TOP STORY >> Tailor made: EFMP families treated to a special day of play

By Tammy L. Reed

19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

Team Little Rock’s Exceptional Family Member Program coordinators recently teamed with Camp Aldersgate counselors in Little Rock to host a Family Adventure Day for all family members in the program.

Camp Aldersgate is Arkansas’ only non-profit organization dedicated to serving children and youth with disabilities and seniors in a camp environment. The camp is located on more than 100 acres in Little Rock, minutes away from Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

EFMP merged with the camp for a day of fun and new activities for the special needs children and their families in the program.

“The main purpose is that families can come here as a family with a special needs member, and they all can have a good time, and they’ll be around other families with similar circumstances,” said Steve Jones, Airman and Family Readiness Center EFMP coordinator. “Those kids can intermingle with each other, and can say, ‘Hey, I’m not the only one around here with, maybe, an issue.’ So it brings people together.”

Camp activities included arts and crafts, archery, canoeing, fishing, disc golf and other events such as a carousel ride and ice cream at the end of the day. The activities were hosted on a campus specifically designed for people in wheelchairs, or needing walkers, or just needing to express themselves in ways that might draw unwanted attention elsewhere.

They put harnesses on and negotiated the rocks on the climbing wall. There were some times that were challenging for them; some of the easy parts were challenging for a few. But it was no big deal because the parents were there to give them a hand, Jones added.

C.J. Moorman did just that: he gave his son, Lance, a hand with his fishing rod as they trolled for the big catfish inhabiting the camp lake. Moorman, who works at the Airmen and Family Readiness Center here, and his wife Cindy, brought their four sons and six grandchildren to the event.

“Steve sets things up like this. He stays in contact with all the folks who want to be in the program; he has a list and he keeps track of all the people,” Moorman said, “then he does events like this where he gets people out in the community doing things that people with special needs can actually take advantage of.”

“It’s really neat to see the grandkids interact with Lance and JoJo and other children with disabilities as well,” Cindy added. “We’re having a great time.”