HOW TO GO:
WHAT: Camp Corral, a week-long overnight camp for kids 8-15
WHEN: July 8-13
WHERE: Canter’s Cave 4-H Camp in Jackson, Ohio.
COST: Free to children who are accepted. Excludes transportation.
TO APPLY OR LEARN MORE: Visit www.campcorral.org or call (855) 605-1267.
Timmy and Tommy Poag are so excited about going to overnight camp later this month that they’ve giving up another special treat — a week with their grandparents.
“They’re really looking forward to camp,” says their mom, Miranda, whose husband has been in the military for 20 years and deployed more than eight times. “They both enjoy doing things outside — especially fishing and canoeing. The ropes course will be something new.”
The Poags, who live in base housing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, are one of the families in our region participating in a free week-long overnight camp experience intended for children of military families.
“They are looking forward to meeting new people and possibly reconnecting with kids they may have met at previous bases,” says their mom. “They are also hoping their own experiences may help someone else.”
Camp Corral is being held in Jackson, Ohio (south of Chillicothe), and still has available spaces for the week of July 8-13.
“We want to offer these children the week of a lifetime,” says Dolly Mercer, marketing manager for Golden Corral, which sponsors the camp.
“We realize many of them have parents coming back from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some service members are having to deal with traumatic brain injuries or post traumatic stress, and some are coming back with arms and legs missing. The kids are facing their own challenges.”
A pilot project was held last year in North Carolina and 325 children attended. This year the project has been expanded to include nine camps in eight states, including Ohio. An estimated 1,800 children will attend.
“We used an existing 4-H facility and their counselors,” says Mercer, who served as camp director. “We had a marvelous time — the children went canoeing, kayaking, swimming in the lake, horseback riding.”
But while the focus is for kids to have a week of fun and a traditional camp experience, there are a few differences at this special camp. Mercer says counselors are available to help kids with difficult issues, such as injury or death of family. There’s also a Military Appreciation Day, when top brass and service members visit camp to interact with the kids.
“They bring equipment — humvees, helicopters — and the kids get to climb on them and have their picture taken,” says Mercer, who says many children recognized the equipment as something used by their mother or father.
“We were surprised to find that the kids hadn’t seen these things up close and personal,” she explains. “It helped them understand their parents’ jobs.”
Anita Harris, executive director of Canter’s Cave 4-H Camp in Jackson, will supervise the camp. Assisting her will be Captain Matthew Tumi of Columbus.
“Children are coming to our camp from five different states,” she says. “Five of my campers had a family member killed in action. Many of the children are from families where a family member has been disabled or wounded and several have parents who are deployed at the moment. So all these kids are going through similar challenges.”
She says it’s important for these children to have a place where they are free to be kids, apart from the day-to-day challenges they may face.
Her campers, she says, will do traditional 4-H activities --from hiking and high ropes to fishing and canoeing and singing around a campfire.
“Each day we’ll honor one branch of the military, ” Harris says. “Monday, for example, will be Army day. I have the Armed Forces flag and any children who want to come up to honor the Army are welcome.”
Children are accepted to Camp Corral from across the United States. Families must arrange their own transportation. After that, the camp is completely free.
Mercer says top priority is given to wounded, disabled or fallen military families. The next priority is for families that have had multiple deployments. Then, if spaces are still available, any military family may apply.
“We just want to keep going,” Mercer says of the new Camp Corral undertaking. “We would love to add 10 more states next summer.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2440 or MMoss@DaytonDaily News.com.
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