Danville AMBUCS Summer Camps are ‘rolling’ along – literally – after a bowling outing for campers Wednesday afternoon. The camps had to be canceled last year because of the pandemic.
Lori Lyons (shown on left in photo), a co-director of this year’s camps for the AMBUCS, says they decided to have four 2-day mini-camps….
{AUDIO: ”This week we have our younger kids…ages five to about eleven or twelve. And then next week we have our campers that are twelve years old – about early junior high up to their twenty-second birthday.”}
Lyons says all of the campers have special needs….
{AUDIO: ”All our children have some sort of IEP. They have a disability that may prevent them from attending just a regular summer camp with their peers. And this gives them an opportunity to get out in the community and do things that their non-disabled peers would get to do – just what you would do at summer camp. Boating, bowling, crafts, and hanging out with your friends.”}
This week the campers range in age from five to eleven. Next week’s camp will involve those who are twelve to twenty-two. Yesterday the campers enjoyed the refurbished AMBUCS Playground for Everyone before bowling at Lincoln Lanes. (Lyons says bowling provided the perfect place to get the kids out of the heat.) Other activities include crafts at the Gao Grotto, putt-putt golf and games at Illini Skateland, and boat rides. Boat owners from the Gao Grotto, Danville Boat Club, and some individuals have been providing the rides on Lake Vermilion.
There is no charge for the kids to attend the camp. Lyons says the AMBUCS raise funds to support it….
{AUDIO: ”They have AMBUCS Friday Nights. They used to have the Home Show. They also have the raffle in the fall. Our Fall Raffle helps cover the cost of this. And God love him – Julius Hegeler always made a wonderful donation for our summer camps.”}
The AMBUCS provide other activities for the youth throughout the year, including Challenger League Baseball and Christmas parties.
