Lasting Partnership with Camp Abilities
Founded in 1996 by Dr. Lauren Lieberman and Dr. Monica Lapour, Camp Abilities Brockport is a one-week educational sports camp for children and teens between the ages of 9 and 19 who are blind, visually impaired, and deafblind that is funded entirely through donations and grants.
Shortly after Camp Abilities was established, the Theresa Foundation began providing support to this incredible organization by way of grant funding. Over the years, the Theresa Foundation has remained a staunch supporter of Camp Abilities, providing a total of $73,391 in grants from 1998 to the present day.
The main purpose of Camp Abilities is to empower children with sensory impairments to be productive members of their schools, communities, and society. The Camp Abilities experience is sometimes the only opportunity for some of its campers to participate in athletic activities.
Unlike many other camps designed for people with visual impairments, Camp Abilities is set up to provide a one-on-one instructional situation for each person. Campers can participate in sports, such as track and field, goal ball, beep baseball, tandem biking, swimming, gymnastics, fishing, high ropes course, stand up and paddle board, disc golf, kayaking, blind soccer, and more.
“Thanks to the Theresa Foundation, Camp Abilities has served over 50 children most summers for an entire week.” - Dr. Lauren Lieberman
Diversity is the name of the game at Camp Abilities, where campers vary in socioeconomic status, ethnic background, and level of skills and abilities. The counselors are pooled from physical education and special education undergraduate and graduate programs across the United States, and overseas; many of the specialists are blind themselves, and serve as excellent role models for the campers, some of whom have never met or socially interacted with another person who is blind.
Camp Abilities requires specialized equipment such as tandem bikes, bell balls, goal balls, double kayaks and more. This equipment is expensive, and over the past 26 years, the Theresa Foundation has been grateful for the opportunity to provide Camp Abilities with appropriate and safe equipment.
“Camp Abilities actually makes me feel very included because I’m not the only blind person here. I feel like we’re all just one family and it makes me feel really happy and excited.”- Camper
Dr. Lauren Liberman reports: “On campus we have two sheds. One has canoes, kayaks, stand up paddle boards, fishing rods, and life vests. The other has our tandem bikes, helmets, and our tents. This is thousands of dollars worth of equipment that is safe and accessible. This is mostly due to the funds from the Theresa Foundation. We truly would not be able to offer our level of programming without the Theresa Foundation.”
