NubAbility Athletics: Lives changed forever
Hundreds of lives were changed this weekend and thousands of blessings were received due to the overwhelming generosity and efforts of our sponsors, donors, community and volunteers. Without these three key components, NubCamp simply would not have been as magical. God uses people to move mountains. Many mountains were conquered this week.
•St. Nick's Brewery sponsored and hosted 65 coaches for our coach meeting and dinner on Wednesday evening. Our coaches loved the patio environment and Chris Slone came and played for them.
•MorMad Farms Shooting Range & Lodging, Mike and Dixie Travelstead, Randall & Carol Bastien and Adam & Kelli Boss, hosted all of our coaches again this year. They have made DQ proud by extending the southern hospitality we are known for.
•We coached over 200 kids in 17 sports. We held golf for the first time this year, and are so thankful to Red Hawk Golf Course for hosting us. We held swimming as a focus sport for the first time. The DQ Pool not only hosted 2 large swimming sessions during their swim team practice, they hosted our families for an all camp swim party on Saturday Night. Ron and Laura Porter, hosted our smaller focus sport swim sessions at their beautiful home.
•The DuQuoin and Pinckneyville fishing teams and coaches assisted our campers at NubAbility Outdoors Day. Many of their coaches assisted with fishing and archery led by our Archery Coach, Kyle Smith from Mascoutah who instructs several different type of adaptations for one hand, arm or no arms.
•Local teenager Tyler Wilson, made 25 fishing reel adapters and 3 plyometric jump boxes for us. Several residents either loaned us or donated fishing reels for our program.
•Tracy Fenton of Fenton's Custom Collision, Porter Fare Foods and We Got It Covered with guest Chris Slone sponsored the Camp Launch Party that was a load of fun and the perfect event to allow families from across the nation to meet, mingle and begin forming new friendships.
•Several local restaurants discounted meals for camp families and several local customers bought our families meals. We are dang proud of our town!
•The American Legion and VFW provided color guard during our opening ceremonies where we honored not only our flag and country, but celebrated our coaches that are members of Team USA Paralympic Team. Coaches Regas Woods & Nick Rogers were unable to attend camp because of the commitment of a Team USA's Track and Field competition in London. Coaches Nicky Nieves and Courtney Baker were honored for Volleyball and Coach Dorian Willes will be on the first Adaptive Skeleton Team in the winter olympics.
•Our camp meals were wonderful and were prepared by local chef's Rob and Erin (McPherson) Manser along with their team of volunteers made up of camp families & friends, and local awesome folks.
•Meal service was table side and delivered by volunteers from all over. A family even drove over from Carmi to serve our campers. Sam's Nana, Dianna Kuhnert, Aunt Nancy Grosse led the team that left our camp families feeling special and amazed by the kindness.
•Campers were greeted every day by volunteers in our check in led by NubAbility Board member Lisa Bastien.
•Several DHS students volunteered as helpers in sport groups or members of Michele Klein's Safety Team. They all commented how their lives were changed this week and will be back next year. We donate 2 $500 scholarships to seniors who spend the entire weekend with us. We will have plenty to choose from with the class of 2017.
•Our NubShop (on site souvenir store) was set up boutique style and managed by Jerica Klein. Recent graduate Afton Robinson and Julie Behm along with several other volunteers helped us raise a record in $11,000 in sales.
•Camp silent auction led by volunteer Rhonda Bigham, is a popular event at camp. Each family brings an item that indicates where they came from. We had a handmade NubAbility T-shirt Quilt signed by all the coaches and a beautiful painting painted by a volunteer with no arms, Tisha Wexstton that were our hottest items.
•Local photographers, Wendy Hopkins and Chuckie Payne led the charge of documenting the week in photo.
•Growing Media, provided filming of events and interviews as well as press promotion.
•Prairie Farms came on board as a large corporate sponsor and donated all of our dairy products for camp. Our coaches and campers had fun creating a thank you video for them.
•Pinckneyville Ambulance service did an amazing job of standing by in case we needed them. Local EMT Cole McKenzie was our volunteer medical team coordinator and all emergent needs were addressed and professionally handled.
•Our mayor and his wife Guy and Rose Alongi volunteered and donated the use of their golf cart for our safety team.
•Dozens of residents opened their homes and hosted families from across the nation. They met as strangers and left as friends. Many are hosting the same families again next year.
•DuQuoin Community School District #300, Cory Robbins, Principal Matt Hickam and Tech Director Michael Reggio provided us with everything we needed facility wise to make our camp site rock.
