(The following story is re-posted from the Sunday, August 30, 2015 edition of the Asheville Citizen-Times)
by Beth Walton, bwalton@citizen-times.com
ASHEVILLE – All Tina de los Santos wanted was a camp where she could send both her children. It was summer 2011 and Santos needed a place that would welcome her youngest son, Isaac Fertel, alongside his older brother, Simon. Simon Fertel is autistic. Isaac is not.
It felt wrong for the mother to have one kid in camp all summer, while the other was stuck at home with a babysitter or aide. “That was sad for us,” said Santos. “We felt like he wanted to be with other people. He wanted to do things, but it was hard for him to have the same experience.”
After mentioning the problem to her friends at the Asheville Jewish Community Center, the group paired with Jennifer Lingle, executive director of Autism Consulting and Training, and formed Camp Tikvah. Within a year they were offering day camp options for kids on the autism spectrum as part of JCC’s Camp Ruach.
The camp within a camp allows kids with autism and similar disorders to participate in summer camp activities like field trips and swimming, but also offers individual attention and space for when they need time away. This year 13 kids on the autism spectrum joined 142 others at the camp.
“For Simon, his whole community has opened up,” Santos said. “Kids that we don’t know are greeting him in the grocery store and around town.”
“It’s been great for Isaac, too,” she added. “Isaac is really proud of his brother being there. They sit together sometimes at lunch and he introduces him to his friends.”
Camp Ruach is a Jewish day camp open to all first- through eighth-graders. Programming is inspired by Jewish values, but 50 percent of the participants are not followers of the Jewish faith.
Each of the camp’s eight weeks of sessions had a different theme, focusing on things like friendship, justice and community building.
Camp favorites like swimming, sports, cooking, crafts, nature, gardening, dance and music were interspersed throughout the schedule.
“One of things we really preach at Camp Ruach is that you can find your friends here. Friendship and community, we talk about it all the time,” said Seth Kellam, youth director for the Asheville Jewish Community Center.
“What we didn’t take into consideration was really the impact it would have on the neureotypical campers,” he added. “We found these campers developed an empathy and appreciation for children who express excitement differently, express emotion differently, who communicate differently.”
Neena Khindria first came to the Jewish Community Center when she was 15. She fell in love. Today she is the senior counselor for Camp Tikvah. “The kids gain so much self-esteem,” she said. “They are secure in who they are and their abilities.”
I visited the Jewish Community Center the last week before school started. The screams and laughter of children could be heard from Charlotte Street. It was Wacky Water Olympics Day and the kids were racing off the diving board, vying for the biggest wave and belly-flopping their way into summertime oblivion.
I wasn’t brave enough to jump in this time, but I couldn’t help get into the spirit. Growing up, I had some of my best memories at summer camp, especially when my older sister was there with me. I’m so glad Simon and Issac have the same opportunity. I’m so glad Asheville has the JCC.