Shmiel Kahn smiles when he tells the story today, because he knows how difficult the request really was. To accept a new camper, especially one who had never been at camp before, at such a late date?  HASC, of course, is not your ordinary camp, and to make things work the great way they do, there are a number of steps to take before a camper is accepted. This includes medical, educational, behavioral and psycho-social documentation and a clinical interview. It would be virtually impossible for a request like this to be granted in this time frame. 

 

But the very foundation of HASC is chesed, and Shmiel Kahn understood that accepting Moishy at a time when his family was undergoing such a devastating personal crisis would be an ultimate act of chesed. So he rallied the troops together and asked the staff to make the necessary arrangements. 

 

"The family needed a break," he says with a simple shrug, "so we bent over backwards."

 

Thus did Moishy Rubashkin become admitted to Camp HASC as its 305th camper for this summer.

 

And thus did this writer find herself on a sunny Erev Shabbos in July on the grounds of Camp HASC in Parksville, prepared to write an article. "Go visit Moishy," the Yated editor said. 

 

So I did. And I can report to the readership of this great publication that Moishy is doing very well, boruch Hashem. For a youngster who has never attended camp before, and in fact has never even been away from home before, he has adapted marvelously to camp life. 

 

I meet up with Moishy at the 'ball pit' not unlike the ones we frequently see at indoor amusement areas where little kids jump around in an area filled with hundreds of small colorful plastic balls. Only, this ball pit is located in Camp HASC's Sensory Room, and is designed for campers of all sizes and surrounded by gentle lights and high tech equipment that soothes and surrounds the campers with just the right sensory input.

 

At first, all I see is a pair of legs sticking out from under the mass of color.  "He's in there," says Moishy's counselor Zev with a chuckle. When Moishy's head emerges from beneath all the balls, he has a very pleased look on his face. Clearly, he is enjoying this activity to the fullest.

 

He also has that look of confidence that comes from someone who is perfectly comfortable with his environment. He asks me who I am and then volunteers his own personal information. "My name is Moishy," he says. "And I live in Iowa."

 

The staff says that Moishy took to camp like a fish to water. He enjoys all the activities, but especially the adult-sized playground swings. Just this morning, his Erev Shabbos schedule includes sports, sensory room, adaptive music, letter writing and lunch. He will then continue with his afternoon activities and prepare for Shabbos with his counselor and attend pre-Shabbos Ruach before Minchah.

 

Like so many campers at HASC, Moishy will no doubt go back home at the end of seven weeks having learned a wide range of new skills. The counselors relate that they already know of such a Camp HASC “miracle,” a camper who never walked before at home, who is now walking by himself in the pool. That's part and parcel of the Camp HASC experience that happens every summer.

 

My visit with Moishy may be over, but my tour of the camp is just beginning. Avi Sacks, former camp director, offers to 'show me around.'  It's impossible to refuse, especially considering everything we've all heard and read about the camp over the years. I knew about the wonders of the staff, the mesirus nefesh of the counselors, the incredible activities, the happiness, hope and the joy. Would I like to take a tour of the camp? For me, it would be a special zechus.

 

We hop onto a golf cart and shuttle about from one building to another. The camp is large, but not too big for the campers with walkers to get around, and the amount of activity and energy that is being generated at all times is just stunning. Wherever I go, there is something special going on. 

 

We whiz by the Cooking Room and the elaborate Game Room. There is also a Music Room where the campers themselves become the musicians, the aforementioned Sensory Room (where we met Moishy), and an Art Room where everyone can be an artist. Everywhere we go, there are, of course, ramps and walkers and wheelchairs and changing rooms and other adaptations reminding us that these are very special children who are baking and playing and coloring and making music.  

 

The Department of Education requires special children to be 'in school' for twelve months, learning and receiving therapy. That's why the camp also runs a complete six-week school program. An entire area of the camp is set aside for academics. Pages and pages of OT and PT and speech therapy sessions line the walls. 193 campers receive Board of Ed approved therapy sessions. 27 therapists are on staff.

