True Friends

Camper and caregiver needs continue year-round, and we endeavor to offer a wide range of opportunities for enrichment throughout the year in response: Ventures Travel provides the growth travel affords for adults with disabilities; True Strides specialized riding therapy sessions run weekly all year; and Team Quest conducts its accessible climbing, zip lines and aerial challenges all year. Specific objectives and intentional activities guide programs, ensuring developmentally appropriate activities and challenges and combining camaraderie with therapeutic benefits of outdoor recreation. Participants build skills and abilities, challenge themselves, learn to appreciate nature. We provide a safe place for everyone to gain new experiences, participate in activities at their own pace and develop self-efficacy, independence, life and leadership skills.

We adapt typical camp activities to everyone’s ability, offering hiking, games, singing, biking, drama, arts and crafts, climbing and swimming. To best meet client needs, we maintain a full healthcare staff, an average ratio of one care-giving staffer for every two participants, and one-on-one care when needed. We work continually to improve training processes to create active, responsive and engaged staff members. Staffing costs are significant, and impact program fees, but True Friends is committed to helping families benefit from programs regardless of their ability to pay. With our tiered fee structure, families pay fees that reflect their child’s needs; those requiring less staff aid pay less. While helpful to families, it requires True Friends to subsidize up to $1 million of costs.

Most True Friends participants cannot be served elsewhere - their needs are too great; they require special, individualized support and health care. Staff duties include helping with personal cares, planning, arranging and leading a variety of fun, challenging activities adapted for everyone’s special needs, monitoring health concerns, disbursing medication, and managing special diets, allergies or sensory imbalance. The quality, specialized, care that True Friends’ highly trained staff members provide ensures that campers build skills and capacity, stay safe and healthy during their stay and gives parents crucial peace of mind.

Most notable recent accomplishments include:
• Built skills and independence for 2,624 children, teens and adults who participated in 4,984 Friendship or Courage camps, respite care weekends, horse therapy sessions or Ventures Travel trips in 2017.
• Helped families unable to afford fees by extending $241,797 in financial assistance.
• Provided automatic subsidies of more than $1 million to cover the gap between actual program costs and registration fees; the tiered fee program is important to maintain program affordability for families.
• Investigated new options to respond to growing requests for respite services. Built a dedicated respite program building at Camp Eden Wood to expand and improve programs and increase availability.