A Non-Profit's Mission to create A Home Away From Home

 By Narda Sigala

The Place Where It Began

         “In a world of difficult experiences, Camp Twin Lakes has always felt like a breath of fresh air to me. It is everything that someone who has faced a life challenge or lives with a disability or is facing a medical journey could ask for,” says Mason Tiner, a 22-year-old burn survivor who has spent the past 16 years as a camper and volunteer at Camp Twin Lakes. “To me, it feels like they heal the parts that can’t be fixed through science or studies or medicine, and they do it through camp.”

According to the 2023 Child Welfare Survey, more than 1 in 8 children in Georgia have a disability. The results are that 5.8% of children in Georgia have some sort of functional disability and 12.6% have an official disability status. As well as medical diagnosis, According to a national report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, more than two thirds of children living in the United States experience at least one traumatic event by the age of 16.

These statistics are harsh realities of what these populations have to live with, but somewhere along their journeys of healing and overcoming challenges, many of them find Camp Twin Lakes.

“I was in and out of reconstructive surgeries and therapies for the entirety of my childhood and that was all that I could feel or remember until I came to Camp Oo U La at Camp Twin Lakes,” says Tiner. “Then it was like I had these adventures and camp memories and camp best friends that somehow were all of the good in all of the bad I had experienced. It is terrible to think of it that way, but because of the bad stuff I got to find my people and home at camp.”

 Camp Twin Lakes is a nonprofit organization that has served the people of Georgia and neighboring states for over 30 years. According to an article by Guide Star, Camp Twin Lakes has provided “education, therapeutic and recreational camp programming for children with serious illnesses, disabilities, and life challenges.”

These programs are held at three different fully accessible and medically supported campground locations across Georgia, one in Winder, Ga. and two in Rutledge, Ga. Camp Twin Lakes serves over 10,000 campers every year through their spring and fall retreat programs, as well as for their summer camp programs. The organization helps facilitate these year-round camps for various partners. Each partner is its own organization that helps to fund and run each camp for their prospective community.

While many campers will come and go each year experiencing the memorable adventures of camp, many decide to stay and continue with Camp Twin Lakes as program leaders. Having had their own childhoods positively impacted by camp, they return with the mission to give back to campers.

Haley Mapp is an example of what it means to keep the camp spirit alive and evolving from camper to staff. Haley Mapp, age 24, began attending Camp AcheAway for children with Juvenile Arthritis at age 9 and has continued to return each year.

“I fell in love with camp because of the community and unconditional acceptance I felt there, because of this I decided to come back and work at camp,” says Mapp. “My goal coming back was to support other campers finding a community of acceptance.”

Many times, when someone looks at the achievements of an organization, the people who help it run smoothly are acknowledged at the forefront. This can be seen through the staff at Camp Twin Lakes and how each of them makes it their mission to offer camp memories to all.

One of the big aspects of camp magic is the interactions that program leaders and attendees get to share during their time at camp. These interactions are not just limited to summer camp, but also family experiences at the spring and fall weekends.

“The coordinators, camp staff, and volunteers make it a weekend to remember and my

family is forever thankful, “ says Sarah Amos, parent of camper at Camp Oo U La. “The kitchen staff at camp are amazing and the food is wonderful!”

 

The People Who Make It Possible

         Camp is made possible through the partners that work with Camp Twin Lakes. These partners range in serving communities from medical diagnosis to life challenges such as traumatic events. According to the 2024 CTL Impact Report, Camp Twin Lakes partners with over 70 nonprofit organizations that dedicate themselves to serving their specific communities’ needs.

Some examples of partner camps that are hosted by individual organizations are Camp Oo U La for burn survivors that is hosted by the Georgia Firefighter Burn Foundation each year and Camp Twitch and Shout for children with Tourette syndrome or a tic disorder that is hosted by the Tourette Information Center and Support Organization. Another big partner at Camp Twin Lakes is the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta that hosts over 10 programs for children with medical diagnoses each year.

“Half of what we do, just wouldn’t be possible without the Camp Twin Lakes team having our back. From working with us each year to have a beautiful campus to use, to always providing such amazing staff to run each of the activities while we are there,” says McKenzy Williams, Camp Director for Camp Oo U La and partner of Camp Twin Lakes. “We hope to work with them for so many years to come.”

With Camp Twin Lakes having so many partner relations that serve so many different communities, it is important for them to be able to provide accessibility for all. In an article by Guide Star, Camp Twin Lakes is said to provide “fully adaptive” camp experiences to campers of any mobility levels and conditions. This is seen through their rock walls, ziplines, big swings and other activities including adaptive versions for any campers. As well as having the activities and campus itself being accessible, they also provide various dietary options to service various communities. This is important for camps such as Camp Kudzu, for kids with Type 1 diabetes and Camp Weekaneatit, for children with Celiac disease.