 

We visit the camp shul and meet the dynamic camp rov, Rabbi Judah Mischel, who is here from Eretz Yisroel. Three counselors are patiently learning Mishnayos with a camper named Chesky.

 

The biggest surprise during my visit is the discovery that there is a thriving kollel at Camp HASC and an intensive bais medrash program. Who knew? The kollel is called Toras Chesed, and its members are HASC counselors who work with the camp and campers in the morning and learn during the afternoon and evening. Apparently, there is a flourishing learning program at the camp, with up to twenty-five shiurim for men and women given weekly to packed crowds of counselors and staff. Just last night, I am told, the Novominsker Rebbe visited the bais medrash and gave a shiur to the staff. 

 

We meet Rabbi Shlomo Stern, Executive Director of HASC Inc., who remembers that his in-laws, Rabbi and Mrs. Kahn, founded the camp in 1971. They had always dreamed of having a kollel established right on the premises, and their dream is being realized. 

 

"My wife and I took a walk past the bais medrash the other night," he says. "It was 11 o’clock and the place was packed with young men who were sitting and learning. In the staff lounge, a tefillah shiur for women was just concluding. After a hard day working with their campers, this is the only free time they had and this is where they preferred to spend that time."

 

I continue on my tour and discover that there are four playgrounds at HASC, all fitted with swings and slides that are adapted for wheelchairs. There's a gym, a petting zoo, air conditioned 'bubbles' for indoor activities, a nature shack, special bikes outfitted with training wheels and harnesses, and two large indoor pools for special needs children. These pools have either beach-style entry or ramps so that campers in wheelchairs can be rolled in on waterproof chairs and then simply float free and independently in the water for that precious time. There's also a very busy infirmary with thirteen full-time nurses and a doctor who dispense medications to virtually every camper, up to five times a day, and provide onsite medical care. There's a baseball and volleyball field and a bicycle path. There are bunkhouses and a huge dining room, all air conditioned and heated of course. There are also thoughtfully designed bunkhouses for campers with autism and a gazebo-styled outdoor dining room for those who need to eat in a more quiet setting. Aside from all of this, there's also a day camp program for 3 21-year-old special needs campers who are bussed in from bungalow colonies all over the mountains. 

 

The morning passes and it's time for lunch. We watch the campers and staff slowly make their way towards the dining room. 

 

"Sometimes," says Avi, "I stand on the porch and I watch them pass by. Each camper is so unique and has such a story to tell."

 

They come with a dizzying array of special needs and Avi could no doubt write a book about each one. Some come in wheelchairs, some in walkers. Some can barely raise their heads and others run ahead of their counselors. There are those who are loud and those who are silent. There are those who can walk and those who can barely sit. There are health and medical issues, and the camp and staff are ready to respond to any emergency. Just last night, a camper had a seizure at 2 a.m. that required 3 nurses to respond and stop the seizure with emergency medication and then provide follow-up monitoring. 

 

This parade of Hashem’s special children makes its way to the dining room for lunch. They will be served their special diets and many will have to be spoon-fed (or G-tube fed) by their patient and caring counselors. They will be watching a short video presentation, a recap of the week’s events, and their incredible counselors will cheer for them every time a different camper appears.

 

This is when I understand the true greatness of HASC. It is the only place on Earth that has seamlessly and perfectly integrated the world of special needs with the world of summer camping.  Yes, it is a world of wheelchairs and therapies and medications and emergencies and disabilities. But it is also a world of playgrounds, carnivals, swimming pools, night activities, concerts, cheering counselors and a display of some amazing abilities that not everyone gets a chance to see and appreciate outside these gates.

 

No wonder it's been called the happiest place in the world. No wonder rabbonim and roshei yeshiva come regularly to give shiurim and offer chizuk. No wonder Avraham Fried once stopped the Camp HASC doctor who was jogging on the road to ask why he hadn't been invited yet to sing for the campers that summer. The lure of this place is irresistible. The chesed and mesirus nefesh are indescribable.

 

The Rubashkin family can rest assured. Moishy is in the best place he could possibly be this summer.