A chance encounter with Easterseals New Hampshire’s Camp Sno-Mo Director Chris Ellis at a local business conference led Carrie of Wolfeboro to enroll her teen daughter, Katie, in a weeklong session. Katie, who has Down syndrome and various medical needs, had previously attended other area camps with her older twin sisters but had never stayed overnight. Carrie admitted that she was initially skeptical about letting her daughter go.
“It was Chris who really sold me on it,” Carrie said. “I explained all my worries and concerns to him, and he was just like, ‘You know what, we’ve got this. I know Katie will have a great experience, and here’s how we’re going to make that happen.’ It was a big leap of faith, and I think if Chris hadn’t been as personable as he was and as welcoming and reassuring, then I wouldn’t have felt as good about it as I did.”
Carrie and Katie got a sneak peek of the camp right before her session kicked off. Katie had a one-on-one support counselor and had a blast with all sorts of activities during the week, from hiking and swimming to horseback riding and doing arts and crafts. She wove her own footstool, created a leather bracelet, and even took part in the camp’s annual fishing derby. Each year, officers from New Hampshire Fish & Game come by to fill the camp’s conservation pond with freshwater fish, giving campers a chance to catch some.
“She was so proud to be able to tell us everything that she learned, because she loves to learn new things,” Carrie said. “She had a true camping experience, which I think is so important. Her support person never made her feel like she couldn’t do something or that she was somehow less than anybody else. She felt comfortable, she felt confident, and she felt grown up. You can’t measure that. Even Katie expressed that it was a great experience.”
Carrie really valued how the Camp Sno-Mo staff were always available and easy to talk to. “Everyone treated me with the utmost respect—not like I was some worrywart mom,” she said. “That was really refreshing. Camp Sno-Mo is obviously there for the campers, but I found that they really wrap their arms around the entire family, too.”
She also noted that Camp Sno-Mo’s counselors came from all over the world. “That was so much fun for Katie to be around folks speaking other languages and having other cultures,” she said. “They were also all just very enthusiastic and so happy to be there.”
She looks forward to enrolling Katie in another Camp Sno-Mo session in the future. “I got to talk to her every day in the afternoon, and not one time did she ask to come home,” she said. “That, I think, is a true testament right there.”
Learn more about Camp Sno-Mo by visiting eastersealsnh.org/camp.