Visiting parent Georgina Nunez shares a smile with her son’s friend Nyla Sanchez at Kamp for Kids Welcome Day on July 12.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
WESTFIELD — Behavioral Health Network Program Director Anne Benoit welcomed families, friends and distinguished visitors to the 49th annual Kamp for Kids Welcome Day on July 12.
“You know what that makes next year,” Benoit said, referring to the camp’s upcoming 50th anniversary in 2025.
Almost 50 years ago, Kamp for Kids was founded by Westfield resident and mother Judy Hoyt as a place where she could send her children of different abilities to the same camp together. The Hoyt family’s advocacy for inclusion also included her husband Dick and son Rick Hoyt, who became famous for their participation in 32 Boston marathons together on foot and wheelchair.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
Benoit said the camp began at Western Mass. Hospital on East Mountain Road, but has been located at Camp Togowauk at 754 Russell Rd. for about the past 20 years or so.
Over the summer, Kamp for Kids runs three two-week sessions for ages 5-19, with 48 campers per session. This year will see about 85 individuals participate; many stay for two sessions. All of the sessions are full, Benoit said.
Retired social worker Roger Anderson said Kamp for Kids has an important history, and Judy Hoyt became a major advocate for the state’s Chapter 766 law, which passed in 1972, and was the model for the first federal special education law, requiring local school systems to educate every student in their community and to fund appropriate educational costs.
Kamp for Kids is funded by the state Department of Developmental Services, the nonprofit Behavioral Health Network, which runs the camp, and private donors. Anderson said Kamp for Kids has always been one of his favorites, and has the most fun and does the best job of meeting the needs of the community.
“One of the best things that DDS and BHN have done together is learn from each other,” Anderson said.
It isn’t just the campers who benefit. He said over the years, the camp has also given many interns an introduction to human services and an opportunity to become future leaders, calling it a “huge workforce development for the human services industry.”
Camp Director Luis Burgos said his first job was as a counselor at Kamp for Kids. He said originally, he wanted to be an auto mechanic, but he found he loved human services and has been in the field for 10 years, and with the camp for 13 years.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
Now in his second year as camp director, he trains all of the counselors.
“It changed me for the better,” said Burgos, who has since graduated from Westfield State University.
During Welcome Day, counselor Tyreek Mejia introduced Amanda Davis from the DDS Urban Youth Collaborative Program. Davis also talked about the diverse student body that supports the camp as counselors, bringing them into social work.
After being introduced by camper Nyla Sanchez in what Westfield state Sen. John Velis said would be the “best introduction by far I will have this entire summer,” Velis thanked Anne Benoit for her work, and said the camp wouldn’t be happening without her. Velis said he works with BHN on a lot of different programs.
Oliver Charpentier introduced Westfield state Rep. Kelly Pease, who said he asked the kids what they liked most about camp, and they told him art.
It was then the campers’ turn to share their art, music and interests with the invited guests.
They told jokes, such as “why did the orange stop in the middle of the road? Because it ran out of juice,” and shared their drawings and danced under the limbo stick.
Two older campers played guitar for the guests: Vinnie Charland played a country song on acoustic guitar. Then Ryan Thomas jammed on electric guitar to a song by the heavy metal band System of a Down.
Second-year counselor Matthew Lutster, who graduated this year from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, then led the campers in “The Egg Song,” and in the camp’s spirit song.
At the end of the program, Sanchez perhaps summed up the spirit of the presentation the best. “I always try my best,” she said.