•Our friends and family have claimed NubAbility as their own. We are forever grateful for the quality of people in our daily lives and in our community.
•A Walmart grant written and provided by local Walmart employees provided for the design and development of a new website. It was launched at camp and is still a huge work in progress. It is 7 year old user friendly and will allow kids across the globe access to motivation, inspiration and instruction.
•We lost two patriarchs in in our family during the throes of heavy camp planning and organization. Memorials donated in the name of Earl P. Holland and Charles Ronald Kuhnert were earmarked for equipment and provision of camp wide games, a cooling station with an NFL quality misting fan & scholarships each year in their memory. They were both lover of sports and our biggest fans. Camp families collected and surprised Sam and Jana with an additional memorial scholarship donation that will cover camp fees, travel and lodging for a lucky child to both the Summer Camp here and the Winter Camp in Ft. Myers, FL.
"Sam traveled with a coaching team to a camp called Hands to Love in Florida this past April. It was a camp that centers around resources for family and upper-limb-different youth from birth on up. Sam and his coaches each took with them a full scholarship to NubCamp here in IL.
"Sam had not yet decided which of the 100+ kids he was going to grant his scholarship to. One night at dinner he was headed to an open seat to a table with not many sitting at it. He felt the Lord lead him to look to his left instead. There he saw one open seat at a crowded table. He chose to squeeze in for dinner. Sam was immediately welcomed by a mother in tears.
" She said after hearing him speak the night before about NubAbility and his personal story, she had prayed that God would provide her an opportunity to speak to him. She knew it would be nearly impossible because of the busy camp schedule. Her name is Miriam. She is the director of an orphanage in Haiti called New Life, for orphans with disabilities. Her son, a 15 year-old, was brought to the U.S. years before by her to receive life saving surgery on a tumor on his nub. This growth weighed nearly 70 lbs!
" He was inspired by Sam's story at the Hands to Love Camp. Gesnel, a very athletic boy, had been bullied for not only his limb-difference in his new Florida school and team, but also for being considered a foreigner. Sam knew of hearing his story, about how he grew up in the orphanage and his medical hardships that he needed to be the recipient of his scholarship to NubCamp. They were elated to have been granted that opportunity.
" I booked their travel and David and Jane McIntire welcomed them into their home. The week before camp, Miriam called to say the judge in the adoption of Gesnel decided to move up the formal adoption hearing to Wednesday July 13. Their booked travel day. She called to apologize and to see if there was any way their travel to DuQuoin could be booked for a day later. We gave her the number of our travel agency and she was able to call herself and get those changes made. However, the day before they were to arrive, she got notification that Gesnel had missed his flight! The travel agency made a mistake and booked him on the wrong flight on the wrong day. After 6 hours on phones, she was able to get his travel worked out. Our agency, ended up comping his ticket.
" Upon arrival on Thursday to Lambert airport, they went to pick up their rental car. The rental agency informed Miriam her card had been declined. The credit card company had put a fraud alert on it. It took her an hour and a half to rectify that situation to get in a car and head for DuQuoin. Or at least that's where she thought she was headed. Her GPS took her to Arkansas!
" Her host, Jane McIntire and volunteer Jennifer Caldwell found a local truck driver who helped lead her back to DuQuoin. Needless to say, the devil did not want that kid to come to camp. Gesnel's camp experience was amazing. He came out of his shell, he dominated on the athletic fields and he discovered he has talent in many sports, not just soccer. He told his mom at lunch at the "W", "Meme, please don't stress about our travel. All of the difficulties were worth it. I have never been so happy and I am going back home to compete. I have had more opportunities than ever to try new things.
" The coaches are treating me like the athlete I am. I am very grateful." He hand painted Sam a landscape of a beautiful beach in Haiti. He gifted Jana with handmade ceramic jewelry from Haiti as well. The cards he wrote to each of them were beautiful and heartfelt. The last line on each of those cards described what the NubCamp experience is famous for with so many of their youth athletes, "I hope I get to come back again."
" This is one of hundreds of stories. We wanted you to know that the prayers of the faithful for NubAbility and our family during a difficult time made miracles like Gesnel's happen. Good hearts like the McIntires and Caldwells made miracles happen. We are overwhelmed by the goodness that takes place in five days in our amazing small town. We want to say thank you to all who played a role. There are entirely too many to list and name. We never want to leave anyone out. The efforts of all involved are appreciated by our board, our organizers, our coaches and camp families. Thank you." "