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'Extreme Makeover' Bolsters Camp Enrollment

Camp Barnabas is nearly 60 percent full for 2006 camp season

By Ginger Shepherd

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Click Photo to Enlarge Paul and Cyndy Teas and ORU alumni Paula and Mark Sterns take a moment to be photographed before a chapel service begins during their recent visit to the ORU campus.

Click Photo to Enlarge Mark and Paula Sterns talk to Josh Young, an ORU honors student, about volunteering at the Teas' summer camp, Camp Barnabas. The Sternses both volunteer their time at the camp, and were on hand when ABC-TV's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" team came to give the place an overhaul.

Click Photo to Enlarge Paula Sterns and Cyndy Teas talk to another ORU student about Camp Barnabas, a camp for children with disabilities that Teas and her husband run in Missouri.

To say that Camp Barnabas' extreme makeover this summer was a blessing is simply an understatement.

In August, ABC-TV's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" team, as observed by camp volunteers (and ORU alumni) Paula (77) and Mark (78, 80-MBA) Sterns, renovated this camp devoted to providing children with disabilities and their siblings a summer camp experience. (Click here to read the October 2005 story.)

Cyndy Teas, co-founder of the camp, said the experience was quite exciting and emotionally overwhelming, and it made her feel very blessed. There are times for Teas and her husband, Paul, when it just doesn't seem real.

"It's a hard thing to get your arms around," Teas said; she added that when she wakes up in her new bedroom, it is like waking up in a hotel room.

Not only has the event been surreal, but it has spawned an overwhelming response. Teas said the camp for the 2006 season is about 60 percent full. Each summer, children with various disabilities get a chance to spend one week doing camp activities such as swimming, horseback riding, and a ropes course.

Activities are modified depending on the disabilities, and the programming is developed by a therapeutic recreation specialist, she said.

"We don't want anyone to sit on the sideline; they do that at home," Teas said.

Children aren't thrown all together since each week is designated for a certain disability. For instance, one week is for blind children, while another week is for developmentally disabled children. There is a 1-to-1 counselor-to-child ratio--and most of the counselors are volunteers. Volunteers can start at 14 years of age, serving on the work crews, while volunteers 18 and older work as counselors. Teas said there is no cap on age, explaining that volunteers like Mark Sterns work as cabin dads, ministering to counselors, while Paula works as a nurse.

Generally, there are about 1,500 volunteers working at the camp during the summer, Teas said; about 1 percent of those volunteers have come from ORU.

"We would love to see more (ORU) students," she said. Applications to volunteer can be found at the camp's Web site, www.campbarnabas.org.

Since the makeover this summer, the camp has had a flood of calls regarding the camp. With the increased interest, Teas said there is an increased need.

The camp is currently running a capital campaign in order to continue improving the camp facilities and programming, according to the Web site.