sunshine

Although April is National Volunteer Month, Hawthorne High School students find different ways to get involved all year round. Ryan Gordon and I, Sha’la Padilla, Hawthorne High School seniors, take time every summer to volunteer at Ridgewood’s Camp Sunshine.

Camp Sunshine is a camp that tends to the needs of individuals with multiple disabilities. Camp Sunshine is unlike many camps because of its group of volunteers who provide one-on-one care to the campers. On a daily basis, volunteers at Camp Sunshine and sign up to take care of one of the campers. At times, some campers may be accompanied by more than one volunteer. This provides campers with the undivided attention they need and deserve.

Volunteering at Camp Sunshine is an experience Gordon says he will never forget. “Sometimes it gets hard, but knowing I can make a person’s day by just being there with them makes me feel good. I know every experience in Camp Sunshine is worth it.”

Gordon adds, “Being a part of Camp Sunshine has helped me gain a lot of new friends, staff and campers, and also great opportunities and memories.”

Over the summer of my sophomore year in high school, I also started to volunteer at Camp Sunshine with Gordon. This experience was phenomenal. The autistic children I met were no different than you and I. They wanted to be around people, have a good time, and just do things to fit in, but they do have their disabilities, which made going about their day fairly difficult.

One experience that sticks out in my mind is when I met this one boy Spencer; he was partially paralyzed from the neck down. At first I was terrified to work with him because he was in a wheel chair, and I was afraid I would hurt him. When I started to work with him, I didn’t want to leave his side. He was so friendly and so happy, and he didn’t think about his disability. He just lived as though he didn’t have one; he lived life to the fullest.

The days at Camp Sunshine consist of a swim twice a day, field sports and lunch. Following lunch, the campers get to play on the playground. Students who don’t or can’t play on the playground have the opportunity to take a walk around the Ridgewood duck pond and do an arts-and-craft project. At the end of each day, campers get to enjoy an Italian ice with their volunteer(s).

The Camp is open each summer for nine weeks (Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.) beginning the third Monday in June and running through the third Friday in August. During the winter, the camp is open on Saturday afternoons from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.