Disney World is not the happiest place on earth

Camp is. It’s true. The happiness you see at Disney pales in comparison to what I get to see here every day! Not that I don’t love Disney world and all, because I do. It’s great! But camp is something else entirely.

One thing that makes it so great: the four point pulley!! Here at camp we have a zipline that kids can climb up a flight of stairs to get to. At camp however, we have many campers who are in wheelchairs or have limited mobility. This is where the four point pulley comes in!! we use this device to lift kids out of their wheel chairs and straight up to the zipline! How does it work? There is a big triangular piece of super strong material that the kids sit on. From there we attach a few carabineers to get all hooked up right. This happens on the ground. On one of the ropes there is a special pull that the kids can use to get up there if their arms are strong enough. If not, we just pull them up! The four point pulley takes care of all the weight of the campers. Once they reach the top, the CTL staff at the top of the zipline hooks in all the different hooks and once the kid is in, they let him or her down the zipline! Because it’s on hydraulics, we can lower the kids straight in to their chair from the zipline. As one TBI camper once said on the radiothon: “My favorite activity is the zipline because it felt like I was flying”. umm…. awesome. it's pretty incredible to see kids get to do things they never thought they would be able to, or were told that they couldn't. and what's happier than that?

what is better than seeing a kid with spina bifida, who was told he would never be able to ride a horse because of his disorder, trot around the arena? what's better than seeing someone with balance issues, who was told they probably wouldn't ever ride a bike because of their brain tumor, tbi, etc, ride around the field on their own and get in to a kayak by themselves without it flipping over?

tonight is the talent show. what's better than seeing a bunch of kids step on to the stage with pride and assurance and see them show the camp what they love to do? and what's happier than seeing kids finally be able to act like normal kids?

I love watching the campers hang out together, but what’s really cool is seeing kids of different ages and from different camps saying hey and helping one another. Yesterday I was walking through the pool after TBI and some Wannaklot cabins had a session together, and I saw one of the W. teens standing next to, talking to, and helping one of the younger guys from TBI who has crutches. It was awesome!!

bottom line: camp is the best place on earth and exaCTLy where i want to be!! and YOU should volunteer at a camp to truly experience the awesomeness that camp twin lakes provides! www.camptwinlakes.org