 

A Home Away from Home

For the campers of Camp Twin Lakes, not only do they receive memorable camp experiences, but many find a place to call home, to feel seen and accepted, to heal and even just a place to be a kid. Mya Holder, age 15, has been coming to Camp Kudzu for children with Type 1 diabetes for the past 8 years.

“Camp is where I feel safe and like I truly belong somewhere. It is my home with my second family, even when we all have different backgrounds and have our own struggles and diagnosis, we come here to just be kids,” says Holder about what camp means to her.

With the many activities that campers are able to participate in such as activities like rock-climbing, ziplining, biking, boating and many others, it is often the community activities that leaves them with a sense of being. Many camps offer different community activities that are specified to the community it serves. Some examples of these activities are Camp Kudzu, for Type 1 diabetes, having diabetes education to its campers to establish a sense of independence, Camp Oo U La, for burn survivors, having safety training and therapy hours for campers to heal through their trauma, or camps like Kate’s Club, for families who have lost someone, having vigils to honor their families.

It is activities like these that make camp so much bigger than it is. It fosters a sense of community in both these campers and their families that allows for them to persevere through their challenges. 

 

More Than Just The Campers

         At Camp Twin Lakes, it is more than just the campers that find their sense of community and support. It is also the parents and siblings that get to find their own communities and friendships. With Summer being fully booked up with week-long camps for campers, Camp Twin Lakes works with many of the partners to host family weekends and retreats during the Spring and Fall seasons. At many of these retreats, partners keep healing at the forefront and allow these families to find connections and a community of support.

An example of this is the Orean family that attends the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta family weekends. The Orean family has three children that all attend Camp Courage, for children with craniofacial deformities.

 

         “My kiddos all go to Camp Courage and have loved it since their first day, and I am constantly reminded of the community that camp has created for not only them but also me,” says Corin Oreon about the community aspect of camp. “I mean truly being able to come to the family weekends and bond with parents who are also taking on the roles of caregivers and medical supervisors, and being able to speak with someone who understands and actually gets you is so healing. On top of that, creating your support group of parents and adults who are always there, and you can reach out to is the best.”

         When there is a medical diagnosis or life challenge that happens in a family, many of the members of the family take on new roles. Some of these roles are becoming knowledgeable on medical diagnosis, taking on the role of physical caregiver, becoming the rock of whoever is struggling and so many other things that are generally not spoken about. When one person in a family struggles, often the entire family shares in that struggle. For many campers, it is not uncommon to have the whole family involved in every step of the healing process whether it was a diagnosis, a traumatic event or even just an emotional challenge, their family also finds themselves trying to help.

         That is why community in camp is so important. At Camp Twin Lakes, the partners understand and make it a point to see the person not only as a whole but to also see their families. Camp Twin Lakes offers healing to both the campers and their families through the joy of camp.

“The impact that these camps have had on my family is immeasurable. Not just my kids getting to have a normal experience without thinking of the reasons behind why they come to camp, but also just socially and developmentally how much they’ve changed in positive ways since coming to camp,” says Orean. “I mean they are confident, they are social, they are accepting, and overall, they are just filled with so many good moments from camp that I hear consistently throughout the year.”

For Camp Twin Lakes, the community impact does not stop with just the family of campers but continues to the communities in which the camps are located. In an article from the 2020 Camp Twin Lakes Impact Report, it was shared that Baldwin Farms at Camp Twin Lakes in Rutledge, Georgia partnered with the Madison Morgan Community Food Pantry to provide fresh produce from the farms for more than 100 families each week.

“To us, it’s all about thinking of the ways to give back, this organization was built on the generosity and appreciation from the communities that we serve,” says Dan Mathews, the Chief Operations Officer of Camp Twin Lakes. “It truly only makes sense for us to continue to give back and there would never be a time when we wouldn’t want to.”

Another example of the importance community shared in the 2020 Impact Report was that after the Covid 19 Pandemic, Camp Twin Lakes opened its doors to provide “safe and supportive field trip opportunities to students with special needs.” Students with special needs were able to visit the farm and learn about nature as well as use the adaptive playgrounds found on the campgrounds. This provided a unique opportunity for Camp Twin Lakes to give back to the people around their community.

With so many examples of healing, support, kindness, growth and community, Camp Twin Lakes will continue to facilitate a safe and adaptive experience for its campers to experience memorable camp moments for many years to come.