Kids with special needs can be kids at CAMP

By LAUREN LEA
CENTER POINT, Texas - Hidden away in the Hill Country is a special place that's helping kids experience things that they may not anywhere else."My favorite part about riding the horses is that I just get to be close to them," explained Kenny Hudnall. "Like [a] soft and slow ride. Soft, slow and steady, bumpy ride."Kenny relies on a ventilator, but a doctor uses a manual ventilator so he can get out of a wheelchair and enjoy a quick ride."You feel that?" Kenny was asked as the doctor manually pumped a bag. "Yeah," he replied."Say 'giddyup!'" a volunteer instructed."Giddyup!" he said. At Camp Children's Association for Maximum Potential, children with all kinds of different special needs can have fun."I made lots of friends and it just, I just love the place and I get to see old friends I've been with a lot that I've known for years here," explained Grant Engel. One of his new friends his Coby Davis."Yeah! High five!" volunteers and staffers exclaimed while Coby played golf. He comes to camp as often as he can."He's able to...be himself," his mother Melanie Davis said, as tears welled up in her eyes. She says Coby's on the Asperger spectrum."It's very difficult for him to play with typical-developing children. His social cues are lacking," she said.However, none of that matters at camp, where, with the help of a volunteer buddy, he can ride horses and just be a kid. It's a relief for Melanie, too."We're able to go to dinner. Have a date. Have a date night."The camp is a non-profit that welcomes children most other camps can't accommodate. It's a special Spring Break no one here will ever forget.Camp CAMP offers week-long stays for people from ages 5 to 50 during the summer with different types of special needs. It also offers Respite Camps on weekends during the school year. It is hosting an open house on Saturday, March 21 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can tour camp and attend a Q A session. You can call [phone] or go to www.campcamp.org.

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I live right across from there