Miracles happen every day at Florence's Camp RAE for children with multiple disabilities

FLORENCE — For children with multiple disabilities, summer can present a challenge to maintain the level of care needed for their continued development.

When the school year ends, their parents are left with the responsibility of providing weekday care for their special needs children.

Until now, there has been nothing available locally that caters to these children, but a new month-long summer camp, Camp RAE, aims to change all of that.

“It’s so important for them (children) not to lose what they gain throughout the school year and not to regress in their functional ability,” said Denise Brumfield, Camp RAE physical therapy director.

The idea for the camp was born almost a year ago after Deana Strickland’s daughter, Allie, participated in a camp in Charleston called Pattison’s Academy. Allie, 4, who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy, has a twin sister, Ransome, who is fully abled.

Pattison’s Academy offers children with severe and multiple disabilities a variety of therapy in the summer months. It took several tries to get Allie into Pattison’s Academy because it could only accept a limited number of children each year.

Upon return from the camp, Strickland said, Allie’s experience inspired her to talk to her friend, Allison King, about it. King also has a special needs child, Evelyn, who has CHARGE syndrome, which left her deaf, blind and developmentally disabled.

Both King and Strickland agreed Florence needed a camp like Pattison’s Academy. A year later, Camp RAE — named for Ransome, Allie and Evelyn — has become a reality.

The camp didn’t come to fruition without the work of many dedicated people and a supportive community.

Denise Finklea, a friend of Strickland’s and president of the Camp RAE board, has been helping to establish the summer camp from the beginning.

Many community groups also have held fundraisers and donated supplies, and Finklea said their support has been phenomenal.

“Every kid deserves a chance to go to camp and especially kids who benefit so much from what camps like Camp RAE have to offer,” Finklea said.

Each child has an assistant and several physical therapists who are able to work with each one in a more individual setting. Children receive physical, occupational, speech, special education, music, aqua and massage therapy.

Camp RAE special education teacher Meagan Johnson said sometimes children only get 30 minutes a week of therapy during the school year. At Camp RAE, each child gets close to three hours of some type of therapy every day.

“That’s why this is so important because the kids get a full day program for four weeks and get one-on-one therapy and instruction,” Johnson said.

That specialized attention and time make a big difference for the children attending the camp. Brumfield said she has seen a huge benefit already.

“The children are just happy to be here and they’re smiling,” she said.

What might seem to be miracles also happen at Camp RAE. One of those happened with 3-year-old camper Kylea Floyd, who has cerebral palsy and cortical visual impairment.

On Tuesday, she took a step in the right direction while working with Brumfield using a specialized walker.

“I cried. It was a big step in her life, literally,” said her mother, Cassie Floyd. “Hopefully this will keep progressing and one day she can keep up with her sisters. It was awesome.”

Already, Floyd said, she has noticed improvement with her daughter in other areas, as well. She said Kylea has become more sociable by being around other children.

“Before she kind of had only me (her mother, who) could do anything with her,” she said. “Now that’s not the case.”

This year Camp RAE has been able to host nine campers. Finklea said she hopes the camp can be extended to 5 weeks and have more children participate next year.

She strongly suggests people in the community visit the camp, behind Calvary Baptist Church on Cherokee Road, to see firsthand the wonderful things that are happening.

“It’s been an awesome experience and I wish everyone could see these kids and how much fun they’re having and what’s gained from it,” Finklea said.

Camp RAE is a nonprofit organization offering individualized programs of therapy and early education to children with severe, multiple handicaps.

To make an appointment or ask questions about the camp, e-mail campraeinfo@gmail.com. Donations to the camp can be made in care of Anderson Brothers Bank, P.O. Box 12857, Florence, SC 29504.